Talking Balls: A Smoking Rocket, Marbury Mania & The Olympic Underground
The Olympics are around the corner, or should we say, further along the line. Transport London, which runs the capital's world-famous Tube, have decided to cash in on the Olympics. They've released a map with a twist: All of the stations are now named after famous Olympians. We admit that it's better than the 2012 mascots but as merchandise goes, it's still pretty bad. There are 13 Chinese Olympians on the map:
It's been a whole week since the Beijing Ducks downed the Guangdong Southern Tigers to become the CBA Champions. Sports journalists have never let timeliness get in the way of a story so there's even more now than in last week's special roundup. Here some hoops news you may have missed:
- Marbury is "going nowhere"
- Marbury is the MVP (but only in online polls)
- The art of booing
- Randolph Morris's part in the CBA victory
- Marbury on the BTV championship show
- Videos from inside Wukesong on the night
- NiuBBall over at Beijing Cream on Marbury silencing his critics
In other hoop news, Yao Ming has said that Jeremy Lin's success is "unexpected." We wonder if the Harvard man will say the same of the big man when he graduates.
As Brandon's match report revealed earlier this week, Guoan could have done better in AFCCL. Not even Marbury's presence could help the Greens turnover Tokyo. China's other representatives all fared as badly, if not worse,with Guangzhou Evergrande drawing and Tianjin getting thumped.
Peter Ebdon beat Stephen Maguire in the final of the China Open. The champion knocked out Ding Junhui in the semi-final. As ever, though, it was Ronnie O'Sullivan who claimed the headlines. The Rocket may not have tried to procure a "nosh" from anyone at the press conference but China Daily reported that he'd had an impact:
Ronnie O'Sullivan was criticized by local media and fans after he smoked in a press conference after his loss to Stephen Maguire in the China Open quarterfinals on Monday.
O'Sullivan stepped into a non-smoking press conference room with a lightened cigarette in his fingers. On the right side of the podium, a non-smoking sign in both Chinese and English is on the wall.
He sat down and smoked a couple of rolls with eyes narrowed. "They don't let you (smoke) in England, but in China, you can do what you want. I like it like that," said O'Sullivan.
One China Open ends and another follows hot on its heels. The Volvo China Open swings into Tianjin's Binhai Lake Golf Club from April 19-22. Some of the golfers confirmed for the European Tour event include Colin Montgomery and Ian Poulter. There's no news on tickets just yet.
Chinese swimmer Zhang Lin has suffered another asthma-related setback in the pool. The condition cost him a medal at the 2011 Worlds and again at the recent National Championships. His finish may cause him to miss out on the upcoming London Games. Will this affect China's hopes to top the medal table once again?
Image: Yahoo Sports, China Daily, China Daily & China Daily
