Basketball a hard sport to love in Shanghai

Basketball is my one true love in life, but I left for Shanghai this summer without expecting too much in the way of basketball. Though the Olympics were taking place up in Beijing, I didn’t quite have the connections or financial means to land me tickets to the basketball games. What Shanghai had in store for me, however, turned out to be quite a shock.

Let’s begin with the not-so-pleasing shocks.

To start off, I love basketball. It’s hard for me to go two days without stepping on the court and playing a few pickup games. Shortly after touching down in Shanghai, I made my requisite trip to the local courts looking for a game. After a few minutes, reality hit me, and what I realized was this: China might not be teeming with immense basketball talent.

Watching basketball being played on the streets of China tormented me. Clad in jerseys of every big-name NBA star, people ranging from middle school kids to middle-aged men graced the courts every hour of the day, throwing up bricks for jump shots and excitedly throwing layups off the backboard. Chest passes and bounce passes flew this way and that through hordes of players running in havoc around the court. The game that I hold so dear to my heart had turned into an object of ridicule in the land of my birth.

But fortunately, once in a while I’d come across a court with people who actually knew what they were doing, and, as always, it was tremendously exciting to behold a competitive game of fundamentally sound basketball. Joining up and playing with these guys, however, is another story.

Like most people, I was well aware that China had some trouble with overpopulation, but I was not aware that the population crisis has also created a de facto “half-court-game-only” rule on the basketball courts. Getting a full-court five-on-five game going in China simply cannot be accomplished. Instead, four-on-four half-court games with a third team awaiting the winner is the rule of the court. Needless to say, a summer of half-court games didn’t quite appease my basketball appetite. (Note: After returning to U.S. soil, I promptly made my way to the local gym and engrossed myself in an afternoon of full-court play. Absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder.)

Fortunately, China also had some quite pleasing surprises in store for me.

Twelve of the NBA’s finest came to town while I was in Shanghai. The U.S. men’s national basketball team, under the tutelage of Mike Krzyzewski, played two exhibition matches against Russia and Australia, and I was blessed with the opportunity to witness the Americans’ dismantling of the Utah Jazz’ AK-47 and company live.

Even more exciting than watching DWade and LeBron tearing through the Russian D, however, was what happened the following day. The office where I worked is situated smack dab in the heart of Shanghai. Conveniently located right next door was the Portman Ritz Carlton, where a few thousand RMB (roughly $300) would get you a nice room for the night. Russia, Australia and the United States decided to lodge their star athletes in the Ritz for the duration of their stay in Shanghai.

On Aug. 4, the Monday immediately following the U.S.-Russia game, I wandered out to lunch with a fellow Princeton intern near the Ritz in hope of catching a glimpse of the stardom then lodged there. And who do we run into but the star power forward for the Utah Jazz and Coach K’s handpicked 12th man: Carlos Boozer. I’m not sure whether it was the rarity of encountering some native English speakers in Shanghai or the surprise at being recognized away from the streets of Salt Lake City, but Carlos happily chatted with us about the game and asked us about our experiences in Shanghai. Finding ourselves without a camera or a pen, we ultimately settled for a manly handshake with him. The guy may not have gotten off the bench for more than five minutes in any Olympic game, but he’s still one of the NBA’s finest.

That handshake currently sits number one on my list of celebrity encounters.

Coming in at a close second is an event that — had it actually occurred as I would have imagined it — would have allowed me to die happy and fulfilled at the age of 19.

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When the Redeem Team was putting on an exhibition show in Macao, DWade, Carmelo and LeBron wandered out one night, got snapped up by the paparazzi and were featured all over the Chinese papers. Well, Kobe Bryant caught the fever that night in Shanghai. The reigning MVP wandered out to Racks in Xintiandi, Shanghai’s most high-scale pool hall. Usually filled with expats and the city’s wealthiest, Racks was especially rowdy that night because it happened to be the manager’s birthday. One of my close friends who had grown up in Shanghai and is all too familiar with the city’s night life happened to be a personal friend of said manager. Whether fate destined it or the gods were at work, however, the flu just happened to hit her that very evening and incapacitated her for the birthday bash.

If you think carefully about it, I was exactly one flu shot away from playing a rack of pool with Kobe Bryant.

You might think it a little farfetched, but I am a firm believer in fate. If it happens once, it can happen again, and next time I’ll be ready for it. With the countdown at a little over eight months, I eagerly await what summer 2009 holds in store for me and my basketball life.