One Night In Beijing
Georgetown University has undertaken five international trips for its men's basketball team, but none as memorable as its visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 2011. A decade later, the images and stories from its Aug. 18, 2011 game against the Bayi Rockets still resonate with fans, perhaps more so given the relative calm that the rest of the seven day trip represented.
The first overseas trip for the Hoyas came in September, 1976, a 12 day, eight game tour of Taiwan. In 1993, a trip to Israel. In 2011, an offer was extended to visit China, and was enthusiastically accepted by head coach John Thompson III and the Georgetown University leadership.
"The Associated Press reports that the men's basketball team will travel to China as part of a U.S. State Department exchange program," read the update from HoyaSaxa.com in April 2011. Forty years [earlier], a similar exchange program among table tennis teams set the stage for normalization of U.S. relations with the mainland of China in 1972." A four game tour in Beijing and Shanghai was set, giving ample time for cultural events, sightseeing, and events with university officials. It also offered a high level introduction to Georgetown to Chinese party officials, who were well aware of the University's close ties to the U.S. government.
Players, coaches, and a group of alumni and donors left Washington on August 13 for the visit. Lacking broadcast coverage (a feature made available by ESPNU to Duke during its simultaneous trip to China), communications would be limited, even for 2011. No radio or video coverage of the games was available, but the GUHoyas.com web site took note to provide various features of players arriving and getting used to the sights and sounds of the visit.
"The thing that was going through my head was just, 'Wow, we're really in China.'", wrote junior Aaron Bowen in one of these releases. "That just kept blowing me away that I was really in China. Seeing the train stations and the buildings as we drove through town was really cool."
"I was thinking that for many of them, like they told us in the orientation sessions, that it might have been their first time seeing Americans," wrote freshman Otto Porter. "And some of the Chinese people spoke some English, asking me where I was from, things like that."
"Everyone is having a good time and the players are really enjoying this experience. I'm really enjoying this," said sophomore Markel Starks. "Just to see the families and kids running around. The size of this place is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this."
On August 17, the Hoyas opened play in Beijing versus one of three pro teams on the week's schedule: the Shanxi Brave Dragons. Before what GUHoyas.com called "a spirited crowd at the National Olympic Sports Center", Georgetown won, 98-81. The team was welcomed by a surprise entrant before the game, as Vice President Joe Biden moved up his itinerary during a diplomatic visit to talk to the team, and later sit with University president Jack DeGioia during the game.
"Being fortunate enough to play at Georgetown, we have many events like this," said coach John Thompson III to press from both nations. "We were excited and honored to have the Vice President, as he said, travel 24 hours to see us play, along with the many, countless Chinese politicians and delegates that came to watch their team play, as well as ours."
Next up for the Hoyas was game the following day in Beijing versus the Bayi Rockets, eight time champions of the Chinese Basketball Association. If the Rockets were the Boston Celtics of the CBA by recognition, its reputation was more that of the late-1980's Detroit Pistons. Founded in 1955 by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and comprised entirely of military players, the Rockets had a reputation of being a rough and tumble opponent, a team would not back down. But no one predicted what would follow.
August 18, 2011.
As stories go, it was one of the rare times in 25 years HoyaSaxa.com was ahead of almost all coverage, owing to being on the computer that morning, gaining quick access to Chinese media sources, and a impromptu call from three fans in China who just witnessed the game in person and wanted to know if I knew about it. As it was published that day, the story of Georgetown University versus the Bayi Rockets:
Game 2: Players Pulled From Court, Fans Escorted Out Of Arena
(8/18/11, 10:30 AM EDT)
Reports from Beijing this morning indicate that Thursday's game with members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army team, the Bayi Army Rockets, was called following an incident with bottles being thrown from the stands. At that point, the Georgetown team left the court and the Georgetown alumni group left the arena to avoid any incidents with Chinese fans or military officials.
An e-mail posted to the HoyaTalk board is being reported as a first hand account of the game, which has not yet been confirmed by Georgetown or Chinese officials. The incident was mentioned briefly during the ESPNU coverage of Duke's game in Shanghai.
"So, tonight's game...we started out behind and were having trouble moving the ball around. The PLA team's big men actually matched up with us pretty well and they played solid defense early on. We were quickly in foul trouble and they moved to the line pretty often, although it wasn't that notable at the time. Then in the second quarter we made a nice run, started hitting open shots, and played really nice defense and forced some turnovers- truly fun to watch and gives us some hope for the regular season. I believe we were down 5 at the end of the first, and then we built a 6-point lead.Members of the Hoyas staff were trying to find a police escort for the entire Georgetown contingent, including alumni and supporters who attended the game as part of a 10-day tour of China, fearing reprisals from Chinese fans. But rather than wait, Thompson told everyone to walk to the buses together."
Then things got really lopsided on the officiating front in the second quarter. They were in the bonus (five fouls) in the first two minutes of the quarter. The fouls continued- I think we had about 12-14 in the second quarter alone, if I had to guess without seeing a stat sheet (which I doubt will be published). On a couple of plays there was a bit of shoving under the basket, but it calmed down fairly quickly, JT3 clearly called the team over and probably said something along the lines that the officiating was ridiculous, but it didn't matter and everyone needed to stay cool. Then JT3 became more active in pushing the refs for some calls on our end (we were getting mauled, and the PLA team was getting a call basically every time down the court). Despite all of this, we finished the half up 4 or 5- we were shooting really well.
The whole thing came undone in the third. About two minutes in, the ridiculously lopsided foul calls continued (we were in the bonus again 2 1/2 minutes in) and the first real shoving match kicked off over a loose ball. The players on the court separated each other pretty quickly, but then the craziest thing I've ever seen happened- one of the Bayi big men got in JT3's face and almost took a swing. He was so shocked he didn't know what to do. So that upped the ante a bit.
Then the foul calls truly took on a comical dimension. We supposedly fouled them every time down the court, despite some really good defense on some possessions. There were four or five intentional fouls called, giving them four shots each time down the court. JT3 was called for a technical for stepping over the line onto the court. I counted Bayi scoring two field goals in the entire third quarter. I don't know what the count was, but I would not be surprised if they shot 45-50 FTs through three quarters, and we shot 6-10. I honestly think the foul count was likely in the range of 30 or 35 to 5-7. A few exchanges got testy and at one point players had to restrain themselves again. I started joking with some Chinese people in the crowd, who to their credit similarly thought it was a bit ridiculous but were mainly upset that the game had no flow. At the end of the third, despite all of this, we were tied or up two points or so.
Two minutes into the fourth, they were pressing full court, trapped one of our guards (I forget who it was), and then must have pushed or punched him on the ground after he made the outlet pass, because then there was a shoving match and then a bit of a fight, and then the whole thing set off. He tried to get away as quickly as possible as the Chinese players sort of converged on him, and then benches cleared, and then people on the Chinese bench started picking up chairs. Everyone on the other side of the court started fighting as well. Brawl spread all over the court, and then off the court. After it kicked off it immediately became possible for the crowd to get involved, and then they did. As we tried to get the team off the court, bottles (plastic ones, thankfully) came out of the crowd at the team and everyone left. Security was there (sort of), but it was more equivalent to mall cop-quality security rather than actual security. The Georgetown staff wanted the security to get on the floor, but honestly these guys didn't have a clue what to do. They escorted the whole alumni contingent out fairly quickly after that. Game over, 64-64 (following another intentional foul).
I don't know how much news this will make, but even given my admittedly partisan view of how this played out, this was really not our fault. The refs completely failed to control the game, and these things happen when they can continue to maul us underneath with no consequences. The coaching staff called the whole team over at several times during the game and calmed everyone down. We didn't throw any punches and players and coaches were generally just laughing at the absurdity of the officiating at times. Anyway, not exactly what I was expecting to see tonight."
For what it's worth, the game ended 64-all. No box score has been posted.
Photos From Social Media
(8/18/11, 11:00 AM EDT)
Chinese officials censor outbound social media from Facebook and Twitter, but the following photos were posted on the Chinese social media outlet, Weibo.com. Subsequent reports indicate that these may have been taken offline:
(8/18/11, 11:10 AM EDT)
"Tonight, two great teams played a very competitive game that unfortunately ended after heated exchanges with both teams," coach John Thompson III said in a prepared statement. "We sincerely regret that this situation occurred. We remain grateful for the opportunity our student-athletes are having to engage in a sport they love here in China, while strengthening their understanding of a nation we respect and admire at Georgetown University."
Washington Post Account
(8/18/11, 11:30 AM EDT)
Excerpted from Gene Wang's story at the Washington Post, the only first-hand account of the game:
"A woman sitting in the Georgetown fan section directly behind the bench implored Chinese police to try to calm the situation, saying someone was going to get hurt. The Chinese police had been watching the tensions escalate to the point of physical confrontations but made no attempts to break up any of the fights taking place on the court.
Before anyone was seriously hurt, Thompson said, "We're outta here," and pointed toward the tunnel behind the Hoyas bench leading underneath the stands.
As Thompson and his staff summoned players together and began escorting them off the court, the group had to dodge plastic water bottles being hurled from the stands. Once they reached the safety of the locker room, the team immediately gathered all its equipment and headed for the buses outside."
No Comment From Chinese Officials
(8/18/11, 11:55 AM EDT)
No comment has been issued by Chinese officials over the fan behavior following the fights that ended Thursday's game in Beijing. As the team in question is made up of members of the People's Liberation Army under the auspices of the Communist Party, officials might not comment on this at all, mindful of the presence of Vice President Joe Biden in Beijing this week.
Georgetown is scheduled to travel to Shanghai Friday morning. The status of the third exhibition game on Sunday has not been announced.
ESPN Account: Georgetown Fan Injured By Debris
(8/18/11, 12:25 PM EDT)
Excerpted from Dana O'Neil's story at ESPN.com, with an on-site quote from Sports Information Director Mex Carey:
"Georgetown's tour through China turned ugly Thursday when a game between the Hoyas and the Bayi Rockets, a Chinese professional team, ended in a bench-clearing brawl. Mex Carey, Georgetown's sports information director, told ESPN.com that the game was "very physical," with 57 free throws taken by Bayi to just 15 for Georgetown, and quickly spun out of control.Video Of Fight Leaked From China
According to the Washington Post, coach John Thompson III pulled his team off the court with the score tied at 64 midway through the fourth quarter after the two teams exchanged punches. One Hoya player, Henry Sims, was reportedly hit by a chair.
The Hoyas dodged water bottles and other objects thrown from the stands as they made their way to the locker room. Carey said one Georgetown fan in attendance was knocked to the ground after being hit by a bottle."
(8/18/11, 2:15 PM EDT)
A video from the stands of Thursday's game has made its way to SportsGrid.com and the images are not favorable to the host country. Items of note:
- At the :09 mark, Jason Clark is knocked to the floor. This leads to the initial rush of the floor.
- At the :20 mark, the camera pans to the baseline, where a Chinese player is chasing Aaron Bowen, knocking him to the ground (see inset, right), getting in four punches on top of his chest before other Georgetown players arrive at the scene.
- At the :30 mark, a Chinese player wearing #13 throws a chair in the direction of the players.
- At the :33 mark, two more chairs are tossed.
- At the :40 mark, a Chinese player wearing #5 attempts to throw a chair but is waved off by what appears to be a Georgetown official.
- At the :50 mark, the groups are separated. At least one Chinese fan is seen brandishing a chair.
- At the :54 mark, Georgetown players return to Clark at midcourt, who is still apparently on the floor.
- At the 1:00 mark, a uniformed Chinese officer appears on the screen but makes no move onto the court, consistent with reports that the police were not interested in interfering with the Red Army team during the conflict.
- At the 1:27 mark, an unidentified Chinese person near the front of the camera hurls a water bottle. Other bottles are seen as well. At least two appear to be thrown into the Georgetown section.
Chinese Media: Nothing To See Here
(8/19/11)
It is not clear how much attention the Bayi game received within the rest of China, as a story was not printed online at any of the major Chinese web sites Friday morning. The Washington Post had reported that stories at sina.com and 163.com were deleted by Chinese authorities.
One quote that won't appear in state media appeared in the Post, however.
"It seemed that [the referee] was eager for the Chinese team win tonight, so the Georgetown team members were very unhappy about it," said Zhou Ting, 26, a doctoral candidate in biology at the Chinese Academy of Science who attended both games. "I can tell the Chinese players provoked the conflict. The [Bayi] basketball players have got a bad habit of revenge on every small, unfair thing in the Chinese Basketball Association. It's a hooligan's habit."
Recaps: Georgetown 64, Bayi Rockets 64
(8/19/11)
There are literally hundreds of articles on the game, most relying on the SportsGrid video to make their judgments, and less on Gene Wang's Washington Post article which provides the only written record of the event.
Another Post column is worth a note, however.
"What happened on the court between Georgetown and the Bayi Club team will be read as a full blown international incident, because of the simple fact that sports and politics are inextricable in China," said columnist Sally Jenkins at the Washington Post. "China's programs are highly institutionalized, rough, and sometimes brutal affairs that are direct expressions of nationalism. Did this cause the brawl? We'll never know exactly. But it's the culture of the place where it happened."
GUHoyas.com reports that members of both teams met Friday to settle differences following Thursday's game.
WJLA: Second Video Found
(8/19/11)
A second video has surfaced from Thursday's game, this one from the point of view of the Georgetown section and posted at WJLA-TV (Note: the video below was later edited to 2:30 at YouTube).
The origin of the video was not disclosed. Items of note:
At the :06 mark, two players Chinese sandwich Clark and each swings at Clark's head, knocking him to the ground. The Georgetown bench enters the court.
At the :17 mark, the players are separating.
At the :22 mark, the camera pans to the baseline, but little is seen of the player punching Aaron Bowen that is seen on the SportsGrid video. In one scene, Clark knocks a chair out of the hands of one of the Chinese players.
At the :37 mark, the same Chinese player takes another chair out of the stands, waves it, but then puts it down.
At the :41 mark, a bottle is thrown at athletic director Lee Reed, standing to the left of the basket.
At the :48 mark, a Georgetown reserve picks up a chair and slams it to the ground, but with no one nearby.
At 1:09, the Georgetown team begins to move towards to the locker room.
At 1:25, the Georgetown fans can be heard yelling "Hoyas!" as the team passes by. The first water bottles follow.
At 1:32, a bottle hits security director Greg Roberts as he stands ahead of coach Thompson.
At 2:14, a fan hit by one of the bottles is seen in the stands.
At 2:33, a fan is heard asking, "Will this be on YouTube tonight?"
At 2:50, Georgetown fans exit through the locker room entrance.
WRC: Chinese Violence Not Uncommon
(8/19/11)
WRC-TV reporter Sarah Kogod has unearthed a number of instances of violence during basketball games in China, including a notable incident last year versus the Brazilian national team.
"In October 2010, a fight broke out during an exhibition game between the Chinese national team and Brazil, which included Chinese players kicking and punching their opponents," writes Kogod. "According to a Wall Street Journal account, the game was called when the Chinese players attacked the Brazilians as they headed back to the visiting locker room."
In the days to come, it was apparent that the Chinese were on the verge of an international incident, in no small part due to the visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to China that same week. Any punitive action against the Georgetown team for assault would have set off far more coverage than the Chinese wanted.
The teams met the following day for a brief photo-op. The coaches exchanged gifts in front of a Georgetown University photographer, which was able to relay the image to the news services.
En route to Shanghai, Thompson took a more relaxed tone.
"Beijing is behind us, man," he told the Associated Press. "We are excited to be here in Shanghai. And our team was invited to come here to the city of Shanghai to be part of this. Beijing is over."
"Whenever an incident like this occurs, the Chinese system is inherently geared to block the rapid passage of bad news up the chain to higher-level decision makers," wrote Victor Cha, a Georgetown professor attending the trip. "I think Chinese authorities were especially concerned that the event not be seen as a deterrent for future NCAA teams coming to China to play exhibition games," he wrote in The Diplomat. "The images of US student-athletes from storied institutions like Georgetown being beaten upon by the PLA basketball team does not play well for China's international image. The video of the incident was quickly censored in China, which arguably indicated embarrassment on the part of Chinese authorities.
"Very senior levels of the Chinese government were personally in touch with the university to express regret and concern for any who were hurt. One press report described the incident as the antithesis to ping-pong diplomacy, marking the increasingly competitive nature of US-China relations. I don't think this is correct. In the end, this was a scrap between youthful athletes, not between countries. The direction of US-China relations will be determined less by a basketball game than by contemporaneous events like Biden's meetings in China the same week of our trip."
Georgetown moved on to Shanghai to continue their trip. A 91-69 win over the Liaoning Panpan Dinosaurs was completed without incident. The next day, GUHoyas.com returned to players telling the story of their visit, with a detailed report from sophomore Nate Lubick.
"We proceeded to head over to the basketball complex, which was tremendous," he wrote." The bleachers were filled with fans waiting for us to put on a clinic with a group of 20 young Chinese basketball players. We went through multiple series of skill work with the kids that we do on a daily basis to keep all areas of our games sharp, and the drills came as a delight to the kids. Coach Thompson would yell out all instructions on a microphone and a translator would put his words into Chinese so that the players would understand. After the clinic we played a short 10 minute game for the fans, jam packed with slam dunks and a minuscule dosage of defense. The basketball complex is outdoors, but on beautiful, wooden courts, and served as good preparation for our first game in the Shanghai heat. After the game we were bombarded by the fans, who streamed onto the floor for pictures and autographs.
"Our hotel in Shanghai is located in the middle of the largest shopping district in China; however this shopping involves no bargaining. Mall after mall containing high-end designer stores such as Armani, Gucci, etc, and outside were the knockoff runners selling sets of five Rolex watches for 100 yuan (the equivalent of about 17 dollars).
"After showering up and getting dressed we went to the Xijao State Guest Hotel for President DeGioia at a Georgetown Reception. The food at this event was an immediate "bingo" for the team, which has been cherishing any type of Americanized Chinese food we can get our hands on. The banquet consisted of the members of the hoop program, the Hoya Hoop Club, University officials, and a surprisingly large amount of Hoya alumni who are currently living in Shanghai. It is amazing to see how far the Georgetown community extends, and to have so many different types of people at different stages of their lives, connected by Georgetown, in one room, was very special."
The Hoyas completed the trip with an 83-64 win over the Taiwanese national team, making a rare trip to mainland China. Official Georgetown coverage took care to refer to the team as "Chinese Taipei", a diplomatic term that is more accommodating to the PRC than "Taiwan", which is considered in PRC circles as a province in rebellion from the mainland.
"[The] game was a lot of fun, for the fans and for the team, everybody was having a good time," wrote a poster to the HoyaTalk board attending the game. "It was a festival, almost playground ball atmosphere there. The game was part of the Nike Festival of Sports, which was a real fun event with thousands of people attending various events, exhibitions, etc. The fans at the game were clearly supporting the Chinese team, but it was apparently that they were also basketball fans and were just enjoying the game. They would occasionally applaud a good Hoya play -- certainly no animosity or any negative feelings there at all."
The team and its guests returned to the U.S. on August 24.
A decade later, the goals and outcomes of the trip seem, on the surface, unfulfilled. Educational and cultural ties between Georgetown and the PRC are still evolving. Any hopes for the next generation of Chinese basketball players to consider Georgetown has not materialized. Visits by U.S. teams to China have leveled off in the ensuing years, which is less about any unease over competition and perhaps more to the cost-benefit of such a trip. While China remains an important market for the NBA, the interest in NCAA basketball is much less evident; in fact, there are just four Chinese nationals on NCAA Division I rosters entering the 2021-22 season.
But the lasting outcome of the trip and the game may have been the impact to the Bayi Rockets. 2010-11 marked the last season in the CBA playoffs for the team, and following the Georgetown game, the Rockets began a protracted decline, whether as a result of its ban on foreign players, a protracted punishment from the PRC for the incident, or a little of both.
"The once-mighty [Rockets] gradually plunged into mediocrity after sticking to their tradition of recruiting only Chinese players under a tight budget, while rival teams took advantage of the commercialization of the CBA to make huge investments on high-profile stars and coaches," wrote an article at CGTN.com.
On July 24, 2020, Bayi finished the regular season last in the CBA with a 6-40 record. Three months later, the team folded.
Bayi Rockets will no longer participate in the CBA and WCBA leagues, the Chinese Basketball Association announced in a statement on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/X7tMXIVXWS
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) October 20, 2020
Georgetown will return to China someday, but the memories of 2011 will not be soon forgotten. For now, zai jian.