Real estate slump a ray of hope for baseball in China?
Monday, 29th December 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
But the AP story ends with an interesting observation. Real estate has been slumping in Beijing (this story cites a forecast from Jones Lang LaSalle that demand for office rentals in Beijing will dip by 10 to 15 percent next year), making 2009 a less than ideal year for the site's majority owner, ACRE, to find a new tenant for this piece of land.
AP quotes Harvey Schiller, the president of the International Baseball Federation, as saying: "Maybe current economic conditions will work in our favor, hopefully." Schiller and Major League Baseball seem to be hoping that the delay in developing new plans for the stadium site will buy them some time to get some other ducks in a row. Major League Baseball runs a youth development program called "Play Ball," and is reportedly still lobbying to get games aired on CCTV.
The stadium was christened last spring with a pair of exhibition games between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which were reported to be played in front of sellout crowds, despite at least a quarter of the seats being empty.
Related: Spring Training in Beijing
Tags: baseball, Beijing, MLB, Wukesong
Baseball coach breaks with Olympic gag order
Monday, 11th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China put a gag order on its coaches and athletes for the pre-Olympic period, making none of them available to talk with foreign media (with the exception of press conferences at international competition).But Jim Lefebvre broke that silence when he spoke with Seattle Times reporter Steve Kelley a few days ago. Five years ago, Lefebvre took a detour from his long Major League Baseball career to lead China's baseball team.
The team isn't expected to have much success at these games, and two of the three ballparks that were built in Beijing will be torn down after the Olympics. But Lefebvre, who will likely return to the United States this fall, has high hopes for baseball's future in China and some interesting stories from his time with the Chinese team.
On why he decided to speak to Kelley, Lefebvre says:
"With the Olympics about to begin, the Chinese officials have come to me and said no coach, or player, or manager can talk to the media," Lefebvre said. "So this, what I'm doing now, is against their policy. I asked them why we can't talk and they told me they didn't want to put a focus on their team and I told them, 'You know, that bothers me.'
"We have players who deserve some attention. We have a guy who played in the CBA [Chinese Baseball Association], quit the game and worked in the restaurant business for eight years. Now he's our best pitcher. That's a story that should be told."
Tags: baseball, Beijing Olympics, Jim Lefebvre
Weekend Watch
Friday, 11th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
There's plenty for sports fans in China to get excited about this weekend—from ice hockey in Harbin to baseball in Chengdu. Here is a roundup of some of the events taking place over the next few days:Golf
CCTV will air The Masters from 2:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. on April 11, 12 and 13. On Monday the 14th, coverage starts at 1:00 a.m.
The Omega China Tour continues with its Kunming leg this Saturday and Sunday.
Location: Lakeview Golf Course, Dianchi Road, Kunming.
Ice Hockey
The medal round of the IIHF Women's World Championships goes down this Saturday at Harbin's Baqu Arena. Underdog Switzerland plays Finland for the bronze at 3:30 and Canada plays the United States for the gold at 7:00. The gold medal game will be broadcast in Canada and the United States . Also, we'd like to call your attention again to the blog that one of the tournament participants is keeping—it's a good opportunity to get into the head of a Western athlete competing in and experiencing China.
Location: Baqu Arena, Harbin
Auto Racing
Engines from 22 different countries fire up at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this weekend. Qualifying races are Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, there will be a sprint race at 11:00 a.m. and the main event takes place at 3:00 p.m. The races won't be on CCTV, but you can catch them live on ESPN Star Sports, SMG Sports Channel and Guangdong TV.
Location: Shanghai International Circuit, Jiading District, Shanghai
Baseball
Opening weekend for the Chinese Baseball League (CBL) brings games in Tianjiin, Chengdu and Jiangsu on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Going to any of these competitions? Want to become a part of the conversation here at China Sports Today? Go to our Contribute page.
Tags: auto racing, baseball, golf, ice hockey
Around the Web
Friday, 11th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Marketing: Big brands get local to boost China sales (CScout.com)Soccer: Chelsea sow seeds for financial domination in Asia
(SoccerLens.com)
Olympics: Hanging by a Thread (a feature from ESPN on diver Guo Jingjing and other Olympians)
Basketball: Young Buck bounds toward Beijing (A wrap-up of Yi Jianlian's rookie year in the NBA from China Daily)
Tags: Adidas, baseball, CBL, Guo Jingjing, links, marketing, Nike, soccer, swimming, Yi Jianlian
How Do You Say Baseball in Chinese?
Wednesday, 26th March 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
In the run-up to the Olympics, they have been serving up plenty of sports content, including this recent lesson on baseball. Some helpful ChinesePod users have also posted the Chinese names of baseball terms, positions and teams in the site's comments section.
By the way, the answer to the above question is bàngqiú, 棒球. Softball is lěiqiú, 垒球.
Tags: baseball, ChinesePod, language, Mandarin
Spring Training in Beijing
Sunday, 16th March 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The two-game Beijing spring training series between Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers ended this weekend with a 3-3 tie on Saturday and a 6-3 Padres' win on Sunday. The teams played to a not-quite-full house in Wukesong Stadium, the 12,000-seat venue that will host Olympic baseball in August.
The double header had a little bit of everything you'd expect from a preseason major league competition—hot dogs, beer, some sloppy plays and a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," sung by a few American fans called down to the field during the seventh inning stretch. Beijing even had unseasonably good baseball weather—sunny skies both days and a high temperature Sunday of 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit).
Does Baseball Have A Shot?
The series is part of MLB's efforts to create a market for the game in China, and Dodgers manager Joe Torre and MLB commissioner Bud Selig both waxed optimistic about the future of baseball in China.
"I have no doubt in my mind that in a decade, baseball will be big in China," MLB.com quotes Selig as saying. In reality, the game's future here isn't so certain and MLB still has a long way to go to even come close to the success that the NBA has had with basketball. That was evidenced by the below-capacity attendance in an easily accessible stadium in a city of 15 million people.
"I think it would take a while to make baseball work in China," said Jeffrey Cheung, a Beijing resident from Hong Kong. "First you have to have some parks and get kids playing, and get some good players in college, and then maybe put together a decent national team."
Cheung has been a baseball fan since he was first introduced to it as a college student in Pennsylvania. He said that he would like to be involved in growing the game in China, but that any efforts will face big challenges in one key area—getting facilities built. "If you spend the money to build a stadium and no one plays in it, it is very obvious and embarrassing to the government," he said. Unlike a basketball gymnasium, a baseball diamond can't be used for much other than the game it's intended for.
It also it seemed the MLB missed some opportunities this weekend to make the game relatable to an audience that knows little about it. The electronic scoreboard had no Chinese on it (except for the characters Zhongguo Sai – China Competition—on the series logo). The teams' names, the statistics and short tutorials about some baseball terms were all displayed in English. And while everyone received a program and a set of noisemakers on entering, the program lacked rosters and statistics.
And much to the chagrin of some American fans, vendors ran out of hot dogs before the game even started on Sunday, and on Saturday they ran out of both hot dogs and beer before the seventh inning stretch.
A Fan is Born
Beijing resident Li Yipeng
"He's really lucky today," said Li's mother, Xu Jingli, who was at the game with Li and his father. The family of sports fans also attended a softball tournament in Beijing last year. Xu said the family knew the rules of the game, but Li has still never played it. On Sunday, an American fan at the game taught him to swing his new bat, but he won't likely have any pitches to swing at soon.
Worth the Trip
While one new fan was created, a veteran demonstrated the irrational behavior of the extremely dedicated. Native Southern Californian Richard Marcotte flew to Beijing from his home in Kentucky just to see the game. He carried a Dodgers blue foam #1 finger and a homemade sign that read "#1 LA Fan." Marcotte arrived in time for the seventh inning of the Saturday game, and was booked on a flight back home on Monday.
"I've got a really nice wife who let me come out here," he said. "Especially with a four-year-old and a six-year-old at home,"
Ironically, Marcotte came to the Beijing game in part because he couldn't get a ticket to the Dodgers' sold-out pre-season game against the Boston Red Sox in the 90,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Since he works for a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, his flight to Tokyo was free, and his Tokyo-Beijing flight cost him about $200 roundtrip.
Richard Marcotte flew from Kentucky for the game
Marcotte added that his homemade sign caused a small security stir. Event security officials brought an English-speaking interpreter to find out the meaning of "#1 LA Fan from Kentucky," ostensibly to make sure that his sign didn't include any references to sensitive issues. That's one concern that could get interesting when millions of foreigners come to Beijing in August to root for their home teams.
Overall, the games were at least a start for MLB's overtures to China. Maybe next time the league brings a game here, the local kids lining up for the pre-game batting cages will know how to swing a bat.
Links:
Los Angeles Dodgers' China Series 2008 Web site
A Danwei.com story about security shenanigans during Saturday's game.
Tags: baseball, Beijing, Dodgers, MLB, Padres, Wukesong