All about NEW

Three topics I'm touching today share one same old word: NEW

The New England Patriots used one quarter to destroy one of the defense team of the year, the New York Jets. That's sad.

When everything is looking perfectly on track, the Jets would bring out some drama.

They can trail by two touchdowns near the end of fourth quarter in a game but then came back strong and pulled out within one second their opponents' exciting fire of one yard away from beating the Jets.

They are the Utah Jazz in the NFL, who "completed five straight double-digit come-from-behind victories in one week." (Ben Golliver.). They enjoy offering their opponents yummy cake that is just coming out of the oven and drop the cake on the ground right before their eyes. They always make the opponents feel like you can finally have a bite of the winning taste when all of a sudden it's gone with the wind, blowing from a jet.

So how come the result of the pre-Super Bowl this Monday came out in such a lousy way? It's not that the Jets never made efforts. It's just that they spared no efforts not to help themselves to pull together. Instead, they did a terrific job in helping their the Patriots. That's sadder.

However, it's not like the end of the world. Above all, it's the Patriots they lost. Other than the poor final score, there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's just a huge lesson learned by a young proud apprentice from his elderly experienced Master Shifu.

I have complete faith in the Jets to come back stronger in the Playoffs. Then sadness ends. 



Cam Newton "has had the greatest year in the history of college football" (Lee Corso, ESPN analyst), which I don't disagree. While Cam Newton has no knowledge of his father's illegal dealings and thus is greenlighted to play in the SEC title game by the NCAA, which I can't disagree more.

True, Cam Newton is not Reggie Bush, who's ruled to have full knowledge of his stepfather's improper contacts with agents. But I can't stop thinking about the rumor I heard from my friend that the only reason that Cam Newton was ruled clear, unlike the same-case Reggie Bush, is that he is the money magnet for the NCAA, who are in desperate need of a super star, an unprecedented college guy to help attract attention, lure fans and increase ratings and sponsorships.

Rumor may be fake, but the influence will fade.

The amazing model settler, Cam Newton, has role-modeled all college football players and those potentials that you can have your beloved parents take as much illegal money as possible from as many illegible sources as possible as long as you claim, you swear that you "have no knowledge" of their illegitimate conducts. How smart and how sad!

I'm not just saying it because I am a Trojan, poor victims of their then-SC-pride high-profile star's low-profile acts. I'm saying it because my school has to suffer for our already-gone player by being outcast members of Bowl games while Auburn can feed on the glory of theirs and striding toward the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game.

I have no faith in the NCAA to retreat their previous rule and take sanction against Auburn and Cam Newton. That's not what we Trojans need.

I had thought that we were chosen to become victims and also negative teaching examples for all colleges and universities to take tolls. Sadly, as of today, our sacrifice hasn't worked out the way it's supposed to be working out. I weep for all schools.

A must-read article about the case. Matt Hinton's

Cam Newton will live in NCAA infamy, but he's not Reggie Bush.

"New Orleans doesn't care about the NBA",what a heartbreaking sentence to swallow. But I have to admit. When a pro team in your town was the only team in the National Basketball League that never lost a game since the start of a new season, and yet fewer and fewer fans showed up to witness the amazing performance, it's nobody's fault. But the Hornets have to pay for it.

As a die-hard CP3 fan, I can never imagine the names "New Orleans", "Hornets", "Chris Paul" go separate. I love the city of New Orleans because Chris Paul and his New Orleans Hornets. It is them that made me know my currently favorite team in the world, the New Orleans Saints.

I don't have comments on the NBA's purcahse of the Hornets. I know clearly that this is not the ultimate solution for the competitive team. When every one in the Crescent City is swarming into Superdome to cheer for the Saints and never moving their eyes a little bit farther to the Arena next door where the Hornets play, fans on the other side of the States are thinking about inviting the Hornets to settle down.

I'm thankful for the passion of Seattle's NBA fans. I'm just unable to piece Seattle and Hornets together. It takes time, maybe longer enough for the Hornets to win a championship.

Hope it's not just a dream: if I have enough money, I'll pay everything to help the Hornets stay in New Orleans. Only with one NFL team and one NBA team can a city be called "New Orleans".

I used to love new things. But all the NEW stuff above just broke my heart. I wish there's one day, in the near future, that I can find some NEWs that will help put my heart back together.

NEW YEAR is coming. Let's just hope that is not a year of the above-mentioned NEW.

Happy Saintsgiving, Merry Saintsmas

When I was about to write something for the new post, and it was the day when LeBron announced his one-of-a-kind decision on ESPN.

Til today, I'm still working on this post, and it is the day when LeBron and his co-led Miami Heat is just about to get on track, (get on track, not get back on track).

Though LeBron is never on my favorite-players-of-all-time list, I still respect this guy. Above all, he is one of the few NBAmazings who gave me a  precious gifts and memories. His beautiful smile (yes, beautiful, sincere and one-of-a-kind) in the photo we took together is carved in my mind as well. I've never seen him smile like that. Or maybe just because I've never paid attention to his smile.

They said he is the chosen one, but to me, he's definitely not God's favorite child.
He's been the ROY, MVP, he's been in the Finals, he's accomplished everything and more than everything he should have accomplished as a man of his age. But he never got a chance to taste the ring, or even smell it.

As a typical Pisces, I hate all kinds of stories about betrayal. But I still don't think he betrayed the Cavaliers. If there's anything to do with betrayal in this drama, the Cavaliers betrayed their beloved James at first. A solid marriage is based on appropriate mutual trust, understanding and help. Not overrated trust, or underrated help.

I just wish the son of Akron all the best when he's coming back hometown this Thursday. Why there's no one calling Peyton Manning a betrayer? He's a son of New Orleans, but he played against the Saints in the XLIV Super Bowl. Maybe the only reason is, he lost the game.

Speaking of my favorite city of New Orleans and my favorite teams of the Saints and the Hornets, the two are getting all the balances this season with each other. The Hornets had an unexpectedly terrific start while the Saints experienced an unexpectedly horrific early season. And everything reversed at the turn of November when the Hornets started fumbling while the Saints on their way to dunk. If I can make a wish for Christmas, I just hope the two teams can both make it into playoffs this season because I need to find myself reasons and motivations to follow the NBA and the NFL.

The latest driver of my following the World Cup at least till 2026 is: my country is bidding to host the 2026 World Cup!

I just hope that the bidding team don't bail out shortly after their decision the way Shanxi Zhongyu, the team of Chinese Basketball Assocaition, did to Stephon Marbury.

 If I can make another wish, I hope it's the Saints and the Jets to play in the XLV Super Bowl! Us USC Trojans football team already got punished by both the sanction and the terrible games this season, I think our alums can get all the balances back. Reggie and Sanchez, just like my current favorite Verizon commercial.

I had an amazing Thanksgiving last weekend as we knocked off Cowgirls on Saintsgiving football night and the Jets kept surging. I celebrated a two-day weekend at my aunt's house watching random NBA games with cousin Tom and his pal Ryan. Then the last USC home game Associates Party, bartending with my favorite Bar 2 family with a record 1400 lovely people coming to the party.

The only stain should be the Hornets' losses... All of a sudden, the West is like Spurs and Mavericks while we are in a serious competition against the Lakers which can be called, "tribute to each other: you win I won't lose, you lose you won't win either"...

Gotta back to work. The Clippers are treating me well and I'm thinking about starting a monthly observation post on our beloved Blake Griffin soon.

Go Trojans, beat the Bruins!
Go Saints! Go Hornets! Go New Orleans!

You make your own luck. Happy April Fool's Day

Congratulations to my high school buddy Dodo, Yue Li, who's attending the World's one and only Stanford in Palo-Alto next semester as a master!!!!!!!

Feels like I'm going to Stanford. Unbelievable!

She kept saying she's got good luck. But as you know, the topic today, or for the whole Final Four week: You make your own luck!

This year's NCAA Basketball championship is everything but rivalries among top seeds, which brought itslef its own beauty, a hotchpotch of teams of all kinds: the underdog, the unsung, the undefeated and the universal-famous champ...

They said the four are all lucky. Well... Yeah... But...

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Lucky teams are all alike; every losing team is unlucky in its own way.
What made the Final Four alike?  Defense!

Among the four, who's your bet and why?

The Sports Illustrate didn't give a clear answer, but I will.

It's 3 Ss.

Spartans! Summers! Spectacular!

On the east coast, there's one lucky team as well, with the name of New Jersey Nytes... They managed to avoid the share of NBA's worst record the day before April Fool by defeating the champion-in-the-old-days Spurs! Believe your eyes, it's not an April Foo joke. The lucky dog did win! They made their own luck, didn't they? I bet the Spurs aren't that sympathetic to send their opponent's a gift for April Fool.

I don't want to admit, but indeed, my New Orleans Hornets could be accounted another lucky dog when they beat Los Angeles-"we don't give a damn until playoffs"-Lakers two days ago. But they've got something the Lakers or any other NBA team never has: the rookie duo of the year, or maybe even the decade, the century, the NBA history! If a reason is not convincing enough, how about ten reasons?

Another beautiful side of Sports is that it can be romantic, when a football star like Tim Tebow helped a fan propose.

They stole my idea of my proposal: my still-unknown boyfriend proposes to me on NBA court right after he won the NBA champion ring!

Hearing the news, I'm more ecstatic than the couple are!

Now that Ricky Martin admitted that he's a gay, so what? He's just another super honest great man in the world with an amazing voice and an unfailing World Cup theme song. "Go Go Go, Aleh-aleh-aleh!"

Quotes of the month by Su Liu:
We Chinese so good at building walls, the great wall, the great fire wall, when are going to build our own John Wall?

The gos and gones

First of all, farewell to my New Orleans Hornets this season.

I've got more reasons to be excited about next season, shouldn't I?

I've got a lot to keep me motivated about my Chris Paul and Hornets. 

Am I talking gibberish or not... Or in Chinese, Mars-language...

Back to earth:

When upset is no longer shocking news, the March Madness is showing more madness.

It's a sad story for Kentucky, but it might be a great news for NBA, who is expecting everything from the number-one-draft-to-be kid-John-Wall but his injury before the opening of his rookie season this October/November.

From Sweet Sixteen, to Elite Eight, to Final Four, so many underdogs have come, so many updogs are gone.

Go Duke! Go Michigan St.! Go Butler! Go WV!
So long Kentucky, So long Tennessee. So long Baylor. So long Kansas St.

Two new guys moved me in today's two Elite Eight games: LaceDarius Dunn and the guy who's hot both in game and name: Durrell Summers and his Team Michigan State Spartans!
I love summer! I love Summers even more!!!
I love all the superb names starting with S: Su, Super, Shoot, Spartans and Summer!

If you don't understand my craziness about Summers, you may want to watch today's game featuring Michigan State and Tennessee. If you missed the game replay, hope this and that can help you at least get to know the stellar Summers!

It's Summer time! And it's time to defend for March Madness. To respond NBA snobs, this interesting piece told us that most amaze of NBA originated from NCAA where No.3 Chris Paul (Wake Forest University), No.3 Dwyane Wade (Marquette University), No.3 Brandon Roy (University of Washington), No.4 Chris Webber (University of Michigan), and No.34 Paul Pierce (University of Kansas) were all amazing performers in the March Madness.

Another amazing thing is: their numbers are all about 3 and 4. I love three, I love four more!

Speaking of defense, there are two articles in defense of Google leaving China that I can't wait to share. One is from New York Times and one of my greatest professor at Annenberg, USC, Andrew Lih was interviewed and quoted in the article. The other one is even more thought provoking. It drove me to start realizing that the motive to block all the Western websites is not just out of political censorship, it could be a sugarcoated or pillcoated way to protect the made-in-China websites like Baidu, Tecent. Chinese censorship equals protectionism, meaning Beijing maybe violating its WTO obligations.

Google is not the only word starts with G that has trouble. The golf course, designed by Tiger Woods, is facing trouble as the designer does. Like designer like course.  And the Master's game is coming on April 14 where the troublecoated golfer will make his first appearance after the first affair. (let's hope so)

Picked up a new strategy to break ice with the amazing guys I spot on the basketball court:
-"Excuse me, is your name James?"
-"No, it's ..."
-"Oh, I thought you were LeBron James."
-"Haha..."
-"I'm kidding, just want to say that you're...."
-"#$%%^&^"

March Madness or Upsetness

When all the mad upsets in the March Madness become normal, March Madness should change its name to Upsetness. Kansas is no longer alone, the Jayhawks can walk off the stage hand in hand with Orange, who's ripped off by Butler Bulldogs.

NBA Where AMAZING Happens, where 2010 playoff seeds are easy to predict happens.
NCAA Where UPSET Happens, where nobody's bracket is still intact happens.

The idea of bracket is smart for promoting the games. In the world gradually dominated by the user-generated contents, an interactive bracket is a non-second-choice for the games to attract more followers. My friend Mofee seldom watches basketball, let alone college basketball. But he is deadly fixed on the games this month because, guess what, he joined his classmates in a bracket bet. Hardly had he get over the fact that Kansas's loss had robbed him when the-make-matter-worse Syracuse sent him penniless.

I'm wondering if there's anyone is still pretty decent. Let's follow the "Magic Sticks" LeBronJames and Obamas' brackets.  FYI, magic sticks in Chinese pronounces 神棍, indicating those amazingly accurate predictors.

If I could become an NBA game analyst, commentator, or court-side reporter, I'd like to be the female Chuck Barkley (my first NBA idol when I was in 2nd grade) or Craig Sager for one day, one and only on April 1. Mwa-ha-ha.

LeBron James my imaginary buddy Chris Paul's real buddy, he's never on my Fav 5 list, but he's the first one treated me the way I'm longing for from Chris Paul. LeBron seldom gets my support in terms of team leader, but he gets my hats off the most as a fantastic basketball guy. Born a basketball prodigy, maybe even more talented than the peerless Michael Jordan, there's not a single second when LeBron doesn't show sincere respect to the everyone's idol.  His proposal of retiring the No.23 jersey in the whole league is terrific and touching! His statement of putting aside the easy-peasy scoring champion for the sake of the world champion is bold but not boastful. There are braggadocios all over the world proficient at blatant lies, but when LeBron says something, there's just no reason to not believe.

Quote of the day:
"If I really wanted to be the scoring [champion] every single year---every single year---I could really do it. But it doesn't matter." ---LeBron James.

To get to know LeBron, to refresh my previous opinions about him, the movie "More Than A Game" serves more than a great way. I shared my tears of joy at the beginning and the ending. I have to admit, I don't like Boston Celtics' green, but I do love that on Irish.

Where there's angel, there's demon. The same in NBA.

While LeBron is concentrating on the basketball court, another NBA star is forced to focus on superior court. The best part of the worst news for Gilbert Arenas, no need to go to jail. Go to China, a suggestion from me to Agent Zero. I bet he can outshine Stephon Marbury who just got an MVP award in the all-star game! While of course, the CBA all-star game.

But that's still amazing, isn't it? Since China's international stance is skyrocketing faster and higher than the current Houston Rockets.

Even in the shoes industry is China becoming more competitive spearheaded by Li Ning, who opened the Lining USA store in Porland, the US shoes town where ADIDAS, NIKE, COLUMBIA are dwelling. A even great news is that their first product, Baron Davis BD Tees are sold out and the BD Doom shoes brought a long line outside the store already.

How can I not be proud of my country without regard to the douche government's every douche action?

The more concealed, the more conspicuous

欲盖弥彰. That's the Chinese translation of the proverb in the title. That's for the Chinese government's actions and reactions toward Google.cn's shutting down.

The more the red power is trying to conceal the three Ts that they consider as taboos: Tibet, Tian'anmen Square and Taiwan, the greater curiosity aroused among its people.  There's even an article to testify the fore-mentioned theory.

If all the mainstream news outlets have trending topics like Twitter does, "Google In China" tops the charts unquestionably. Ironically, it's not a trending topic on Twitter, not for a second yet. Check "In The News" section on LATimes.com

Google.cn's gone, but the spirit of an enduring fight for freedom of information searching survives.

Forgive me if I'm talking too much about politics. I am everything but one who gives a hoot about politics.

But I do love the way they are using basketball as a bridge better than political strategies to fill the gap between China and the U.S.

Many Americans would assume that the best ambassador from NBA would be Yao Ming. What's shocking is that to most Chinese fans, Kobe Bryant would be a more ideal candidate.

Yet, the most shocking fact is, believe it or not, Tracy McGrady outpowers Yao and Kobe combined. Evidence? If you missed the heated discussion about the 2010 All-star game Western starters' voting nightmares, especially to Steve Nash/Chris Paul/Deron Williams/..., then you can't miss the latest news that a recent poll on Chinese website Tecent showed that Tracy McGrady's New York Knicks got four times more favoring votes from Chinese fans than the so-called Chinese people's team Houston Rockets before the game between the two.


Speaking of the 2010 NBA All-star, I just stumbled upon an interesting article about the advertising over this year's all-star, thanks to which I got the unbelievable stats: NBA fans are 60 percent male and 40 percent female.With almost half of the NBA lovers women, how come I always felt like I was the only female online, fascinated and crazy about the game.


Another thing that might single me out might be the ones I'm rooting for: Chris Webber and his Sacramento Kings. I loved them the most when the NBA was in a purple and gold era. I hated their fate rival, aka the Lakers, the most when Robert Horry accidentally picked up the rebounded ball and made a even-if-it-was-a-two-point-ball-it-would-not-change-the-result's three point shot. I had always thought that I was an enemy of states since everyone, no matter in the west hemisphere or east, had the blood of purple and gold inside. 

It was not until the end of the Laker's OK era that I realized, everybody hated the Lakers, just the way everyone hates Duke.  Among all the theories talked about as why everyone hates Duke, I found the BIRGing and CORFing one particularly stimulating. Lesson 2: it's a common term in sports marketing and social psychology: Basking In Reflected Glory and Cutting Off Reflected Failure. 


I won't deny that the reason I supported CWEBB at first was in no small part because that made me special. Imagine a world where most people wear the jersey in purple and gold, wouldn't it be cool, unique and eyeballs-attracting to wear a white and purple one that has a crown as a logo instead of a "Lakers"? But that's just the way I picked my favorite team when I had no other options to make a decision.


And the greater plus side is love at first sight lasts long. That's how I became the one and only CWEBB&KINGS female freak in China. Hats off to my loyalty.

Even though I found out that I've got tons of anti-Lakers companions, yet still, there are geeks who are even experts at the celebrities with court-side Lakers' seats, whether Chinese geeks or American geezers.  

My pal Ronan, also a sports freak, but a male sports freak, has an amazing video website about American footballs. He has mania for English Premier Football: the Arsenal soccer team, and our school's football team: USC trojans football. 


As a student in Communication Management, I'd also like to share something from my reading assignments everyday.

Today's quote would be:

Six principles of successful ideas:
Simplicity + Unexpectedness + Concreteness + Credibility + Emotion + Story = SUCCESS

So long google.cn

Google,

So long http://www.google.cn, and within near future, so long http://www.google.com.hk/, if you trust the power of the Chinese government. 

It is a good thing that google.cn quitted mainland China, who above all, had nothing to compete with http://baidu.com, at least not in user numbers. That is also a great lesson for any American companies have had and will have work with China: lesson one, don't toy with the government of the Middle Kingdom unless you want to get swamped into the middle of nowhere. 

It is no big deal for Chinese netizens because no matter how great the Great Fire Wall is, there's always a FreeGate to pass through. Too bad the website that provides the download of FreeGate is blocked in the United States, just the way American movies and TV shows on youku.com and tudou.com are blocked in US.

It is wise for google to redirect users to its HK link. Apart from the users, this could also bring terminators. My sincere blessing for the life of google.com.hk, may you live long and prosperous.

The lesson also applies to major cities in the U.S, say Portland, a city just celebrated Tibet-Awareness-Day. Heartbreaking news for the fans of Trailblazers in China, no more games of Portland televised on CCTV5 any more. 

I hate the way when sports is affected by politics.
I love the way Google fought as a warrior.

Good news is, there is always a silver lining. 

Even though China's central television is trying to televise as many Houston Rockets and New Jersey Nets games as possible to instill the heroic images of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian in Chinese basketball fans' minds,  the No.1 popular jersey in China's apparel stores belongs to Kobe Bryant. And in terms of teams? The Los Angeles Lakers. 

There is only one power greater than the power of the Chinese government, the Chinese!!!

That's why the 3D version of Avatar has not been pulled off from Chinese screens yet. 

And speaking of 3D, SONY is bringing an all-CGI "Popeye" to the big screen, to pop eyes in 3D. 

Speaking of cartoons in 3D, it suddenly strikes me which sports game will have the best effect if televised in 3D. To me, it's American football, even though I am a die-hard basketball fan. And ESPN already did a good dabble job in broadcasting USC-Ohio St. college football game last year.

Another question, would it be great for the sports video games to be in 3D version? Imagine one day we can play NBA live in 3D? Would that be lots of fun?

Just an hour ago, Nintendo seemed to have heard me, they are officially planning to sell a new portable 3D gaming devise that doesn't require special glasses.

Every bracket has its buster

The upsets have been the major tunes of the first March Madness in the first year of a new decade. 

Northern Iowa is made up of...not brave soldiers...but suicide squad. They dared to silence the columnists, and then enjoyed the noise of glasses breaking, the experts' eyeglasses. 

UNI reminds me of New Orleans Saints, coming out of nowhere, and wound up as the happiest Cinderella.

All that I learned from today's NCAA men's basketball games:

Every bracket has its buster! That's the beauty of March Madness!!! 

The glorious regular season could be a curse to the sudden death of the No.1 seed Kansas. Just like the way that Matt Leinart's glorious days at USC cursing his NFL career?

If the previous glorious days didn't result in the current grim nights, then it must be the American's beloved president's bracket predictions that jinxed the top seeds. 

A tragic day for Obama's bracket. 奥巴马悲剧日.

Believe it or not, not only sports fans in the U.S. are crazy about the NCAA brackets, fans across the Pacific Ocean are crazier. 

They've been following all the country's ESPN experts and their basketball-freak POTUS bracket and even rank them by points. Tracing the ESPN bracket experts. ESPN Bracket神棍追踪.

Though the only thing I know about Kentucky is their Fried Chicken, I decided to root for them because of Darius Miller! Go #1!!!

Final Four in my mind: Kentucky, Ohio St, Xavier, Duke!!! Who's with me?