Picture Diary (Day 1-Women's handball)

Last Saturday I went to my first Olympics game in Beijing and second of my life (during the 1984 LA Olympics, I went to a soccer game at Stanford. US v. Costa Rica. I remember US won 3-1 and this was the first time I ever participated in the wave.). Women's handball.

Here are some shots from Saturday's action:

As you can see, there was not too much action happening around the venue. It actually had the feel of a high school game or a Round 1 NCAA game.




We had pretty cool seats right behind the net of this crazy sport. Its like a cross between basketball and soccer and allows for crazy physical play. I actually enjoyed it.



Here are the two reasons I really enjoyed myself:



The exchange rate is 6.8 RMB to $1. Translated...beers cost about $0.75. Also, the second game featured Korea v. Russia. I still remember a lot of the cheers from World Cup 2002, so I found myself rooting for them. After an even match, the Russians took what seemed to be an insurmountable lead, but Korea showed resounding Olympic spirit and caught and ended the game in a 29-29 tie. Russia was bummed and Korea was lucky to escape with a tie.

As is the case with most of the games I've seen on TV and the two I've attended here, there are tons of empty seats despite being touted as sell-outs. Based on conversations I've had with folks, a huge allotment of seats are earmarked for corporate sponsors who often do not use their tickets. Such a waste. They also fill up sections of the stands with students and migrant workers. This I can dig because at least they're at the game. The unused seats thanks to Budweiser and Coca-Cola are a bummer.




Lastly, after the tons of cheap beer, I had no choice but to use the dreaded port- a-potty. Here is where the US can learn something from Chinese technology. Periodically, the squatter will fill up with suds in a mechanical self-cleaning mode. It's great. The booths don't reek and you don't have to see what lies beneath. You just see peaceful flowing suds like in a soothing bubble bath.

More soon...

08.08.08 O My

Tonight it all begins. After seven years of preparations, Beijing will welcome the world with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Locals have been told to stay home from work today, bars and restaurants are getting booked, and red China flags are out in full force...along with security.

A group of us will be watching the Ceremonies in typical ex-pat fashion- at a Western style, hip bar on a giant flat screen tv. Good times. It really feels like New Years Eve. Excitement is in the air, folks are making plans, and traffic is eerily light.

Quick weather update: much has been made about the weather here and the plans to blow up the clouds, shut down factories, etc. At 12:15pm on Aug 8, it is an overcast day. The air actually doesn't have the brownish tint that I've gotten used to, but is just a foggy day, almost SF style plus the ungodly heat. Hopefully, it will rain early this afternoon so the clouds could thin out, but at the moment, thoughts of a clear night doesn't seem likely.

Ticket update: I have been able to score some games and am hoping for more during my one week of Olympiad. Here's what I have so far:

• 8/9 Women's handball prelims- Korea-Russia & Kazakstan- Romania
• 8/10 rowing prelims
• 8/13 Men's soccer- US-Nigeria & Argentina-Serbia
• 8/15 boxing prelims- lightweight and bantamweight prelims
• 8/15 baseball- Japan-Netherlands

Later today I head to the NZ Embassy to try to score some of their unused tickets. More soon.

**UPDATE**: I just returned from the NZ Embassy. Nothing is better than getting tickets from nice folks that speak like Jemaine and Bret. Apparently a number of game tickets reserved by the Kiwis have gone unused. The games that they had available though were not too sexy. I picked up:

• 8/12 women's field hockey: US-Japan; Korea-Netherlands

The other sports they had included softball, equestrian (in HK), soccer (in Sheyang), and canoeing. Like I said, not too sexy. The bright side is the field hockey tickets only cost me 72 RMB each ($10.58). It also doesn't look like I'll be getting tickets to US-China hoops on Sunday night. I can't afford the $500 price tag. I did find out about a viewing party hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce. For 250 RMB ($36), all you can eat and drink at a BBQ joint during the game. Sounds like a sweet alternative, no?**

Balling in Beijing

I'm back to about 85% health-wise and spent a Sunday afternoon playing hoops with a co-worker. We went to the Beijing Communciations University to play some pick-up. First of all, it was great to know that the atmosphere on a college campus in Beijing mirrors the vibe of a campus in the US. I've never been able to put my finger on it, but whether I'm at UCLA, Stanford, or Beijing, the same sensation resonates. It must the concentration of thousands of young, eager minds coallescing in one tree-lined, grassy commune that gives off a certain sentiment. Either that, or the innumerable dating opportunites for college kids that gets everyone excited.

So basketball is indeed a popular sport here. There were five full-courts full of people playing 4-on-4 halfcourt with a least one team waiting at each court. Furthermore, there were packed volleyball courts, soccer fields, and of course badminton. It was great to see.

As I got in my first game (I was the only foreigner in the whole joint), the other three guys each asked if I could speak Chinese. When I said no, they all looked bummed. Once the game started, it was all good. A couple of passes to guys for easy buckets put me in good graces. Unfortunately, my first shot was a wide open 18 footer for an airball. Nice. I later hit my stride and it was fine.

More than breaking down my own game, I wanted to point out a few differences of pick-up on this side of the Pacific. 1) they play games to 5. The insane amount of people in China must be the reason. Only short doses so all could get a taste. Quite communist. 2) when you get fouled, you take the ball out from under the hoop, not up top. 3) they don't "check" the ball, whenever I was taking it out after a bucket, I would instinctively pass to the guy guarding me first. Fortunately, he immediately passed it back seeming to know what I meant, but one guy on my team told me to stop doing that. 4) screening has not exactly made its way to China. Its a ton of one-on-one isolation, and drive and kick or shoot. 5) This one is perhaps universal. The fellas with the best gear were not the best players. A kid with the crispy Jordans and the Lebron t-shirt was garbage, while the dude in jeans was going off. 6)Like the Fresh Prince once said, basketball courts in the summer got girls there. Among the 150-200 guys playing hoops, there were a handful of ladies checking out the scene and watching their guys play. Again, this is fairly universal. 7) Not much acknowledgement for a good pass. Anyone that has played with me knows that I like to distribute. Not that I need it, but a nice gesture, finger point, or high five would have been nice. Its all for the greater good, so I guess its fine.

A Week Until the Games Begin

I have been remiss in updating the blog too often during this visit to Beijing. Work has been busy and I've been laying low for the past few days with a fever and sore throat. My illness can be attributed to one of 4 factors: 1) breathing hot, humid, and dirty Beijing air for a month, 2) living with heavy doses of freezing air conditioned air for a month, 3) lack of fresh vegetables available for consumption, and 4) I'm old and can't handle life on the road anymore. I think its actually a smattering of the first three reasons, with only a drop of reason #4.



Anyway, with only a week to go until the Opening Ceremonies, and a slow Friday work day (finally!), I wanted to catch everyone up on the latest goings on here in Beijing.



First of all, the anticipation is palpable. I had been staying at some nice hotels this past month, and just this week, I noticed a lot more foreign faces wearing the obligatory Olympic placards around their necks. Important people I assume. Excitement is definitely in the air as more folks are arriving. This morning I met a woman in the elevator with a bag full of adidas boxes and geared up in adidas herself (My experiences attending international sporting events has taught me how to pick out sporting officials from a mile away. Its the athletic gear and always with the crispy, clean kicks- mostly adidas). I come to find out that she is one of the dozens of FIFA referees staying at the hotel to participate in training to gear up for the Games. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, their arrival and other Olympic folks means that I have to move out of these fine digs tonight, and into a modest two star hotel. The rates at the hotel have gone up to about $800 a night and my non-profit can't afford such a price. Such a bummer. I had been living pretty large for the past month at the Ritz-Carlton and then The Regent (I know, crazy, but we get an insanely reasonable rate usually), and instead of rubbing elbows with fancy Olympic folks, I may end up having to make my own dumplings for the next two weeks. I move into the new digs, Home Inn (or as a buddy of mine here calls it-- Homey Inn), tonight. I'm hoping for the best. OK, enough whining, here are some quick hits of what's been going down lately:

• I have tickets to rowing preliminaries on Aug. 10, US-Nigeria and Argentina-Serbia (Messi!!) soccer double header on August 13 (compliments of US Soccer of course), and a baseball game to be determined. I'm working hard to score a US hoops game, but this is obviously a tough ticket. I also want to check out the track stadium and swimming venue which are great architectural designs. Whether or not, I get tix, I'll post pics of the venues. Pretty amazing stuff.


• I've watched so many DVD's this past month, I wanted to give a very quick list and review: There Will Be Blood (excellent!), Cloverfield (great concept, too shaky), Hot Fuzz (funny), Hancock (wait for video), Season One Dexter (very good, but I doubt I'll watch season two. Serial killers aren't my bag), The Other Boleyn Girl (good first half, fell asleep for the rest-shocker!), Super High Me (super mediocre), The Hammer (I like. Rent it if you can) and others I can't remember right now.


• I went for pizza at a place called The Tree last week near Sanlitun (bar street). This is a popular place for foreigners and they serve up a decent pie as well. Anyway, in the bathroom I saw a sign that said during the Olympics, the bar will close at 10:30 each night instead of the usual...actually I have no idea, but I know this place usually rages until the wee hours. So weird. I would have thought that places would have wanted to take advantage of the foreigners wanting to party, but instead the Chinese govt decided to close a lot of nightspots early during the olympics to prevent any ruckus I suppose. Terrible plan. I have a feeling that the vanilla hotel bars and their $8 beers will be all the rage. I'll let you know what happens.


• Somewhat related to the above point, all of my "go-to" DVD shops have vanished since last Sunday. Actually, they haven't vanished, but any of their English language titles (aka bootlegs) have disappeared. It is as if you went to McDonald's for a burger and found out they were serving spaghetti, it was pretty jarring. Especially since I was hoping to pick up Season One of Mad Men that I had just seen a week prior, and now it was gone. When I asked, the guy behind the counter shrugged. I think if I went with a local, they could speak Mandarin and get the low-down, but a foreigner like myself gets nada.


• My language skills are still atrocious but I have a few words down: hello (ni hao), thank you (xie xie), The Regent Beijing (li jing da jo dian), cold- as in cold beer (bing da), check (mai dan), I understand (ming bai), I don't want (bu yao), I don't have (mei yo), OK (hao), yes (duai), rice (mi fan), Tsingtao (Tsingtao). Sadly, that's about it. I actually know a few more words, but these listed above usually get me through the day.


• I really enjoy meeting ex-pats when I travel. Last week, a partied with an Irish guy, and 3 Dutch folks that all live and work here. Its especially great after a few drinks and realizing that I'm in Beijing talking about agricultural engineering in Pakistan with a Dutch guy while listening to hip-hop playing in the background. This never gets old.


• Also, our organization actually has a blog to give some Asian perspectives on things happening on this side of the Pacific, I contributed an entry this week: http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2008/07/30/in-china-olympic-expectations-and-anxieties/ I've received pretty good feedback from co-workers, but any faithful readers to this here site will recognize that I have been edited to no end. I mean not one of my jokes were left in. Anyway, have a look and if you are interested in such info, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter. You can get email updates and the content is usually very strong. Also note that my entry has zero to do with issues.

That's it for now. I'm going to begin winding down week number five of seven in China. Crazy how time is flying. Oh, by the way....MANNY MANNY MANNY MANNY!!

Suited

I've always heard that one of the greatest deals I am missing out on during my visits to China is getting my own tailor made suit. Fortunately, I had a tip from a co-worker on a place at Silk Street so I decided to get the wheels in motion towards getting some fancy duds at a fraction of the price it would cost me back home.

Its actually pretty sweet. You pick the fabric, the design, the cut and they sew it for you in one day I believe. It'll probably cost me $130. Not bad at all. Yesterday, I went through the motions to figure out what I wanted and will return sometime this week to do all the measurements and stuff.

Imagine my surprise when upon entering the shop, I saw pictures on the wall of America's favorite injury faking NBA champ Paul Pierce and the round mound of rebound, Charles Barkley with the sales ladies. Its a good thing Pierce and Chuck found this place, I have no idea how they could afford normal suits at the salaries they make. Actually, for Barkley this might make sense. Dude could be broker than I am due to his gambling losses. So next time, you're watching Inside the NBA on TNT, know that Barkley may not actually be wearing a Gucci or Armani suit after all. No idea where he gets his beloved mock turtlenecks...probably Wal-Mart.

Five Ring Circus

I am here in Beijing once again, but this time I am here for the next 7 weeks, which will mean some Olympics overlap as well as the run-up to the Games which should provide some interesting anecdotes I would think.

Accessing this blog has proven to be quite difficult and though I may have found a work around, I'm not sure how effective my posting will be or if I will be able to attach photos. We'll see I guess. Speaking of seeing, I am writing this from my 19th floor office and have a great view of Jianguomen dajie, a main drag that cuts across the city. The visibility is at an all-time low. The smog and fog are ultra-thick, and I have yet to see blue skies since my arrival on Monday morning. If they plan on tweaking the weather somehow for the Olympics, they should probably start now.

The most noticable difference of this visit versus my others has been that Beijing certainly has put on its best face this time around. The freeway leading to the airport is stradled with manicured mini-gardens and trees, which were never here before, and they are way more signs in English than before. Most of them point you towards various Olympic venues. There are also crossing guards at a major intersection near my hotel. It the past it was pedestrian mayhem. This time there is more of an illusion of control.

Unfortunately, they have also apparently tried to clean up the black market and have shut down a number of bootleg DVD outposts and street vendors, which is a bummer. Fortunately, I knew of a couple of places that were still in business, so my jones was filled.

More soon.

Remembering the AlamoDome

It has been two weeks since my trip to San Antonio for the 2008 Final Four and I feel I am now ready to go public with my thoughts. First of all, I have to acknowledge Greg, Derek, and Francis that joined me for a memorable weekend adventure that was filled with more good times and bad times than I can remember. Despite the unfortunate game results, upon reflection this was a fantastic weekend during a time in life where such “old boy” or “bro” weekends have become few and far between.

Now my reflections…I don’t think I have been filled with as much nervous excitement as I was on the trip to Texas two weeks ago. (It must be noted that I attended UCLA’s last title run in 1995, so the idea of actually going to the Final Four was not overwhelming in itself. Also, this happened while I was a college student during the 1990s where I think grunge music and high levels of THC coursing through my body numbed me from the most natural of human emotion— outward excitement.) My trip took two legs, Oakland to Phoenix; Phoenix to Austin. The Phoenix airport was a sight to behold for Bruin Nation. I texted a few people back home with the note, “PHX airport is like Westwood Southwest.” It was unbelievable. Powder blue and gold everywhere you look. The airport bar was electric with energy, chatter about game tickets being overhead, tales of Final Fours past exchanged, and of course the prospects of the Bruins hanging championship #12 in Pauley Pavilion being discussed (writing those words still fills me with disappointment and sadness. I guess I’m not over it.).

Fast forward to Saturday morning in San Antonio. After exchanging the Michael Scott-edition Chrysler LeBaron convertible for a more suitable rental ride, we made the one-hour trek from Austin to San Antonio, drove past the AlamoDome and the whole experience became very real. We had about two hours before tip-off and went to some pre-party that included free chicken wings, nachos, and tamales. Perhaps the first disappointment of the weekend occurred shortly thereafter. Suffice it to say, we were already a few beers in, but we realized that each school was having special parties and that we were basically hanging in the stable of the masses. Of course, we immediately tried to sneak in to the UCLA party to hang with fellow Bruins before the game for some much-needed pre-game hype. Not to be too self-serving, but I had no problem getting past the first layer of security, and Greg and I easily slid past the second checkpoint without problem. Entering the “exclusive” party space was similar to the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house lands after the tornado and she opens the door to reveal the Technicolor world of Munchkin land. Upon passing the security area, I was treated to visions of UCLA cheerleaders cavorting about, former UCLA football coach Terry Donahue chatting up some alums, beer and wine stations appearing in all corners of the room, food everywhere, and Tim Robbins cruising by. It was awesome. All I could say to Greg was, “this is more like it.”

In what can only be described as the ultimate foreshadowing of things to come, we were shortly tapped on the shoulder by a rent-a-cop asking to see our party passes. Unfotunately, one member of our quartet did not heed the ultimate mantra of acting like you belong there, got shaken down by security, and in an egregious error in party crashing dogma, wound up getting all of us kicked out by pinpointing us to security. Unbelievable. Until my last days on this Earth, I will always believe that had we remained at the party, the world would have been rotating normally and the Bruins would have emerged triumphant. Alas, it was not to be. To make matters worse, as we are going down the escalator feeling like chumps, we peer over to the adjacent escalator going up and see Ed O’Bannon, the 1995 tournament’s winner of the Most Outstanding Player award and the greatest UCLA player of our lives, heading to the party. Ugh.
(The whole of San Antonio was a basketball fan’s dream that weekend. Along with the obvious undercurrent of the games, tons of familiar basketball characters were milling around town. Throughout the weekend, we saw Hakeem Olajuwon, Rick Pitino, Lorenzo Romar, David Robinson (sitting 4 rows in front of us), Rex Walters, Scot Pollard, Tony Parker, Seth Greenberg, Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, and Artis Gilmore. The scene was definitely set for some classic basketball.)

Then the game started. I prefer not to get too much into the details of the game itself since we got rolled over in the second half, but in brief— we could not hit an outside shot to save our life, our “All-American” point guard did nothing, and Memphis’ Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts continually beat us off the dribble and scored tons of buckets. Painful to even reminisce. There was a 30-45 minute silent period following the loss where none of us uttered anything to one another. The combination of inebriated stupor, disappointment, and exhaustion from intensely rooting on the squad left me physically and mentally drained and I just stared off into space like I was back in high school physics class.

So that was it. The weekend for all intents and purposes was over. Even though we had a mellow Sunday and enjoyed a great national championship on Monday, the perfect weekend was over before it started. The curtain was pulled back and Oz did not turn out the way we imagined it to be.

With 30 years of fanatic experience in watching sports, I cannot remember a team that appeared as tailor-made for a championship run than the 2007-08 UCLA Bruins. This was their third straight Final Four, so the San Antonio experience would not be overwhelming for the coaching staff and squad. They earned a #1 seed in the West Region for the first time since the 1995 championship team. A couple of close, last second victories (with or without the help of some questionable refereeing) appeared to make them destiny’s choice to be champion. But one element that comes to mind whenever I reflect on this team will always be the presence of the Golden Child, freshman center Kevin Love. The impact this kid had on the team was unlike anything I had ever seen at UCLA and was very rare in the world of college basketball. All of the ESPN talking heads and journalists would gush about Love’s game and the platitudes were never over-stated. This guy was amazing. I could talk about his game and what he meant to this team for days but in brief, I and a majority of the Bruin faithful felt that there was no way we would lose this year with Kevin Love leading the way. Unfortunately, the magic simply ran out against Memphis and the wait continues for the 12th banner to be raised.

This brings me to the trip’s silver lining though. Anyone who reads this entry knows exactly where UCLA fandom resides on my priority lists of hobbies outside of grown-up life responsibilities. The weekend was meant to be a culmination of every reason why I am a faithful supporter of my alma mater and, similar to most things built up with anticipation (read: New Year’s Eve, movie blockbusters, network television), I was left disappointed. While we continued to have a good time throughout the weekend, the underlying current of disappointment could not be ignored. Now that I am about two weeks distanced from the Final Four weekend, I have a much better perspective on things.

In retrospect, the old adage from Arthur Ashe (UCLA alum) now rings especially true— “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” The UCLA basketball program is perhaps the most cohesive fabric of my college experience, and continues to bring all of my close college friends together. When my buddy Rich and I discussed getting tickets for the early round tournament games in Anaheim, we knew to just buy the maximum allotment of eight, since we would have no problem finding takers. We all love Bruin basketball.
The Final Four weekend thus held a specific “once in a lifetime” feel and the four of us were able to enjoy great moments that only being friends for over 15 years can provide. This coupled with the barrage of calls and text messages from pals back in Cali wanting to catch some of the flavor of the event made the moment feel all the more special. Derek, who is married and has a daughter, acknowledged this point specifically. The opportunities for us all to get together like this have become more rare as the years quickly pass on. Families are growing, responsibilities are increasing, and free time is shrinking at an alarming rate. Maybe once or twice a year, all of the college mates get together, making this weekend even more unique.

It was clear that every college friend near a television was watching the UCLA-Memphis and cringing and cheering and hoping just like the four of us were inside the AlamoDome that afternoon. Looking back, there is still no place I would have rather seen the disappointing loss than with my buddies watching the game live. To me, it felt like the four of us were representing all of our great friends by being there live (thanks of course to Greg for securing the tickets). As I reflect back, the emotional ups and downs took a toll on us, but left me with a ton of memories and the hope that having these weekend trips with the guys will continue until we are pushing canes at the old folks home. That is the appropriate memory I hope to keep in the front of my mind whenever I recall the 2008 Final Four. Well, that and if James Keefe’s second half baseline 3-pointer goes in, instead of rattling out, we would have had a whole different ball game.