Apologies for the lack of posts in recent weeks: a combination of travel (including a LOT of quarantine), plus other work priorities, have kept me from the site. I’ve been working on two other sports projects in particular, the first of which I’m happy to announce below, with a second, much larger one coming later in the year!
I’ve teamed up with Haig Balian, host and producer of The Beijing Sessions podcast series, to put together the China Sports Insider Podcast, which we will release weekly. We had a soft launch a few weeks ago, but we’re now on the SupChina podcast network, so you can find all back issues of the show and subscribe here. It was also great to be on the Sinica stream for the first episode with host Kaiser Kuo and his tens of thousands of listeners.
Here’s the blurb about the China Sports Insider Podcast in general, plus details of the latest show:
If it’s about sports and there’s a China angle, our hosts Mark Dreyer — the China Sports Insider himself — and Haig Balian, the show’s producer, will talk about it. This week: fewer than a hundred days to go to the Beijing Olympics, and foreign athletes have been trickling in for test events. What’s happening? What are they saying? (7:18) The IOC released their playbook — their game plan for the Olympics. How will visiting media and athletes react to Beijing’s health and safety measures? (12:42) Then we talk to USA Today’s Dan Wolken. He’s covered four Olympics, and he’s coming to Beijing. What does he make of the playbook? (19:06) And we end with the saga of China’s men’s national ice hockey team. Their story is getting a lot of attention from foreign media. At the Olympic tournament they’ll be in a group with Canada, USA, and Germany, and there’s a real chance they’ll get blown out. How did we get here? What’s the way out? (41:06) Update: Since we recorded this, the IIHF has announced that China will not be kicked out of the Olympic tournament.
Please do give it a listen and send in any feedback you have, whether in terms of content, style or format. Needless to say, we’ll be focusing a lot on the Olympics – which are coming up in under 100 days – but there will be plenty of other stuff, too. NBA All-Star and current CBA coach Stephon Marbury has agreed to come on the show once he’s out of the CBA bubble, as has Zheng Weili’s agent Li Meng, who was seen by a live audience of millions at UFC 268 in New York just hours ago, so I hope you are as excited about what’s to come as I am!
The China Sports Insider Podcast will be the best way to catch me over the next few months, so please subscribe to that, but I’ll try link the episodes here, too. And as always, find me on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.
