Talking Balls: Beijing Ducks Step Into the Arenas & Soccer Shorts
The city of Shanghai welcomed Gilbert Arenas this Monday after the Sharks confirmed the sharpshooter's signing for the upcoming CBA season. Marbury and the rest of the Ducks will give him a proper welcome in the first round matchup that pits Beijing against Shanghai here in the North. The game is at Shougang Gymnasium on Saturday night. Tickets at Damai.cn.
In related basketball news, the NBA and CCTV have furthered their partnership, meaning you can get your fill of hoops action on terrestrial television.
Didier Drogba has asked to leave Shanghai Shenhua on loan in order to get fit for the African Cup of Nations in January. The Ivorian superstar is keen to reunite with his former club Chelsea. We're sure that there's a "Who Let the Drogs Out" headline waiting to be written.
In more Double D news, the striker has been shortlisted for the BBC's African Footballer of the Year award. He's joined by another China-based African in the form of Christopher Katongo of Zambia and Henan Construction FC. You can vote in the awards here.
Sticking with former Chelsea footballers who are based in Shanghai, revelations about Nicolas Anelka have come to light in the new book by his former France manager, Raymond Domenech. Apparently, the man known as Le Sulk (and Le much-worse-than-that) is an "imbecile." Is this better than the previous tale that revealed him to be remarkably unromantic for a Frenchman? More importantly, does Shanghai have Tesco?
Was the China debut of the Lingerie Football League all a massive lie? We've made repeated attempts to contact the LFL but they've ignored us (even though Talking Balls sent a photo of itself posing in a provocative chiffon number). There's no news on the supposed games in Chinese either. What the devil is going on?
The Mellowparks kids have sent out the details of the new setup for this season. It looks suitably snowboardy to this skier. Also upcoming at Nanshan: the RedBull Nanshan Open on January 19-20 and a Winter Fashion Show on December 8.
Finally, a note of warning. Chen Jie, a 21-year-old student, had a heart attack and died following his 10km run at the Guangzhou Marathon. If you're going to get into distance running – and Beijing offers many opportunities – then train safely.
Photo: Sneaker News
