After a 7-month hiatus from any sports related activity due to my ruptured Achilles, I am finally back on the basketball court. This is a picture of the Bricklayers, my basketball team in Shanghai. Just look for the oldest, shortest most out of shape person (and the only one that looks Chinese) and you’ve found me.
We are called the Bricklayers for two reasons. One, we are a team mainly comprised of Architects or architectural graduate students and two…have you seen our jump shot?
Playing basketball here in China has been interesting to say the least. First, they play under the FIBA (International basketball association) which is a totally lame system. Second, the referees suck ass and none of them have ever played the game before in their life. Finally, since I’m the only person that looks Chinese on our team, everyone from the refs to the stats guy talks to me. Ironically, I’m on a team of Americans (and one Belgian) that can all speak Mandarin fluently except for me.
At any rate, the guys are a good bunch and we are having a great time losing our asses in the open division. I think next season I’ll drop down to the recreational league where all the 40 somethings play.
We are called the Bricklayers for two reasons. One, we are a team mainly comprised of Architects or architectural graduate students and two…have you seen our jump shot?
Playing basketball here in China has been interesting to say the least. First, they play under the FIBA (International basketball association) which is a totally lame system. Second, the referees suck ass and none of them have ever played the game before in their life. Finally, since I’m the only person that looks Chinese on our team, everyone from the refs to the stats guy talks to me. Ironically, I’m on a team of Americans (and one Belgian) that can all speak Mandarin fluently except for me.
At any rate, the guys are a good bunch and we are having a great time losing our asses in the open division. I think next season I’ll drop down to the recreational league where all the 40 somethings play.
1 comment:
Ni hao ma. That's all the Chinese I got. Great story. Just in time for March madness.
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