Sunday Morning Ritual

The Chinese love basketball. Absolutely love it - more, I think, than most Americans. When I was in Beijing for the Olympics, all I saw around me were advertisements for Nike and Reebok, larger than life NBA players hanging from billboards and walls, enticing thousands of Chinese into impulsive shoe purchases daily. While the Chinese love Yao Ming, for some unknown reason, Kobe Bryant is a God here. He has an ad on TV, his face is recognized by almost all Chinese, and he was undoubtedly the most famous Olympian at the Games, bigger than even the Chinese stars, Yao Ming and Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler.

I guess then, that it is not surprising that one of the ways Americans and Chinese relate to each other is through the game of basketball. Lanqiu, as its called in Chinese, gives both countries a common language. The camaraderie that is built on the court transcends the game itself, and has led me to count among my friends quite a few of the Chinese guys I play against and with on a weekly basis. These friendships have at the center the game of basketball. We play every Sunday morning, and it is, quite honestly, one of the highlights of my week.