Absolutely Fobulous

I don’t know what you were doing at age 14, but Tianlang Guan is proving that even a skinny Chinese kid can make international headlines.  The teenager from Guangzhou, China became the youngest golfer to qualify for The Masters Tournament.  At age 14, he’s literally an 8th grade boy competing amongst men, and many professional golfers much older than him struggle to even get to Guan’s current level.  To put things in perspective, the legendary Tiger Woods didn’t even qualify for the Masters until he was 19 years old.

“It’s frightening to think that he was born after I won my first Masters,” Woods said. “I mean, that’s just frightening.”

It’s pretty interesting watching interviews about Guan, as I would have assumed he attended an expensive sports school (there are many in China).  However, he just goes to a regular middle school in Guangzhou, balancing homework with practicing golf after school.  Golf isn’t a huge sport in China, but Guan’s passion for the sport started at age four when he tagged along with his dad on the golf course.  When he was just six years old, he traveled for his first international competition.  Watch this kid — he’s going to be the next big thing in golf!

(Thanks, Hubie)

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Happy Holi!  This week, thousands of Hindus around the world will celebrate Holi, the festival that welcomes the new season of spring.  According to Hindu legend, Lord Krishna  visited the city of Barsana, where his lover Radha lived, and teased her with colors.  The word “Holi” comes from “Holika,” the name of a Hindu deity known for her special gift of being able to withstand fire.  During the festival, people also celebrate by burning bonfires.

These beautiful photos show how freakin’ awesome and joyful it is to get completely doused in color.  I’ve never had a chance to celebrate Holi, I just did the Color Run and it was AWESOME!  It’s a 5k race, and every kilometer is a different color…by the end, you’re completely covered in brightness.

Celebrate spring the Holi way and sign up for the nearest run near you!

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I admit I’ve been rooting for China during the Olympics, but one US gold medal got me pretty fired up. Gymnast Gabby Douglas won the US all-around gold, making her the first African-American woman to win the highest individual medal in gymnastics.  Gotta love the picture below, which came with the caption: “Gabrielle Douglas, the first African American woman to win the all-around gold medal in gymnastics, celebrating with Liang Chow, her Chinese-born coach.”

Liang Chow was on China’s national gymnastics team for more than decade, and was also the personal coach of Shawn Johnson, a gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics. After he moved to the US in 1990, he coached the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams at the University of Iowa. He now has his own training facility, the Chow’s Gymnastics & Dance Institute, in Des Moines, Iowa.  Chow, who is originally from Beijing, became an American in 2002.

(Thanks, RAMA!)

Nothing makes you appreciate the incredible talent of Olympic athletes than a ridiculously horrible amateur.  Watch how this hurdler from Chinese University uses a rather erm, “unconventional” technique during his race.   After he knocks over his first two hurdles, he decides, “Eff this” and bulldozes through the rest of the race like a bonafide crazy person.

This video is a couple years old, but what a great way to get us all fired up for the professional Olympians whom we’ll be watching soon!

Talk about awkward!  At a sports event in Kuwait, organizers accidentally played the obscene song from Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” instead of the actual Kazakhstan national anthem.  As you can see from the lyrics in the video below, the song from the movie is totally crude and hilarious.  I’m so impressed that the athlete only smirks at the end of the song, managing to keep a calm face throughout the song.

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In case you hadn’t heard, Li Na killed it at the French Open championships, making her the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam tournament.  For us fobs, this is a huge moment of pride.  My dad even called me from Singapore to make sure I was fully aware of Li Na’s achievement.  ESPN put it poignantly, describing a fan’s cheer while Li Na served at match point:

“The words of support were in Mandarin: ‘Jia you!’ — which loosely translates to ‘Let’s go!’ After so many years of ‘Come on’ and ‘Allez’ and ‘Vamos,’ there’s a new language on the tennis landscape.”

To us fobs, it marks another shift of people’s attention from the West to the East.  And it’s so inspiring and refreshing to see a physically and mentally strong Asian woman making waves in mainstream media.  Jia you Li Na!

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We’re keeping tabs on all the fobulous athletes out there, such as Ichiro Suzuki, Jeremy Lin, Manny Pacquiao, and Tiger-Woods-destroyer Yang Yong-eun.

I swear Asians are just plain creative; they manage to turn a mundane gym activity into performance art on a bike. The video is pretty hilarious — watch the cut Korean competitor (who is wearing a skintight costume) start by posing prettily, then launching into some transformer hand signals before doing a series of spins, leaps, and splits over a stationary gym equipment. In fact his movements kind of remind me of the Chinese traffic police officer with MJ moves. Watch and cringe:

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(Thanks, Sara!)

This post is dedicated to the team that I’ve come to love, and that I’m praying will make it to the World Series: the SF Giants!

I never thought this day would actually come, but I finally understand baseball.  You’re probably laughing at me, but it feels like a huge milestone.  After watching many games in San Francisco’s beautiful AT&T ballpark, I finally understand (and love!) the game.

For instance, I now understand that when the umpire waves his hands horizontally, it means “safe” and not, as I initially thought, “no go.”  (Doesn’t kind of look like it would mean that, though?!)  Also, I learned that the little kids who ran to grab the bat were actually bat boys, and not really, really short players.  It’s taken me a while, but I now get pretty much all the lingo, like NLDS (National League Division Series) and NLCS (National League Championship Series).  I even love how everyone gets up at the 7th inning to stretch and sing the baseball song.

Now, if only I could understand American football.

Breaking the U.S.’ five-year winning streak, Japan won the championship today in the Little League World Series.  After weeks of battling against the national teams of other countries, Japan finished the tournament undefeated.

For those of you who aren’t big baseball fans, the Little League World Series is a baseball championship for kids aged eleven to thirteen.  Originally including only U.S. teams, the championship is now a worldwide event and is televised on ESPN.

I’m not that into baseball, but I’ve actually really enjoyed watching the Little League World Series — the kids are so cute!  Good job, team Japan!!

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(Thanks Hubie!)

A new hybrid has emerged in Japan — the Spideyman baseball catcher. Check out the video of Masato Akamatsu of the Hiroshima Carp doing a fantastic wall leap, preventing the Yokohama Baystars from scoring a home run. It’s pretty unbelievable, you gotta see for yourself!

EMBED-Spiderman Style Baseball Catch – Watch more free videos

(Thanks, Hubes!)

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