PhDribble

The Big Aristotila in Manila

Here's one of those priceless posts that you stumble upon and thank the heavens for the existence of the internet.  And thank FreeDarko not only for their fascinating writing, but for the amazing community of Ligophosers they have brought together. 

For all the anger at the MSM and the ghettoized state of the blogosphere, mark my words.  We're all gonna be nostalgic one day.  Nostalgic for these days when the internet was young and wide-open, when suddenly (it seemed for the first time) that we could connect intellectually on a global scale, when the possibilities seemed endless.

 
The following was written as a comment in response to yesterday's Superman article at FreeDarko.

Ghostlightning wrote:

I'm an unabashed Shaq fan and I'm awfully scandalized and embarrassed with what I've seen from him the past 2 years.

I started seriously following the NBA in the 1995-1996 season when Orlando got swept by Houston in the finals. It was the year we got cable tv and I was able to follow the games over at ESPN.

Basketball has been big here in thee Philippines but for a long time only Jordan was the recognized player from the NBA. Like most, I was a Jordan fan but by the time of his first retirement I was looking for a player to call my own.

I started hearing other kids talk about Shaq and after I saw a few games I knew I had my guy. He was so good and so entertaining. And this was the year when Penny made Orlando very good and I really enjoyed how they beat Jordan and the Bulls on the way to the Magic's only finals appearance.

I followed him to LA and even though they were good to watch, especially with Kobe's ascendancy, they didn't win until Phil Jackson came to coach them.

I remember getting so annoyed when writers questioned his ability and performance, and in 2000, it seemed that he put all the doubts to rest.

HOWEVER, I really believe that his decline BEGAN DURING THE LAKERS' 1ST TITLE DEFENSE. He got waaay too big and looked nothing like Orlando Shaq. I remember some of his comments about how Miami Shaq would beat his previous incarnations due to veteran wisdom. I think he made these comments ALREADY WHEN HE WAS A LAKER. When they lost to Detroit in the 2003-2004 finals I remember Phil Jackson saying how the Lakers squandered one of Shaq's throwback performances. Even then his decline was obvious.

During their 2nd championship run, I noticed I was becoming more of a Lakers fan than a Shaq fan. And although I wouldn't admit it yet, I was becoming more of a Kobe fan.

When Shaq left for Miami, I was glad it was Kobe who stayed.

Perhaps it would be an indictment of the NBA's star-centeredness that my loyalty never was with the Bulls, or Orlando, and that my loyalty to LA is due to Kobe's remaining on the team, but then again I was never from these cities and I'm not even an American.

Still, when Shaq won his 4th title I was happy. But I noticed that I was more happy as an apologist for Shaq rather than for Miami. I actually begrudged (in hindsight) Wade's emergence because I was ashamed to admit that Shaq didn't carry the team at all. He was a role player already even then.

So I agree that Shaq should, if indeed he cares for his legacy as much as his ego allows himself to behave, to waive his contract and be content in delivering on his promise to Miami. Then he can say goodbye like Kareem and let me remember him as he was in 2000.

Highlights from the European Basketball Association

For those of you who missed it, the top two teams from the European Basketball Association played last night.   Filled with high flying mayhem, diming wizardry, and touch-American-football defense, it promised to be a treat.  And it was, although unfortunately the game ended after 36 minutes.  Final score: Phoenecian Suns 122, Turin Raptors 103.  And, perhaps the surprise of the game, an American import Chris Bosh (pronounced B-O-SCH) proved he was the best player in the game, finishing with 42 pts and 13 boards.

The European Basketball Association made its first splash in the summer of 2004 when then General Manager, Bryan Colangelo, poached Canadian soccer star Steve Nash from the NBA.  But it was a year later, with the trade of American star Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks for French after-thought Boris Diaw, that the Phoenicians began converting nay-sayers to their unorthodox brand of basketball.

Since its inception, American experts have been calling for the Euros to dismantle their league and join the NBA.  But, despite the uproar, the EBA has held firm to its roots, continuing to adopt a World War I era ethos: forget defense, if they can just keeping running as many young men against them as possible, they're going to be overwhelmed and have to surrender.  And, in fact, bucking the odds, the EBA has now grown with its first expansion franchise in Turin.  The Raptors--whose name quaintly alludes to an American film about dinosaurs run amok--poached the Phoenicians GM and the run-and-gun philosophy with it.

American pundits continue to doubt the viability of the EBA.  While the Euro upstarts may be successful against lesser competition, these pundits conclude that against the top tier American teams, the Phoenicians just can't sustain their offense-first game and win a championship.  These experts believe that if the Suns are determined to win it all, they have to trade some of their pieces for defensive stoppers who can clog the lane against the likes of Tim Duncan and, well, Tim Duncan.

But these naysayers are missing the key to the EBA.  Head coach Mike D'Antoni doesn't just want to win a championship, he wants to challenge the fundamental beliefs about the game.  As he told renowned American reporter Jack McCallum,

"'I've heard you don't lose the game in the first five minutes...but if you get down six in the first five minutes, then you lose by five, didn't you lose the game in the first five minutes?  I'm from West Virginia but I took a little math...Most coaches believe defenses are more vulnerable late in the shot clock, that you can get them out of position with a lot of passing.  I don't know why defenses wouldn't be more vulnerable before they get set.  That's why we play fast...People say that when you play fast you'll be a high-turnover team.  I think you'll be a low-turnover team because you don't throw as many passes."

McCallum calls these challenges to NBA truisms, "cutting up every chestnut." [Chestnuts grow in chestnut trees and "thrive on neutral and acidic soils."  They are "important food for jays, pigeons, and squirrels."  They are traditionally "roasted" in the American celebration of Christmas.  But in this context "chestnuts" seem to refer to deeply-rooted beliefs.]  To ask D'Antoni et al to compromise their style is equivalent to convincing Billy Beane that walks aren't as important as hits.  For D'Antoni is on a mission.  He doesn't believe in "playing the right way."  Or more accurately, he doesn't agree with the consensus defintion of what "playing the right way" is.  He doesn't need Larry Brown, he has his own LB, Leandro Barbosa.

The latest development in the EBA is the importation of a former role-player turned analyst, Steve Kerr [pronounced ST-EE-V-E K-U-R] to lead its player acquisition staff in the role of General Manager.  Only time will tell whether this former American champion will stay true to the founding philosophy of the EBA or adopt a more American style for his team.  True believers like D'Antoni are relying on Kerr's Lebanese roots [his father was the head of the American University of Beirut until he was assassinated in 1984] to inure him from American pressures.  As the trade deadline approaches, the EBA may face its first true test, whether Kerr will retain the European elan or compromise.   The clock is ticking as the first legendary star of the EBA, Steve Nash, seems to have only two years left in the tank.  Can Euro-ball win in America? If Kerr slows down the team and trades for the requisite American big man, we may never know.

The People's Daily Vision: Yao vs. Yi

As I began to discuss earlier this week, the coverage of Yao and Yi allows us to examine not just international basketball, but nuances in contemporary Chinese culture.   We must view Yao and Yi not necessarily as agents of change, but as representative of shifts in Chinese culture.  The following is an analysis of this week's coverage of the Yao-Yi match-up from the online English edition of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's authoritative newspaper (PD.) [The articles were originally published in the China Daily and reprinted for the People's Daily online edition.]

The cultural shift that the PD describes (and sanctions as acceptable for the state) pits "traditional" Chinese values against a younger "vanguard" generation.

Leading the Houston Rockets is Yao, a man born to one of the most traditio nal sports families in Shanghai. He received strict and systematic basketball training over the years without ever getting to see an NBA game on TV or wear name-brand basketball shoes.

At the other end, Yi: a post-1985 generation from Shenzhen, China's vanguard city in reform and opening-up. The youngster idolizes Michael Jordan and spent most of his childhood playing street basketball until he was noticed by a pro coach in a three-on-three street-ball national tournament. -- People's Daily, Nov 9 2007

While the clash is depicted as an internal battle, the allusion to Michael Jordan suggests that the PD understands Yi's generation as having adopted and learned this new style from the United States.  Nonetheless, the relationship is not a simply between imperialist/impersonalized but one between Chinese generations.  Western culture is not being imposed on the Chinese people, but being offered as an alternative model which China can emulate (or not.)

In fact, the PD does not present this culture clash as one emanating from the state.

Amid all the excitement, the game will be - as fans have called it - a clash of Chinese cultures; tradition verses trend; modesty against flamboyance.

The PD emphasizes that "fans have called it" a culture clash, suggesting that the impetus for and battle over change comes from the population itself.  This characterization does not necessarily conflict with the general understanding of China's "modernization" efforts.  Since Deng Xiaoping's regime in 1978 (lasting until the early 1990's,) the Chinese government has emphasized a loosening of state control over Chinese society.  Specifically, the government began to mix nationalized industry with economic independence and individual ownership. 

Nonetheless, the state has made sure to maintain control over the pace of change as leaders attempt to avoid political upheaval (such as the "Tienanmen Square Massacre" of 1989) or economic collapse (such as Russian hyperinflation in the early 1990's under Boris Yeltsin's watch.)  Not unlike the United States, the Chinese government has made sure to slow down economic growth in order to avoid a "bursting bubble."  The state continues to control the media. As the New York Times reported on the pet food scandal this summer,

As of late Friday, however, the report of the nationwide inspections was being carried only in the English-language versions of Xinhua, as well as the English-language versions of other state-controlled newspapers, like People's Daily and China Daily. -- New York Times, May 5 2007

Thus, the Chinese state sanctions certain developments in the media (e.g., the Yao's traditionalism vs. Yi's generation), while censoring others (e.g., China's contamination scandal.) 

We must appreciate that access to information in China is not only a matter of how much or little reporting the state allows the population to read.  We must appeciate that there remains an asymmetrical relationship of intellectual capitol between China and the United States.  For example, the PD reports,

The game [between Houston and Milwaukee] attracts world attention and 250 million Chinese audience, according to estimated statistics of NBA.com. -- People's Daily, Nov 10 2007

Likewise,

According to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, more than 100 million Chinese fans are expected to watch the game via a national telecast on CCTV or regional telecasts on networks in Shanghai and Guangdong province, to be aired live on Saturday morning in China. --  People's Daily, Nov 9 2007

What is fascinating about these quotes is that there is no mention of Chinese estimates of viewership, and indeed these statistics do not seem to exist.  The newspaper relies on American statistics for number of Chinese viewers.  Imagine if a Chinese soap-opera were imported to the United States.  Would the USA Today rely on Chinese statistics to quantify American viewership?  Certainly not.  Lack of information in China is not merely a matter of lack of freedom, but also a product of an underdeveloped media/academic/technological infrastructure for quantification.

The cultural shift in China goes beyond matters of capitalism and consumption.   The PD suggests fundamental changes in attitudes concerning public vs private and acceptable emotional displays.  As the PD writes of "Yao-Yi: 1,"

This is like the Super Bowl - in China...the excitement in China will be as palpable as that peculiar American quasi-holiday when virtually the whole nation stands glued to their television sets, amid parties and wild celebrations.

In a similar fashion, fan clubs of both Yi and Yao will host game parties around the country. The early-season showdown could change Chinese people's traditional definitions of watching a ball game, as they flock to bars and playgrounds with beers and basketballs in their hands.

"We always stay at home and watch the game, but A-lian (Yi's nickname in China) and Big Yao gave us a passion we want to share, so we will go out and enjoy the game together for the first time."

Compared with sports-crazed Western fans, who routinely go out to bars and restaurants for major sporting events, Chinese fans tend to be more introverted and are somehow not as willing to share their feelings. -- People's Daily, Nov 9 2007

As 16-year-old Yi-thusiast, Shen Ye, told the PD:

"I am not shy to say this is a big step for me...Stepping out of my private space and into the crowd is an exciting move for me. I don't know how it feels to watch my idol with 100 guys like me, but I am sure it would be more interesting than watching my small television on the sofa. -- People's Daily, Nov 9 2007

The growth in "game parties" suggests the emergence of a new model for personal interactions: one that blurs the lines between family and friends and offers new opportunities for intimacy.

It should be noted that the shift in Chinese culture is not simply a product of engagement with the United States.   The PD reports that immigrant groups have also exposed the Chinese population to public fan-dom.  Like superbowl parties, China has also seen:

Parties like the ones at The Den earlier this year, where Australian and Indian fans battled it out during the Cricket World Cup. -- People's Daily, Nov 9 2007

The PD notes that the Cricket-watching is a "sports gala that very few Chinese even know about."  Nonetheless, the acknowledgment of a heterogeneity in China is a big step.  It suggests that cultural changes come not only from engagement with foreign media and imported commodities, but also from Australian  and Indian immigrant groups in China.

Finally, the PD depicts not only cultural shifts but changes in China's geo-political future.  The rise of Yao and Yi is described as part of a multi-national challenge to American hegemony.  As the PD writes,

So for both teams [the game between Houston and Milwaukee] was just one game in 82, to the rest of the world, it shows basketball is once again a universal language, one in which we can all understand. -- People's Daily, Nov 11 2007

In other words, the Association has ceased to be an American game. The world has adopted basketball as an international sport. Yet note the comparison the PD makes in the lead of its article,

At the Toyota Center in Houston, Texax [sic], basketball history was made on the same scale as when Russian Alexander Belov hit the game winner as time expired in the 1972 Olympics Games, causing the Americans their first Olympic defeat ever in men's basketball internationally. --  People's Daily, Nov 11 2007

This analogy compares the Houston-Milwaukee/Yao-Yi matchup to the Soviet victory over the US in 1972.  In other words the newspaper compares the state of China today with the Soviet superpower relationship to the United States in the midst of the Cold War.  In the two quotes we can see rival images of the rise of China.  In the first the PD depicts China as part of the larger international community that collectively challenges the United States' hegemony by creating a multipolar world.  Yet in the second quote, China is depicted as a potential superpower rival that could create a newly bipolar world. We, thereby, see competing images of China's potential position in the global balance-of-power.

Two more notes.

• A baffling statistic: "Millions of Chinese watch NBA games, and 30% of the traffic to NBA.com comes from China." (People's Daily, Nov 9 2007)

• Finally, an odd story.  I have no sense of why this would be reported.  One could certainly speculate.  Inserted between articles about the Yao-Yi matchup and NBA game recaps, the PD reports, "American Player to Play With Lebanese Basketball Team":

"The team players who are training under the instructions of national coach Ghassan Sarkis are expecting the arrival of American players to be tested in Damascus match-ups before officially signing up with Champville club, said the report." -- People's Daily, Nov 10 2007

Certainly the Chinese Communist Party seems hyper-aware of the United State's relationship with Middle Eastern nations.

From Mao to Yao

The rise of Yao and Yi allows us to examine not just international basketball, but nuances in contemporary Chinese culture.  As the journalist Brook Larmer writes, Yao has become the "recognizable embodiment of China’s emergence in the world." (Brook Larmer, "The Center of the World," Foreign Policy, 2005, p 74)  More specifically by studying the rise of Yao, we can see how the legacies of Marxism-Maoism still influence China. 

After the establishment of Chinese independence in 1949, Mao modeled much of his regime after the Soviet Communist Party.  Mao adopted Lenin/Stalin's basic model for press censorship.  Countless citizens were accused as "rightists" and sent to "re-education" camps or executed. 

At the same time Mao adapted the Stalinist "mentalite" of "socialist realism" to fit Chinese culture.  In the Soviet Union, Stalin had created an intellectual system that demanded writers to adopt a style of "socialist realism."  He demanded that literature would depict "life as it was becoming, rather than life as it was--rather than a literal or 'naturalistic' realism." (Sheila Fitzpatrick Everyday Stalinism, p 9.)  While "socialist realism" is most often associated with Soviet literature, the genre also informed how the news would be reported.  As Fitzpatrick writes, "Socialist realism was a Stalinist mentalite, not just an artistic style.  Ordinary citizens also developed the ability to see things as they were becoming and out to be, rather than as they were.  An empty ditch was a canal in the making; a vacant lot where old houses or a church had been torn down, littered with rubbish and weeds, was a future park."

Today, Chinese newspapers have developed beyond the stale jingoism of the Maoist press.  Yet the state still controls the press and censors "bogus" websites.  Moreover, by reading the Yao coverage closely, we can still hear the vestiges and legacy of "socialist realism."  Note the difference between how the Houston Chronicle describes Yao's transition to Adelman's new offensive system as compared to the People's Daily (the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party):

If [Yao] can stay healthy — and that's a big if, considering he has missed 59 games the past two seasons — he should establish himself once and for all as the NBA's best center./He'll be productive in other ways because Adelman's system will position him at the high post at times, allowing the Rockets to take advantage of his passing and court awareness./With a new coach, a dramatically new system and an array of new players, the Rockets will be a work in progress./How Adelman finds enough minutes to keep everyone happy will be the most interesting subplot of this season. 

                                      -- Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle, Oct 28, 2007

The tenor of Justice's piece is familiar to any consistent reader of American sports news.  Justice tempors his optimism for Yao's development with the possibilities (the "big if") of a disappointing season.  Now read the coverage by the PD:

Not that Yao isn't up for the challenge. Once he settles into his role as the conductor of Houston's new offensive train he will find it's a system that takes full advantage of his unique skills. An exceptional passer capable of knocking down perimeter shots, Yao will find his groove sooner rather than later. Growing pains are inevitable and Yao is probably being too hard on himself so early in the season.

                                      -- People's Daily, November 8, 2007

Note, this is a news story, not an editorial or column.  Unlike Justice, the PD emphasizes an optimistic forecast, a sense of how Yao "ought to be" with no mention of the precarious reality of NBA seasons.  In the United States this kind of uncategorical enthusiasm would not be allowed from even the slappiest of hometown announcers.  Yet as Larmer writes, "Chinese leaders still sees sports not so much as business, recreation, or entertainment, but as a projection of national ambition, a yearning that is particularly powerful as Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games" (Larmer, p 74.)  More specifically, the Chinese press analyzes basketball through the lens of "socialist realism."  Like the ditch that looks like a canal, Yao is seen for his upside with no mention of his potential disappointment.  Yao becomes a romanticized figure whose future greatness can be predicted (even assumed.)  What if Yao does not  reach this potential?  Would this story be reported in China?  Imagine the kind of pressure the forecasting of a certain and predictable greatness places on Yao.

While American politicians, press, and public are (understandably) focused on questions of lead in toys, air pollution over Beijing, and water contamination in outlying Chinese provinces, we should not miss an opportunity to better understand Chinese culture. The intense focus on Yao the Yi gives us such an opportunity.  The international platform of the NBA can help us better understand the nuances of contemporary Chinese culture beyond slogan issues like food contamination and pollution.  While we can appreciate the development in international engagement provided by the NBA, we can also appreciate the vast cultural differences that still exist between the United States and China.

Look for some follow-up news and thoughts re: "Yao-Yi I" later this week.