Interesting Article on American Football in China
An interesting, but long, read about a start-up American Football team in Chongqing China. The article features former Michigan Wolverine Chris McLaurin. I thought some of you might enjoy it.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117246/chinese-football-my-season-chongqing-dockers
If I remember correctly, Chris McLaurin is rather accomplished already in his post-Michigan career, up to and including a Fulbright scholarship which allowed him to help start an organization that helps disadvantaged children in South Africa, and he also attended the London School of Economics as well. I think he was even a White House intern at some point as well. If he can be at the forefront of bringing American football to China, that's a very interesting feather in an already accomplished cap.
The Chinese are going to reverse engineer football now?
As a Chinese who loves football, its great to know that there are actually people playing tackle football out there in China. Thanks for sharing.
April 10th, 2014 at 12:34 AM ^
April 10th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Considering some of the chemical garbage (aspartame, bisphenal a, etc) in soft drinks these days, piss is probably the least of it's problems.
It is long but well worth reading to the end. Thanks for posting.
When I ask the students about organized sports in china they say that it is nothing like anything they have seen here. He said there are some decent soccer clubs, but outside of soccer there are no really organized sports clubs with major followings. Both are looking to go into sports management and they have commented that they believe the Chinese would love football if it could get financial backing for all the equipment.
They claim the most fascinating thing to them is how the school allows the students to rally around teams and show support for them in and out of school. Needless to say they loved things like pep rally's and the homecoming parade.
All this being said football will surely grow in china because the will be money to be made. It's only a matter of time.
Delaney should make sure the B1G has exclusive tv rights for when the game blows up over there.
How are you so sure there's money to be made? NFL Europe didn't work out. It's not like there's some obvious yearning for football there. Football is much harder to get off the ground and sustain, unlike soccer, basketball, or baseball.
April 10th, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^
Thank you.
April 10th, 2014 at 12:09 AM ^
It is interesting that despite the lack of experience and the lower caliber level of play, those players seem to be touched by the same attraction that makes the game so popular.
April 11th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^
Are they made there?
I really enjoyed that story! Thanks!
in the chinese version of hoosiers (but about football, not basketball), with dennis hopper standing in the huddle with his new team in Ghaichaing province, 'okay boys, we're going to throw the old great wall of china defense at 'em, and don't get caught watching the mortar dry!'
April 10th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
I will pass on the tailgate.
April 10th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
...fresh dog tastes good. But then more for me!
I loved this article. Thanks for posting.
Last year on vacation, I listened to John Grisham's "Playing for Pizza." It's a novel about an American football team in Parma, Italy, and for those of you who liked reading about football in China, you might enjoy this book too. However, to the best of my recollection, there is no link in Grisham's book to Michigan!