Most Chinese people always think the basketball is the NO. 1 sport in the US. Because the NBA is very popular in China, and everyone knows Kobe Bryant (but my favorite NBA star is Allen Iverson). Kobe Bryant said he admires Peyton Manning who is one of best quarterback in NFL, and never can stay with him. The NBA All-Star Game always gives way to the Super Bowl for the better audience rating. Therefore, the football, in fact, is the NO. 1 sport in the US.
I have no idea why Americans like football so much, but I do know some reasons why most Chinese people do not interested in football. First, most Chinese people are not strong enough to pursue this violent game. We have problems with physical confrontation. This is one of the reasons why Chinese are good at badminton, ping-pong and dive, but not good at soccer, basketball and volleyball. Second, there have no national football teams in China. We watch NBA because we have national basketball teams; we watch the World Cup because we have national soccer teams. We love our own teams and then we love the games. Third, the football’s rules are too complicated for people who begin to watch this game. If you don’t understand the rules, the game looks like that many crazy and angry players to fight for a ball.
However, the thing changes in China. This year, six television channels broadcast the 2011 Super Bowl in China. The video I showed in the top was very wide spread in Chinese facebook. Also, there have a Chinese American named ED Wang who plays in NFL recently. More and more Chinese people will start to watch the football games for that reason.
Yu-
ReplyDeleteThat was a very interesting blog about the Chinese perspective of football! I can definitely see how other cultures could be put off by football and its complicated rules and violent hits. Still, it is very intriguing that the sport is generating some interest in China. Do you feel that the sport will ultimately grow to be a national craze, or do you think that it will remain an obscure sport there?
Yu surprised to hear that AI is your favorite basketball player. He represents so much of what I don't like about professional athletes.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your comment on "I have no idea why Americans like football so much" well there are entire books on that subject. However I think it comes to down to some basic factors.
Football is the ultimate team sport. It takes all 11 players doing their job on every play to make the team good. If one player fails to do his job the entire team fails. Unlike many other sports, there is the need for athletes of all shapes and sizes. Every teams has to have to huge 300 pound linemen but also smaller agile athletes to play certain skill positions such as running back or wide receiver. Even very small players can still play as a kicker.
Also, football is so ingrained into American culture. In America, like many other countries there are huge differences between big cities and small towns, North and South, and all sorts of other things. However, football is central to the culture of nearly all places in the US. In big cities such as Dallas or Pittsburgh, the first thing that comes to people's mind is the NFL team that that plays there. Small college towns such as ours, Bowling Green, often only are seen on national television when their football team plays on ESPN. In the smallest of towns where there are no professional sports or even college sports, often the local high school's Friday night football game is the biggest event in the town.
Lastly, interesting point that you believe that the popularity of sport in China is tied to nationalism. I agree with you that China looks to assert itself onto the global stage by dominance in sport. During the 2008 Olympics, the American media made a big deal about how China was trying to beat the United States in the medal count race. I thought it was interesting since many Americans will justify their excellence in athletics by citing their dominance in the medal count. I believe that China believed it was imperative that they had the most medals. However the whole thing seemed silly to me since the medal count is such an inaccurate way of measuring sport dominance since some sports such as basketball only offer one medal while other sports such as track offers dozens. Yet, I do believe the US vs. China storyline will continue to be extremely important as China continues to become the United States newest rival nation.
I thought your comments about Chinese people disliking physical confrontation to be very interesting. While you would know better than I, your examples of Chinese excellence at badminton and ping-pong are a great example of how our culture can effect sport.
ReplyDeleteI also loved your example of how a player's background can draw interest where there was little before. When I think of my viewing of the Olympics, I will often view sporting events that I would not otherwise because there is an American favored to win.
This is an excellent discussion about why football is not as big in China as the NBA. I asked students in an undergraduate class yesterday how popular they think basketball is in the U.S., and many of them now think that the NBA is second only to football. Thanks for sharing the video clips. I wondered why the first one is so popular in China?
ReplyDeleteYu- Very interesting reasons why the Chinese do not watch Football. As we were having this discussion in class, I thought it was kind of ignorant for us as Americans to think everyone was watching the Superbowl. I thought, 'why would other countries care? The NFL is an American league with predominately American players?' I thought Chinese were not interested in watching for these reasons, I never thought of the non confrontational aspect of personalities and the game of football- that was a very interesting point you brought up. As the NFL continues to become more global, it will be interesting to see how the NFL will be perceived in the future by other countries.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting look at football from an outside perspective. Having played football my entire life, and now coaching it, I have never stopped to look at football from the outside and definitely not from a global perspective. Additionally, I never thought to equate China's competitiveness in sports like diving, badminton and ping-pong to a lack of physically being able to compete in football and soccer. Having national teams and sports always in view definitely would influence a fans love for, or lack there of, a particular sport.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very interesting point that China excels in the non physical sports. China really is a smart country! Football is a part of our culture and we are raised to love it. Maybe since it is rally only played in North America we look upon it as the sport that we own. I think it is interesting after all these years that there is a new found interest in football in China. I thought the interest for us was the love for our own teams within the United States and the way our teams compete against each other with the grand winner winning the Super Bowl and the fans of that team have ownership of it for one year.
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