New Years Eve Morning

MONDAY, December 31, 2007

New Years Eve Morning. Hooked up with Tom at ten yesterday morning and headed off to Shangri-La. The Shangri-La Hotel in Changchun, that is. Nice five star hotel with a great brunch buffet. We had a two hour sit down and catch-up session while repeatedly grazing the buffet, especially the dessert pastry section. On the way out the door, Tom made reservations for a group of us to return there for dinner tonight and the new years eve party in their club. We walked off brunch across the street at about a 12 floor shopping center. I was surprised at how expensive things were in the stores. Electronics were unbelievably expensive. The chinese currency is the RMB, it’s about 7 to the us dollar. The prices were twenty to thirty per cent higher than what you’d find back in the US. The clothing stores were on a par or a little more expensive than what you’d find back home as well. Tom bought a couple of Hugo Boss shirts, one of which he ended up wearing at the game.

We finished shopping and had to get back to the hotel, Tom had a coaches meeting at four. Traffic was incredibly gridlocked coming out of the Shangri-La, so we headed across the street to catch a cab already on the road. Here’s a photo of the way you cross the street in Changchun. Tom hailed us a cab, next photo and we were off. We drove right past the arena where the Jilin Tigers play their home games, it’s only about a five to ten minute cab ride from our hotel. The street lights in Changchun have a clock next to the signal lights. It counts down how long you have til they turn red and then how long til they turn green. I got a short video of that. Not that lights really mean anything. It’s very much like that line in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean about the Pirate Code. “They’re not really rules, they’re more guidelines”. When we jumped in the cab, we had to show the cabbie our room key so he could read the name of the hotel. I figured it might be a good idea to learn how to say the name of the hotel in Chinese, so I took a little video of the driver teaching us how to pronounce the name of the hotel. We’re still working on it. 

A little geography lesson might be appropriate. I never did fill in the exact location of Changchun. It’s 90 minutes northeast of Beijing by plane, in the Jilin Province. It’s located just west of the North Korean border. A google maps search of Changchun, China will bring up the city.

Tom took off for his meeting and I headed up to the room to read the Seattle papers on the internet and rest before the game. At 5:45 we met in the lobby. In the photo is Tom, Babacar Camara, Dajuan Tate and DT’s wife Rasheeda, who goes by Rah-Rah. The team bus arrived moments later. We piled in and I sat in the second row across from Babacar. Tom rode in the stairwell, up front next to the driver. The bus trip was a whirlwind of introductions and welcomes. Things didn’t settle down much when we arrived at the arena. After shaking hands for ten minutes, the names and faces were a blur. It’s either an old brain or jet lag. I’ll take jetlag for a 200, Alex…. Reading Tom’s blog, familiarized me with many members of the team, but meeting them in person all at once was daunting. One person I was looking forward to meeting was his interpreter, Pancake. He was everything billed. Many of the players and personnel who deal with the foreigners have english nicknames. Pancake, Spider, Cash, Hip Hop, Frog……

The arena was a quaint (and cold) venue that holds about six thousand. An hour before game time, music was blaring, a small band was warming up and the cheerleaders were arriving. Some things are universal.

It’s been a long season for Jilin and tonight’s opponent, theShanxi Zhongyu Dragons. Each CBA team is allowed two foreign players. The Tigers have Babacar who played at Cal State Fullerton and Dajuan Tate who hails from Columbus, Ohio and played at Mountain State in West Virginia. The Dragons feature Major Wingate, who played college ball at Tennessee and Damon King. The foreign players are only allowed to play a combined total of five quarters each game. That puts an emphasis on substitution strategy.

The arena fills in about half full by game time, but it’s still cold. All the fans watch the game with their hats and coats on.

Tom has raved about DT in his blog. If I had a nickel for everytime a coach called his player a world beater but forgot to mention said player’s inability to play defense, pass, set a screen or just plain hustle, I could buy most of the tea in China. But Tom was right. He’s the real deal and he’s a great guy. In one game this season Tate scored 68 a points. One game. Tom had told me that at some point in the game DT would make a move and you’d shake your head and go, “Did I just see that.” Again he was right.

Here's a photo of Tom with the team for the pregame huddle.

The Tigers started an all chinese lineup while the Dragons started Major Wingate. The Dragons led 22-16 at the end of one, but the Tigers still have five quarters of foreign time left on the books. DT led a huge scoring run in the second quarter and Jilin led 53-44 in the half. The Tigers could use both Babacar in the middle and DT for the whole second half. The Dragons had burned two foreign quarters in the first half. At the end of three Jilin led 85-64. They built the lead to 23 with a few minutes to go in the game and cleared the bench. When the subs came in, the game deteriorated and jet lag really set in. Fortunately, I managed to stay awake. The final was 110-94, DT scored 27 in less than three quarters of play. He really is the type of player you pay money to see. I felt lucky to have a front row seat for it.

After the game, Tom looked at me and said, “You’re good luck, we haven’t won a home game in almost a month.” Some of the fans must have thought that too, because for some unknown reason I was asked for autographs. One guy actually signed a $5 RMB note (about 80 cents) and gave it to me, I’m going to have Pancake translate it.

Team bus dropped us at the hotel and Tom and I had a couple of great Tuna fish sandwiches to cap the day. Finally got to bed about midnight. I was out before my head hit the pillow.

Practice at 4 on Monday then off to dinner at 8 and the new years party. I’ll be spending the new year at Shangri-La. Apparently there is a problem with the videos uploading. The links are there, but they won't play. Sorry about that.