One Day in May…

…which was actually two weeks ago, when I was in Korea. The next episode was a week ago, when I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my visiting mom. But here we are at week 3 of Mayday’s NFL adventure for CCTV-5.

Just to catch up, though:

Here is Episode one. Highlights include:

Stone entering into a drinking contest with tailgating fans

Ashin marveling over the cheapo neoprene drink sleeve he wins in the throwing contest (really, Ashin? Keeps things cold for three years?)

Ashin trying to trade Guanyou to a local band

(Okay, I am seriously jealous that they got to hang out on the sidelines… though moving up to the stands was the right idea for their first game – it’s easier to see.)

(Pats owner) Robert Kraft listing all the places he’d been to in China… with the band from Taiwan politely nodding along.

Episode two is here. Some highlights:

I had not realized that the three most important institutions in the United States were the White House, NASA, and NFL Headquarters. I’m not saying I disagree.

“Oh, I had always thought Americans spoke English!” LOL, Masa.

Are you marveling at the fact that a former NFL all-star can speak Mandarin? He was a Mormon missionary to Taiwan in his youth (I met quite a few people on similar missions when I lived in Taipei, and they always had stellar Chinese).

Okay, I’m loving the NFL history in this episode. So fun! I really need to rethink teaching baseball instead of football in my cultural history class.

You miss catching the ball/water balloon, you have to do push-ups. No exceptions, Ding Dang.

Ashin’s spiral could use some serious work.

Masa’s taking “camp” to a whole new level in this series. 太誇張了吧。

Stone skating in his cleats, Masa’s team’s creative use of athletic tape and leg pads.

So tonight, for the first time, I’m watching live! Here are my thoughts as I watch:

Ooh, today we’re on defense.

Mayday’s first defensive maneuvers seem to be from the Frankenstein school of thought.

Stone has natural talent, I think. But not a lot of daring.

Ding Dang’s doing a pretty good job taking the snap.

It’s hard to take Ashin seriously as a football player with his “Hello Kitty” sweatshirt on.

Ooh, nice little quarterback sneak there from Guanyou.

Masa’s English remains stellar.

Okay, yes, guys, people do tend to support their home teams. Why else would Detroit have fans?

Okay, can I just say that beyond the fact that it’s Mayday AND the NFL – i.e. two things I’ve loved for a long time – I’m really enjoying how they’ve found Chinese Americans engaged in the sport (as fans, as players) to serve as the bridge between the US and Chinese audiences. The Wang family in this episode is great. Erm, the parents are a little strict, but still cool. I loved the bit about needing to be close to their sons at college to make sure they’re studying and practicing well.

Boy, the boys (and Ding Dang) applaud a lot.

This show is definitely worth the wait; I’m already looking forward to next week.

By the way, just a helpful update for anyone trying to follow Mayday’s example and get into American football: we’re at week thirteen in the season, and the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints are both still undefeated. Third in the league, however, are my very own Minnesota Vikings, with a 10 and 1 record. (See, Mayday? That’s better than the Patriots – New England is only 7 and 4!) Amazingly, I’ve learned to let go of my resentment for Brett Favre, something made easier by how well he’s playing, though I nonetheless remain hopelessly devoted to Adrian Peterson. As all people of good sense are, of course.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Ding Dang, Mayday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.