2010 Mar 30 Talking Balls: Snooker Scalpings & Soccer Stars
Ticket touting has long been the scourge of sports in the West, and if you go further West you’d know it as scalping. Here in China it’s often to the benefit of fans. Take the example recorded by a Sina reporter yesterday at the Sanyuan Foods China Open (that’s snooker, by the way) and the bargains to be had. He was offered a ticket with a face value of RMB 200 for RMB 100 which is 50% off for starters but the seasoned spectator showed no interest. The tout’s response in the face of such indifference? “80? 50? 20? 10 kuai! You can’t go below that!”
The moral of the story is that those out to make a quick buck on the back of the interest of sports fans don’t always win. Actually, that’s too long. The moral is that you can save plenty of cash buying tickets on the street. We don’t encourage this though.
However, these bargains were for the Wildcard round. Prices quoted for Ding Junhui’s game today by scalpers was RMB 400. You could just click here. Directions to the Beijing University Student Gymnasium are here. Ding once won his own weight in pies, lucky man.
ZZ Watch: Glasgow Celtic have got themselves a new manager in the shape of Neil Lennon. This change of personnel has not helped Zheng Zhi get more playing time – in fact ZZ did not even make the matchday squad for Lennon’s first game in charge of the Bhoys. So far this season Zheng has started seven games and come on as sub in a further seven of Celtic’s 31 league games.
Hao Junmin came on as a 69th minute substitute for Edu Goncalves as Schalke 04 beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to go top of Germany’s Bundesliga.
The CSL kicked off last weekend. The big signing of the season, Mohamed Kallon, scored from the spot as his Shaanxi Chanba side drew 1-1 with Dalian Shide. Highlights here.
There were 50,000 fans at the match in Xi’an. In Beijing, 45,000 packed the Workers’ Stadium to see the reigning champions beat Nanchang Bayi 2-0. Joel Griffiths and Wang Xiaolong scored for the Big Green Machine. Highlights here. There is still no news as to whether the “Big Green Machine” nickname has caught on. The goalscoring Griffiths later spoke of his hope to go to the World Cup with Australia. Good luck with that.
Guoan takes on Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in AFC Champions’ League at Gongti on Wednesday at 7.30pm. Tickets now officially need to be purchased with “real ID” at 5905 9082 or here . They’ll cost you RMB 50-100. For a list of ticket booth around town, click here, right, don’t forget your “real name ID”. That should encourage people to go, or would they be better off trying their luck at Gongti on Wednesday?
Finally, Yao Ming showed up with his wife Ye Li to the Yao Ming Foundation Charity Gala at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston yesterday, Marc J. Spears from Yahoo sports talked to him on the night and wrote this, for more on the gala click here and for photos click here.
You might also be interested in :
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.
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: 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: 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 ...
