China sure knows.. the NBA

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Of all the things that China is not aware of in the USA … Ovens, large refrigerators, Taco Bell.. there is one modern convenience they all know… the NBA.

I am pretty sure that most people if not all people even from the smallest village knows the NBA.  They may not know what the letters actually stand for but they do know what it means.  American Basketball….

This comes to my mind today because of a few high school kids I spoke too.  I was trying to get them to understand that I lived in Miami.  Their blank faces stared back at me… I tried beaches, Oceans… Latin culture.. nothing.. but when I said.. NBA Miami Heat… their eye lite up like Christmas lights.. and the smiles starting to show… they all started shouting WAD-DA… WAD-DA .. this seems to be the way they pronounce Wade… then they started in on the Big three.. and I thought they were going to go crazy when someone mention Kobe.  Every day I see students and adults shooting hoops and bouncing a basketball.

It really amazed me how much they know about the NBA.  They know uniforms, mascots, and even numbers of the players.  They told me they watched them play all the time. They even bet on the teams in the championship games.

I know this craze started with Yao Ming going to play for the NBA in Texas.  Most Chinese are very, very proud of this accomplishment.  They even placed bets on whether his first child would be a boy or a girl.. and how big it would be… by the way it was a girl, to their disappointment.

Their sheer joy when they hear an NBA player is coming to China makes me sometime forget the fact that they are still quite prejudice when it comes to the Black American people.  It is like they forget all about race when they see a 7 ft giant, Black man enter the building.  All they can do is scream and cry as though he is Michael Jackson.

I know it is the young people who basically worship the NBA and dream of one day playing for an American NBA team.  However, the older generation are not immune to the obsession.  They even created a CBA team that plays here in China.  However, after watching one game in which a Black American player on the team, punched a Chinese player in the face to get him out-of-the-way of a rebound.. it told me that it was not really a professional game and why that guy was not on a NBA team.

He apologized to the player stating he was over excited about the game and it happen by accident.  I actually thought it was a bit high school-ish the game in itself with all the turnovers and fouls.  I see why very few people even knew any of the players or teams for that matter.

My husband is not to be left out he is also enamored with the NBA.. Celtics to be exact.  He even has a little statue of Garnett that he rubs before the game.

I guess.. there is one thing that connects countries … no matter the reasons the have to hate each other… that is Basketball.. or sports all together.  I cannot help but think that instead of us going to war all the time… we just played a big game of Basketball to settle the differences things would be much more peaceful.

Well.. I had better go the game is on.. and I need to argue with my husband about who will win.

 

until next time….

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