My interest in basket-ball is “zero” – despite my daughters having to play “net-ball” at school (a slightly different – but related game). Of course, this is an Odious US game – and I would much rather watch a sedate game of cricket (there was nothing “sedate” about the West Indies at their peak). However, over the years I have been contacted here and there by “modern” Mainland Chinese people (usually male academics) who for some reason find basket-ball enthralling. They know the names of all the US players (?) and think that every other European country must share in this obsession. When confronted with this banality – my eyes simply glaze-over. But – we are where we are. I believe that during WWII – the anti-Japanese racism employed by the US government (as part of the war-effort) – involved a “pop song” entitled “We’re Gonna Have to Sl’p the D’rty Little J’p” song by Carson Robison.
