Jottings from the Granite Studio

Confirmation this week that the New England Patriots (English–Chinese) will play the Seattle Seahawks on August 8, 2007 at Workers Stadium in Beijing.

Also beginning today, the NFL will broadcast the Sunday Night Football game live on CCTV (showing at the oh, so convenient time of 8:30 am on Monday mornings).

Plans are being made. I’m from New England and I have been a Patriots fan all my life. When they sucked, and they did really suck, for a very, very long time, we still loved ‘em. Now if they’re playing in Beijing, while I’m living in Beijing, I’m going to that game. I have no idea what tailgating might look like in China. I’m thinking yang rou chuan’r and Yanjing pijiu out the back of a Xiali–but whatever it is, I’m doing it, whatever it takes, we’re throwing down.

Who will be there? Well, me (of course), and YJ (probably under duress). Brett will be there but I’m sure he’s got the sweet Vic’s luxury box hook-up, so we won’t see him. And, of course, The Mighty Ho. Born in Columbus, TMH grew up a Buckeyes fan, ended up going to Ohio State, and now works in Shanghai. He has the odd tendency to celebrate foosball victories in Chinese bars by yelling KMT slogans at his PRC opponents. (Because he’s ABC and speaks fluent Mandarin, he thinks he blends in. One blurry evening, as we were sitting out in front of a Chinese bar with some local friends, Ho kept shouting “Shake that ass, baby!” in clear unaccented Middle America English at all the white girls who walked by. They would of course turn around, see me sitting there surrounded by Chinese faces, and then proceed to tell me to fornicate myself to death with various objects while the Mighty Ho sat there laughing with a “谁？不是我!” look on his face. Definitely good times.)

Will the Chinese understand the game? Probably not. But who cares. I’ve been to enough sporting events in China to know that the Chinese DO understand drunken buffoonery. That we can give them aplenty.
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For those interested in the NFL in Mandarin, the New England Patriots have a Chinese-language blog started by MIT student, Tian He. And yes, the NFL really did translate “China Bowl” literally, no doubt confusing a helluva lot of Chinese people who will probably think it’s some kind of newfangled restaurant chain where people wear helmets while eating.