2010 Mar 23 Talking Balls: Champs and Chumps
Beijing Guoan are playing their third game in the AFC Champions’ League tonight. Their opponents are Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma of Korea. Chances are that it will be as snowy an affair as their previous away game in Japan.
The CSL kicks off this weekend. Guoan start with a match against Nanchang Bayi on Saturday at 7.30pm. Apparently there will be an opening ceremony too.
Guoan have two home games in April. April 4 is the visit of Shenzhen Ruby and April 18 is Shaanxi Chanba. Tickets available at Workers' Stadium and 5905 9082.
New CSL Chief Wei Di has been thinking well outside the box. His latest brainwave is to enter the Chinese Under-21 national team into the CSL. Unsurprisingly all of the clubs rejected the proposal.
The CBA’s All-Star game took place last week at Wukesong. The North outscored the South 133-121. The MVP for the showcase was a certain Stephon Marbury. His 30 points included some monster threes and that can’t hurt his bid to sell sneakers. Watch a video here.
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Talking Balls: Ducks Flying, Guoan Too Green & This J-Lin Stuff Gets Silly
Good evening, sports fans. Let's get right into it. The CBA playoffs are at their semi-final stage and Beijing Ducks are back in the series after winning game two. Stephon Marbury dropped a colossal 52 points to send them on their way to besting Shanxi by 132-123. Thanks to NiuBBall for the alley-oop on the video you'll see below. Don't forget to check out the 2011-12 NiuBBall Awards. Spoiler alert: Starbury gets what he deserves.
Talking Balls: AI, Transfer Records & The Champion Ducks Smashed
In football news, Guangzhou have completed the signing of Lucas Barrios from back-to-back German Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. He's cost EUR 8.5 million - a new CSL record - and was the German league's topscorer during Dortmund's first championship. Chinese football has finally gotten its first star player.
Talking Balls: A Smoking Rocket, Marbury Mania & The Olympic Underground
The Olympics are around the corner, or should we say, further along the line. Transport London, which runs the capital's world-famous Tube, have decided to cash in on the Olympics. They've released a map with a twist: All of the stations are now named after famous Olympians. We admit that it's better than the 2012 mascots but as merchandise goes, it's still pretty bad. There are 13 Chinese Olympians on the map:
Talking Balls: Shame On Shanxi, Ghastly Guoan & Some Sports Shorts
The Beijing Ducks and Shanxi Brave Dragons have gone to game five in their CBA playoff semi-final. The game was originally set for March 14 but was postponed until March 18 so that everyone could enjoy St. Patrick’s Day. No, actually it was put back because of a near-riot in game four. Shanxi’s fans also took that meeting as an opportunity to shower the court with debris. They've been fined nine times for similar incidents over the last four years. They have just added another RMB 60,000 to the CBA's Christmas party fund. You stay classy, Shanxi.
Talking Balls: Lintelligent Puns, The Elk's Arrival & Games Galore
What another lincredible week for Jeremy Lin. He’s gone from "novelty to Knicks star" in almost a linstant and now there’s lots of linterest in him on the linternet. His name is also the kind that the media love in their sports stars – it is very easy to bend into very bad puns. Wordplay aside this young man has got game. Just not as much as Yao according to NBA supremo David Stern. There’s lots more coverage of JLin all over the web. There's USA Today’s article on Asian stereotypes in coverage of the Knicks’ guard, another on Lin being happy to smash stereotypes and the news that people are already trying to turn this hype into profit. Hell, it's even got to Beijing Boyce. Anyway, here's Jeremy larking about off the court ...
