Life's Persistent Questions

Who's that guy on the bicycle?

That would be the 6-11, former NBA star, current basketball commentator, Bill Walton, weaving through the traffic of Shanghai. If his height didn't make him stand out, his bike shorts and helmet certainly did among the rush hour traffic. It reminded me the proverb, "Monkey on a camel," except in this case, it's more like a camel on a monkey.

Walton and his ESPN crews are in China for the two NBA exhibition games involving the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings. Walton is a big fan of Rockets' Chinese center, Shanghai's own Yao Ming. Perhaps as an extention, Walton also showed a lot of love for China. As silly as it seems, I do feel not a lot of people know much, let alone understand, China of today, and a couple of pre-season games by the NBA teams actually helps narrow that gap. The image in most people's head of China's capital is probably still that of the fearless man standing in front of a tank in '89. Walton during the game spoke about the Starbucks inside the Forbidden City. Well, maybe that's an improvement, or not, but I think it's a sign how far the country has come.

posted by hedgehog @ 11:59 PM