A Reason to remember

[by Mark Nilrad] - CBA, Chinese Basketball Association. It's not very original, as names go. But then neither is the league itself. America has the style, Europe has the substance, but China has neither.

So you ask yourself, "Why should I care about Chinese basketball?" And along those lines, "Why should I read this blog?"

And my answer would be, "That's a very good question." You can read this because you like my writing, or because you like reading blogs, or maybe even because you like me. But the real reason you should read this article, the reason why you should sit up when China is mentioned, is because it is important. It's a major player in politics, in society, in culture, and in sports.

And it's especially big in basketball. The enthusiasm over basketball can almost be felt and touched. Soccer might be the most popular spectator sport in China, but basketball is only right behind it, and more people are dribbling basketballs than kicking soccer balls. Every major sport is looking to expand its operations into China, but because of the ardor of basketball fans in China, it's the NBA that has done the best job of tapping into the market.
Now that you've read that, your next question is, "Why is Chinese basketball so important? Why should I remember anything that happens in China? The national team finished 8th in the '04 Olympics, and 15th in last year's World Championships; both times they had to get near-miraculous wins just to advance to the knockout round. Why get all worked up about it?" Well, I'll tell you why.

Remember China because of Yao Ming. Not only because he is the only Chinese player representing his country on the global stage of basketball, but because he embodies all that is good in Chinese basketball.

Pay attention to the CBA because of Wang ZhiZhi. Even though he had a most unmemorable career, remember because he represents the things that went wrong in China.
Sit up because of Yi Jianlian. He's the biggest Chinese prospect in the near future, but pay attention because he has a choice - whether he's going to go the NBA and be a Yao, a success story for his country, or be a Wang, and be ridiculed by his own countrymen.

Remember because Liu Wei, and Zhu Fangyu, and Mo Ke. These are names that no one remembers, because they are the ones who never made it from China to the bright lights of America. They are the players who still toil on in their league, knowing they'll never be able to go any higher than that.

Remember the Chinese national team because of Del Harris and Jonas Kazlauskas. As former and current coaches of the national team, they have done perhaps the greatest job of anyone in Chinese basketball in internationalizing the play of the national team, and promoting the right kind of players.

Remember Chinese basketball because of Chen Jianghua. Not just because he is the quickest player in the CBA, or the most exciting. Remember because he is one player who is not afraid to challenge the very best in the world, and because he is the next generation for Chinese basketball.

But even if you don't remember any of that, even if you don't care about this, then just remember this one thing, the most important thing of all: 1.3 billion. That's how many people are in China. That is why you should look at China and remember, because the odds are, that out of all those hundreds of millions of young people playing basketball, there are going to be 5 players, or maybe 10, or perhaps 20, or even more, who are going to go to the NBA. And it might take 5 years, or 10 years, or decades. But it'll happen, and when it does, China will take the world by storm.

Remember the Name indeed.