Day 5 – I Love China

What a difference a day makes. Today I went and watched the China-Spain B-Ball game and it was off the chains. The big difference between yesterday’s tennis and today’s hoops was that the Chinese know and love hoops.

The guys in front of me loved Clyde “the Glide” Drexler and the old man in back of me said his favorite player was Dr. J. It was awesome. They booed the Spaniards and did the wave for the entire halftime. When Pao dunked on Yao and swatted away Yi Jian Lian the crowd cheered … they clapped when the Spaniards did some alley-oops or smooth moves. They love the sport baby.

As for the game, I won’t comment too much. It was a great game and China had it, but Pao did his thang in the end and Yao fouled out … When Yao went, no one stepped to the plate. I like Liu Wei, he played awesome and he has a great heart. And that kid for Spain Nunio, the lil Thief … dude had like 10 steals, but i think only 6 counted cause of fouls.

My floor is covered in cash and tickets. Kinda reminds me of the old days … I have always loved the petty hustle. Its street level down low capitalism and its raw and i’m lovin it. Today I hustled my way into some serious cheddar and it feels good. I met an old Cuban today and we haggled to a standstill. He told me that the Olympics are always like this: scalpers on the streets, trades and back alley deals between sponsors, embassies and athletes’ families … its the whole point of this thing. You know Spartans and Thebians were placing mad bets back in the day … talkin bout who was gonna win then trading tickets for each others’ favorites …

Peep the Chinese gymnasts … they are out of control. I read a story in the times that said, On paper, the other nations had no chance before they even rolled in … due to the vast difference in difficulty that the Chinese take upon themselves.

The Uighers are killin pigs in Xinjiang left and right. More than 20 police dead in one week and as many wounded. They are using suicide bomber techniques and going toe to toe with the security like never before. It seems clear that the group that claimed responsibility for the Kunming Bombings in a video, the Islamic Party of East Turkestan, has learned some techniques from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. So far all of the major violence has been far from Beijing, but there are still ten days left.

The security is blanket, but not necessarily tight. So anyone in Beijing reading this be careful and keep aware …

I hear the Chinese used some special effects for the TV broadcast of the Opening Ceremonies, sounds like something they’d do, but it don’t matter:

Check out these beautiful pictures.