CCTV suddenly discontinued broadcasting NBA games in the midst of semi-finals on May 24th and has yet to provide an explanation. Chinese NBA fans are in an uproar over missing the Western Finals. Speculation is starting to circulate through the local BBS that the ban may be political. Last May*, Ira Newble of the Cleveland Cavaliers (now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers) released a letter signed by most of his teammates criticizing China's role in Darfur. As a major importer of oil from Sudan, China has been frequently accused of funding the Sudanese government and thus fueling the armed conflict in the Darfur region. Newble and his agent, Steve Kauffman, plan to seek out as many NBA players as possible and the players unions of the NFL and Major League Baseball to join the cause. Chinese netizens suspect this to be another instance of politics getting muddled with sports. One avid local fan complains, "[Newble]'s actions are not going to hurt the Chinese government, but instead is hurting the millions of NBA fans in China." Looks like Chinese sports fans are going to have to turn to alternate means for their NBA fix as finals approach.
Did I miss something?? What does this have to do with the Rockets?? oh yeah...we are not in the playoffs anymore...
this is in the wrong forum but it will probably be moved rather than locked. imagine if newble gets a load of MLB and NFL players to sign as well... will china ban all american sports? i wonder what stern is thinking about this? you can't tell newble to stop... we do have freedom of speech, but on the other hand he could single handedly cost the nba billions of dollars in revenue from china.
This was on Yahoo's news page as well. They stopped showing games and other variety shows for a few days due to the mourning for earthquake victims.
Wow, if this truly is political, then I am shocked. With the Olympics coming, and China obviously trying to show off their accomplishments to the world this summer, you would think that they would kind of keep any government scandals on the DL. Besides, what exactly is the petition for? Just because Ira Newble and a bunch of other NBA players and such sign this piece of paper that states they are against Chinese policy doesn't mean anything. I'm not saying that I'm against Newble for doing this, I'm just saying that it seems almost like an exercise in futility. What exactly is the purpose of A) Newble sending around a petition....a petition for what? and B) China reacting so harshly to something that will have absolutely no bearing on them whatsoever?
should combine this thread with the one I posted yesterday http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=149061
it is all about the earthquakes... so far, over 68,000dead, still over 20,000 missing... it is not about Dafur...
This is about CCP ministry officials needing a nice payday from the NBA. Any excuse to make a buck off the earthquake. Typical.
The Newble 'incident' happened in May 2007. It is kind of idiotic to link it to what happened in May 2008. And it is even more low-life and pathetic for those people who try to link this to a human disaster and try to make a story out of it.
I still find this 'incident' so amazing. They just had a once in a lifetime human tragedy over there. So the TV stations there decided to devote more time to report the tragedy because that's what people there are by far most concerned about. And therefore some of the regular programs, which included a few NBA playoff games, had to be moved to make room for the round-the-clock reporting of the catastrophe's new development. But then...suddenly it had been linked to what Newble said one full year ago. Suddenly this has become a political issue. Suddenly this had become a scandal. Suddenly this has become an international incident. Some people are just dumber than a sack of hammers.
