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China Sports Blogs. Not Quite Life Itself, But....

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game." Jacques Barzun I love watching and reading about sports. Always have. Always will. Growing up, I never missed school unless the Cubs were on the television. No way was I going to waste a sick day on I Love Lucy and the Beverly Hillbillies. Many years ago, a London lawyer friend of mine (who happens to be a baseball fan) was asking me about racism in the United States. I told him of an incident in Ken Burns' amazing documentary, Baseball, that to me, pretty well summed up both the absurdity and shame of American racism. The story (as I remember it now) was Curt Flood (or was it Lou Brock?), an intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate black man, talking about a doubleheader his minor league team played in Arkansas (I think it was Arkansas) where he had to sit out the second game because the local laundry would not wash the clothes of a Black man. I then instructed my friend to read David Halberstam's book, October 1964, which does as good a job of any in explaining American racism. My read it and loved it. Though I know it to be a total cliche, I cannot resist also pointing out that sports teach you about life. Because they do. Read this amazing article on Walter Payton and then try to dispute that. All this is a preface to pointing out that there is some excellent China sports writing going on out there in English, of which you should be aware. The China Sports Review Blog and China Sports Today are both excellent general sports blogs. China Sports Today describes itself as follows:

From our base in Beijing, China Sports Today covers the Chinese sports world - from professional leagues and Olympic teams to sports marketing and recreational events. Our daily news updates, events calendar (coming soon), guides and listings of relevant locations (coming soon) around China will help you make sense of the rapidly evolving sports scene here. Whether you are a journalist looking for the names of China's top badminton players, a rugby player looking for a team to play with in Shanghai or a sports fan coming to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing next August, China Sports Today is your online source.

China Sports Review describes itself as follows:

China Sports Review was established in Oct. 2008, one month after the Beijing Olympics Games, with the objective of providing up-to-date news about China?s sports industry, analysis and opinions on current happenings in the Chinese sports world, as well as information on Chinese sports media, education, culture and history.

And though I am of the Golf is a good walk spoiled view (mostly because I suck at it) I love Dan Washburn's Par for China blog, which he describes as follows:

I am Dan Washburn, an American writer based in Shanghai, China. I am currently researching a book about the development of golf in China. Golf, its emergence and growth in China, is a barometer for the country?s rapid economic rise. But golf is also symbolic of the less glamorous realities of a nation?s awkward and arduous evolution from developing to developed ? historical prejudice, class struggle, political corruption, environmental neglect, and an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. This website is dedicated to some of my work on the topic.

It is often said that to fully understand a culture, you have to understand its humor. I think the same holds true of a country's sports and its relationship to those sports. If you want to know more about China through sports, I recommend you read China Sports Review, China Sports Today, and Par for China .

Full post as published by China Law Blog on November 25, 2009 (boomark / email).