Talking Balls: Tennis Trash Talk, Flirting With Footballers & An NBA New Year
Li Na and Zheng Jie are still in the Australian Open. You can spend your week off watching their progress in Melbourne. There are no Chinese men in the tournament. This will change, according to the ATP chief, Brad Drewett. He claims it’s a case of when and not if that China will produce a great male tennis star. That’s what exactly British tennis fans have thought for the last 50-plus years. Silly Brad.
It’s often that heads of sports’ governing bodies make these ill-informed pronouncements about China being on the verge of greatness in a sport that they’ve not yet shown any real aptitude for.
Football is a case in point. Team China are bad at football. That’s not open to dispute. There’s a number of reasons for that; they range from the importance of sports in schools to the investment in sport from the government via sport’s “cultural stickiness” – the heritage and importance it holds within a society. China may one day produce a great football team but there’s a long way to go.
One of the ways to improve the standard of domestic players is to import better foreign players and raise the bar. This is what happened in the Premier League where the standard of football is far superior to two decades ago, the England national team’s performances aside. It’s what has happened in the MLS to a far greater extent. America has gone that step further and produced players that are desired in top-level foreign leagues.
This first step is happening in China right now. Shanghai’s signing of Nicolas Anelka seems to be a tipping point for genuine world-class talent to join the CSL. The latest news is that Ivorian powerhouse Didier Drogba will be joining Nico in Shanghai. He’ll be paid a whopping 2.7 million yuan a week for his troubles. He still has to live in Shanghai though so we’re better off really.
The best part of this whole thing is Shanghai Shenhua owner Zhu Jun saying this of the club’s courtship with the forward:
"It's like flirting with a girl. Perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up."
Beijing’s very own Jonathan Watts has been in the Guardian talking about the impact of Anelka’s move to Shanghai. It’s worth a read; find it here. Let's hope the Guoan sign someone decent in an attempt to keep up. Go on the Guoan.
Anelka’s not the best footballer in Shanghai, though. That’s Diego Armando Maradona. El Diego was there for a sponsorship engagement and to raise money for charity. I’m telling you because I wanted to use photos of him. Photos like this.
Not even Maradona’s as cool as the coolest sportsman in China. That’s Stephon Marbury and here’s another installment of his China Daily diary.
The NBA is holding its first Chinese New Year Celebration. The weeklong event that they are calling NBA Chinese New Year Celebration 2012 basically means more games are on the TV. You can look at the schedule here.
And finally, here’s “WHAWNICS” as we’re now calling it. It’s as brilliant as ever. There’s a photo of Shaq riding a number of Chinese people and there’s an especially tubby shot of Ding Junhui. Genius.
Happy New Year.
Photos: China Daily
