This past weekend was a pre-olympic event in Beijing. The Padres and Dodgers played a two game series at one of the olympic venues. It was interesting. The field was pretty small compared to a standard MLB one. It felt more like a high school or college field. There were certain things that made if feel like home, but it felt pretty Chinese...

 Number One: dancers? How is this guy supposed to appropriately warm up for the next inning with those girls shakin' their barely clad selves in front of him? Cincinnati must have told someone in Beijing that cheerleaders at MLB games are a cool idea (even though no one else in the US agrees).
Number 2: Port-a-potty SQUATTIES??? I have no words.
Number 3: Duh.
 Number 4: In cincinnati, it's the skyline chili shuffle with the ball hiding underneath... in Beijing it was the "pagoda shuffle" ...nice.

Part of the idea for bringing these teams to town was to promote baseball in China. It hasn't been played here over the last few decades very much. There were a lot of groups of young boys at the game but I think they were more interested in the food and free souvenirs than the baseball game. It was strange to have so many ex-pats in one place. And I was surprised by how many Chinese people where there. When the 7th inning stretch came and we (americans) got up to sing the familiar song, the Chinese sitting around us just watched in amazement. They were probably wondering what Cracker Jacks are and why we were so excited to sing this song. Oh, they also had a few times where it was "educational" game time between innings. They taught people how to say "single, double, homerun" in English and explained what they meant. And the ridiculous dance team performed 3 times. Oh, and they RAN OUT OF FOOD in the third inning. But they made up for it buy getting tons of beer and selling that once the food ran out (that made it feel more American having some guys in front of me that had enjoyed a few too many).

It was a beautiful day and one of the first blue sky days we had in a while (its sandstorm season in Beijing so the weather has been weird). It was a little chilly but at least it was pretty. I think there are a few more pre-olympic things going on this spring so maybe I'll get to enjoy a few more!