What words do we have left for Sunday's colossal wreck of a basketball scrum between Qingdao and Tianjin, in which the two teams were whistled for a combined 89 fouls (an average of one and a half fouls per minute), shot 119 combined free throws, and each had three players foul out? I wrote that it was "how bad basketball can look when entrusted to the wrong people." NiuBBall's Jon Pastuszek called it an "abomination," "nightmare" and "pathetic." Andrew Crawford of Shark Fin Hoops tweeted, "In Chinese basketball, the biggest problem remains the standard of refereeing." It was a sad day indeed for fans of the CBA.
I'm not sure how, but Tracy McGrady has a way of attracting refereeing debacles. (As a Beijing fan, I'm not just talking about Wednesday night's avian contest between the Ducks and Double Star Eagles in Qingdao, though that was massively craptacular too, with the home team benefitting from so many calls that I wondered aloud whether the CBA was publicly making amends with T-Mac for suspending him.) The worst -- absolute no doubt worst bar none -- happened yesterday.
We daresay things are looking up for Tracy McGrady. His team, the Qingdao Double Star Eagles, has won three games in a row, and none more dramatically than Wednesday on the road against Liaoning. You’ll remember that in the season opener, McGrady had the ball in his hands with time winding down but turned it over,... Read more »
Congratulations to Wu Di for qualifying for the Australian Open!
And congratulations to the Chinese education system for its success in instilling in Tennis Player Wu the notion that no matter where a mainland Chinese person travels, everyone else is still the foreigner.
Manchester United recently announced sponsorship deals with two Chinese companies, Wahaha and China Construction Bank (CCB), the latter of which will produce Man U-branded credit cards. Considering China is one of the largest growth markets for any business, it’s no a surprise that the 134-year-old club is looking to strengthen its presence here. There are... Read more »
Tracy McGrady and the Qingdao Double Star Eagles have seemingly found a groove on the court, winning four straight, but as we’ve known all along, T-Mac’s season would be one that makes headlines on and off the court. Here’s another example of the latter, via Jon Pastuszek of NiuBBall: Considering that the iconic McGrady’s every move has... Read more »
Tracy McGrady’s wild, wacky, probably frustrating inaugural season in the CBA continues. On Wednesday, after his team was absolutely robbed of a chance to capture a signature road win at Bayi, T-Mac took to his official Sina Weibo account to vent his frustration. At 11:32 pm, he wrote: CBA has to do a better job with... Read more »
Late in the game on Wednesday in Ningbo, Bayi was clinging to a three-point lead and had the ball against Qingdao in a hard-fought, physical game in which the teams combined to take 81 free throws (43 for Bayi, 38 for Qingdao). Then, in the final minute, the refs botched a call so horribly that no one who was watching could have avoided the obvious question: "Is the fix on?"
Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, who were robbed of their chance to compete for a gold medal at the London Olympics when the Badminton World Federation disqualified them (and three other teams) for intentionally trying to lose, were honored by the China’s General Administration of Sports on Friday. Yu and Wang were among 100 players to... Read more »
The play has obviously been whistled dead, which would explain why Xinjiang’s Von Wafer (No. 12) is walking away from the basket. Nonetheless, we love this picture. Everyone should be as happy as Yi Jianlian while playing sports, to say nothing of soaring above the rim to throw down a one-handed dunk.
