buy me some peanuts and … soy sauce rice crackers?
something almost made me drop my tsingtao on friday (i said almost). at a bar, i glanced at a television expecting to see beckham or billiards or some bad chinese drama where the guys sport shaved heads and ponytails. instead, i saw my beloved new york yankees take on the toronto blue jays. i was stunned — my first time watching baseball in mainland china.
the only way i got ot watch two yankees games last year was because i was in hong kong during part of the playoffs. (unfortunately, i woke up early in the morning only to watch the yanks get their asses kicked by the angels.) in june, at the tokyo airport, i stared at a baseball game on tv — my first in eight months — like a just-released prisoner gawking at jennifer garner. that it was the detroit tigers playing didn’t seem to matter.
while some asian countries, most notably japan, are boffo over baseball, the sport is to china what badminton is to america: nothing.
is this about to change? doubtful, but there is reason to be hopeful. there is now a chinese professional baseball league, with teams in shanghai, beijing, tianjin and guangdong (click here and here for more info). yes, that’s four teams in a country of 1.3 billion — talk about a meaningless regular season. hey, it’s a start.
but more importantly, the yankees were on tv at shanghai sally’s on friday night. and someone told me about a mexican restaurant in gubei that shows games, as well.
geez. first, i find out how to download the daily show. now, i find baseball on tv. i really have no reason to ever leave china again.
gotta go now. i’m going out to play some catch.
seriously.
09.07.2003, 5:10 PM · Observations, Sports
2 Comments
well, our game of catch lasted about 10 minutes before we got kicked off the grass. but we got plenty of curious stares during those 10 minutes. some people stopped what they were doing and watched.
Congrats! You get to see your favorite baseball team in a foreign country. Personally, I’m not a baseball fan but seeing something you like in a place you’re not supposed to be seeing it is comforting. Good luck! HOpe to see more New York Yankees.