Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com -- Last Friday's Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing Olympics Stadium was without a doubt the greatest event of its kind in the history of the Olympic Games. It was China's "coming out" party, and the organizers $300 million was well-spent. The results showed in China Olympian Li Ning's levitating speed-skater style "walk" around Olympic Stadium and his lighting of a giant torch, which in turn caused what had to be the largest fireworks display in the history of the Olympic Games, if not the World. A spectacle that looked tremendous, and even animated, and that's because it was. The organizers of the event admitted that computer graphics were used to "replace" the actual fireworks images because the fear was that the "haze" -- read: smog -- was so bad that a great camera shot of the pyrotechnics would have not been possible. Still, it was controversial because it took away from the overall histo...

c The legendary longtime Oakland Tribune Columnist William Wong sent me this column presenting his unique take on the China Olympics. I'll be interviewing Bill, as he's called, today in video form on this subject. The Olympics, China & Me By William Wong Copyright, 2008, William Wong Now that the Beijing Olympics have begun (weren’t the opening ceremonies stunningly over-the-top?) who will I, a Chinese American, root for – American or Chinese athletes, and by extension, the United States or China? Simple question, complicated answer. I’ve loved sports most of my life and even wished at one point to play basketball for my (American) high school team. Alas, I am 26 inches shorter than Yao Ming, China’s superstar professional basketball player, and not nearly as skilled, so I long ago became an avid sports fan instead. I even started my journalism career as a sportswriter for my high school and college newspapers. The sports and athletes I know best are most...