The 9:30 a.m. start seemed too good to be true. But in return, it would be a strenuous yet eventful day on Thursday, May 21.
We typically leave our hotels by 9:00 a.m. But on Thursday, we not only gained a half hour, but we didn’t have to physically be anywhere immediately. That’s because we began on Zoom — from our hotel rooms — joined by NFL China Marketing and Football Development Intern Morris Huang, a recently-graduated Syracuse University sport management senior.
Morris’ lecture lasted just over an hour, so around 11:00 a.m., we traveled in taxis to Beijing’s National Stadium, which is called the “Bird’s Nest.” It was surreal seeing the 80,000-seat arena hosting several Olympic events, especially considering the recent 2022 Winter Olympics had events there. as I recall watching it.
The Bird’s Nest is relatively new, built in the early 2000s, and it served as an arena for the 2008 Summer Olympics. We saw many sculptures scattered around the stadium. One project that stuck out included zodiac animals, all indicative of a specific year. My birth year, 2006, represents a dog. Another had Chinese phrases below, translating to “Beijing welcomes you.”
Just after noon, we headed to lunch. Most of us went to — yes, you read that right — McDonald’s. Just some advice for any American reading this: Chinese McDonald’s is better. The menu seemed expanded, so I got some spicy chicken nuggets.
It was a brief, half-hour stop before venturing back out in taxis. We actually passed by the Water Cube, which is now a waterpark, but has storied Olympic history. It’s where Michael Phelps broke the record in the 2008 swimming competition. There were even curling events in 2022.
Our final stop of the day, roughly around 2:00 p.m., was the headquarters for the Chinese Football Association. We sat in on what I thought looked like an NFL Draft war room. It was like a computer lab with many seats along the sides. Anywhere you look, you’ll see massive projections.
The centered one focused on video, replaying soccer highlights. I wondered if it could be transformed into a multi-box setup, but did not have time to ask questions. The one adjacently left appeared like a league breakdown. It laid out upcoming schedules with games’ times and dates.
We also walked through the video review room, and while we weren’t allowed to share photos, it was amusing seeing the place I always see projected on TV handling remote soccer calls. Our professors Jamie Kim and John Wolohan participated in a conference the league hosted for us, and we had the opportunity to ask some questions, specifically about the CFA’s recent transformation in the 2020s.
We headed back to the hotel for our second remote lecture of the day at 6:00 p.m. Shannon Shang, another SU alum, led the discussion, delved into how China tries integrating table tennis and ice hockey into its culture. I learned that it takes one person for a sport to take off, as Shannon exemplified the NBA’s Yao Ming. She paired this with the NHL, which recently had Simon Wang selected 33rd overall last year.
As for table tennis, Shannon shared that China used table tennis to revitalize itself on the map in the sports world. That took forms of state-led models, as cultural confidence was key. Now, China embraces table tennis as its top sport.
That concluded our organized activities for the day. Many of us walked a few blocks to a hot pot place for dinner. It had delicious meats like lamb and extravagant dances for people celebrating birthdays. Then, we came back to the hotel, where I fell asleep before midnight, exhausted from yet another 10,000-plus-step day.
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