Basketball Diaries

When I got here, some of the head honchos asked me if I liked to play basketball. I am tall and from America (the birthplace of the game,) so they figured that I did. I told them that, yes, I do indeed enjoy playing. They were happy and asked me if I would play in the school tournament. I said sure, it sounded like fun, all the while imagining that it would be a bunch of casual pick-up games with the reward being bragging rights. We met for "practice" a couple of times and played against the students a couple of times too. I was told that I represented the English Dept. and there were 6 guys on our team.

We were shooting around when my new teammate/colleague/friend, Murray, said that there was a dinner party to attend. I said "Great! When?" He responded that it was in 15 minutes (Hey, that's China!) and that I should go change clothes, tell Michelle to get ready, and meet him. Shell and I scurried around getting nice clothes on and barely made it in time. The "dinner party" turned out to be a banquet of over 300 people from all over the city. It also turned out that I was on the schoolwide basketball team as well as the English department team. The team was mostly the PE majors who have been practicing for a while, so I was second string. There were dignitaries and businessmen attending this thing and I found out a few interesting things about the tournament. First of all, there is money at stake: 5,000 renminbi (about $625) goes to the winner and 3,000 goes to the 2nd place team. Second, we would be playing the next morning after the beginning ceremony. Third, it is part of a larger set of games that also include badminton and ping pong. It was a county-wide olympics of sorts!

The next morning I showed up in the pouring rain and was given a very fast breakfast. I was told that the classes I teach would be postponed and I was taken to city hall where there was a band and all of the other teams. It was a parade! We marched through town (still raining) to the stadium where we lined up military-style and listened to the dignitaries speak, as well as the national anthem. Then they released a couple hundred pigeons (not doves.) Somebody even gave me home and away jerseys. I didn't play a whole lot in the tournament because of some politics around here. I played in only one game when the score had been run up by quite a bit. It was just after halftime and the coach put me in. I trotted out onto the court in front of hundreds of spectators and...

Everyone laughed.

It was a bit embarrassing but I scored 4 points right away and soon I was getting my own cheers. Sure, they were in Chinese and I couldn't understand them, but they said my name! After the break we will go back to the department games without the pressure. It'll be nice.

Pics:

Photo 1: Want to buy a balloon? This is a balloon salesman in Tianshui at the market. It must be nice to give a little bit of fun to people...sort of like being a flower delivery person, I'd imagine.

Photo 2: Want to buy a squid? Delicious!

Photo 3: This is in our apartment. I invited my oral English class over to watch a movie. Of the 38 students in the class about 36 showed up. We all scrunched together and watched the movie The Truman Show.