https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/09/business/nba-china-hong-kong-explainer/index.html How one tweet snowballed into the NBA's worst nightmare https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/asia/blizzard-hearthstone-hong-kong.html Blizzard Sets Off Backlash for Penalizing Hearthstone Gamer in Hong Kong The gaming company suspended the player and made him forfeit his prize money after he expressed support for the protest movement in Hong Kong. https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/c/s...-wizards-game-against-chinese-team/vp-AAIyM5Q Security Removes 'Free Hong Kong' Signs at Washington Wizards Game Against Chinese Team https://video.foxnews.com/v/6093294902001/#sp=show-clips Jason Whitlock reacts to NBA-China controversy this might be one of the few issues that might bring the 2020 candidates together have the Communist Chinese gone too far by forcing American companies to act as their proxies in silencing speech and behavior they don't like?
China is not forcing anybody to do anything, they are simply setting conditions for doing business with them. Right or wrong, they do it because they are powerful and they can, and because they don't care much about their own people's wants. I'm all for free speech, but if I had a business that for example was trying to increase sales to Coca Cola Co, I wouldn't want my salespeople to go around saying that Coke is poison, even though we all know it is. The same applies to the NBA and China. I absolutely understand why the NBA would prefer that those involved with the league refrain from talking about what's going on in Hong Kong.
Or, the NBA could recognize that they have the premium product in their space (professional basketball content) and if China wants their people to have access to that product, China needs to accept that Americans have a different concept of freedom of speech than Chinese do. Or, China can let their people watch crappy basketball from Spain or wherever. It's disappointing that the NBA and other American companies are so quick to bend over for whatever cash comes out of China.
Or if you sell cigarettes, you do not want doctors telling people that they may be bad, so you create think tanks to challenge any study that makes the claim that cigarettes are bad, or fire/sue any employee that want to whistle blow on you. I am all for China bashing, but let's not forget that when the French did not want to join us in the Iraq war, we (in reality it was the Republicans) decided to rename French fries for a while. We can also over react to shit/criticisms.
Businesses aren't people. (Sorry Mitt.) People make moral decisions, sometimes sacrificing various things to do what they think is right. Businesses don't. The reason that regulations exist -- capital requirements, anti-pollution, anti-bribery, child labor, etc. -- is because businesses lie outside of morality. Morality is for the government is to decide. Thus, if we think as a society that the NBA (and other businesses) shouldn't be pushed around by China so that NBA employees are punished for voicing opinions on China, in this country, talking to other Americans, then that is for the government to adjudicate. A business will concede, as the NBA has done. That is what businesses do. The NBA wasn't publicly "woke" until it didn't harm its U.S.-based business to be so. It's not that the woke part is fake; the players believe that and I think that the league officials largely do too. But the thoughts didn't become vocalized when that meant losing customers. The odd couple of AOC and Ted Cruz sponsored a govt. letter on this subject, which is a start, although their target was misplaced. The NBA is simply doing what businesses do. If the U.S. wishes to stand up to Chinese government bullying, it won't get that done by waving its hands and hoping that American companies give up their profits to comply. It will only do so by writing and enforcing laws to that effect. https://www.newsweek.com/aoc-ted-cr...support-china-instead-american-values-1464296
This does leave us customers off the hook. We can talk shit about the NBA or the Chinese PR machine, but then we go and order some cheap product made in China from Amazon on out Chinese built phones. A bit hypocritical. But maybe that is just me.
Well yeah, but remember that when we buy cheap shit from China we are also contributing to limiting poverty and starvation in the most populous nation on earth. Yeah, it sucks that the repugnant Chinese government benefits, but the poor Chinese people also benefit. So, don't feel so bad about your Chinese-built phone.
Looks like King James has picked the money over human rights. Good for him, be like all other American companies, get that money. https://www.yahoo.com/news/lebron-james-no-longer-king-135300974.html
Maybe those Spaniards and Italians have enough self-respect that they're going to watch their leagues because they're tired of Americans bashing their leagues. And the Chinese ought to do the same. I haven't seen ten minutes of UEFAball since 3/17. It is not welcome in my house, because I know Europeans don't watch my league. Sorry, slightly off topic and I'll go away
Au contraire, mon ami! We used to go there when I was in high school. I grew up about 25 miles away. Back then, the hot dogs were minis and they sold for 35 cents! I know, I sound like somebody's grampa, insisting that you used to be able to buy a car for a nickel...
C'est certain, they are one of the best around despite the fact that the owner sponsored and played on my sons' rival footy team. When I was there last year I wolfed 3 dogs an a Root Beer. I think they were $1.35!
Still Big Trouble in Liddle Gina https://nypost.com/2019/10/18/protesters-at-barlcays-center-wear-we-stand-with-hong-kong-shirts/
I don’t know about that logic. As much as the Euro basketball leagues have improved, they are still significantly below the NBA in terms of quality. The same is true in reverse - although arguably to a lesser extent - in soccer. Why let pride and patriotism get in the way of watching the best ball in the planet?
Finns and Greeks and Peruvians watch their own leagues, without a care about what Messi or Cronaldo did today, and no social media trolls bother them for doing so. This is not about the best team or the best ball. It's about your club and your domestic league.
Of course I follow Boca Juniors and the Argentine league. I even follow Boca’s basketball team -Yes, they have one. But I also enjoy watching the top level at Champions and the NBA. As a sports fan I can get the best of both, although if they overlap I’ll watch Boca.
It's becoming less and less that way. Sure, there's the argument that if you want to see a live game and have a true connection with a team, it would be your local side, not some big-time team you can only see on TV. I used to use that argument to the Euro-snobs who would turn up their noses at MLS, which is actually a pretty damn good league. Not at the same level as the top 6-7 leagues on the planet, but not that far off. I used to work with a Danish guy based in Germany. I was trying to get him to go see Eintracht Frankfurt when I was in town. He had been in Germany for 4 years and never saw a Bundesliga game. I asked him who his team was, expecting him to say someone like Brondby or Copenhagen. But no, he was an Arsenal fan, specifically Thierry Henry. Of course he adopted the Red Bulls as "his" team inteh US. It was with great delight that I sent him the highlights of the Jermaine Jones Revs whuppin' the Red Bulls' butts int he playoffs. And Henry--the first time he had ever played at Gillette in 8 games, cuz he was a-skeert of the artificial turf!