Found this in Youtube. Take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMKJlkMaAX4
Saturday, February 14, 2009
ATT 199...Black Friday in Jhubei
Jhubei Stadium (Photo source: UDN.com)
It was even one short of 200. CTBA said the attendance record Friday at Jhubei, Hsinchu County was 199. That's right. Only 199 people were at the Friday games of SBL, which claims itself the most popular basketball league in Taiwan.
Couldn't argue with that. After all, the SBL is the only basketball league in town.
The attendance number failed to reach 100 until some point during the first game. The lowest attandance record for a SBL game is 76, which was set February 29 last year.
Two things to note though. Fridays games traditionally received less fanfare and lower TV rating. And students are back in school after the winter break for the new semester already.
Capacity of Jhubei Stadium is 8,000. The low attendance may further convinced the SBL people that the games should not be organized outside of Taipei area. However, I always think that the league should set up more games at mid-sized cities around the country instead of just staying in Taipei area. If my memory is correct, attendance records were always pretty good when the games were played in Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung or Tainan.
The true reason why teams and the league has been reluctant to go "down south" is the traveling fee. And when they do take the games out of Taipei, they either picked a wrong city or neglect the transportation factor for fans. Take Jhubei for example, it is not convenient for fans who don't drive to get to the arena.
Anyway, this is not the first time the attendance record was down to an alarming level. Many years ago when I covered a game of the defunct pro league CBA in Keelung, the game was so quiet that I could hear the typing sound on my laptop. I believe there were less than 100 fans at the game.
The only good news is the SBL games are back on air. ESPN Taiwan will start its broadcast today.
Wu Chih-wei does it again
Wu made all five of his shots in 10 minutes and scored 13 points, including seven in the last 3:07, to help Yulon snapped Dacin's 4-game winning streak last week.
Pure Youth trailed by as many as 26 points and has lost four straight.
Taiwan Mobile, which lost Mario Boggan to suspension, went 25-of-35 from the foul line and beat Bank of Taiwan 75-66. TM scored 18 of its 30 points from free-throws in the last quarter.
TM 75-66 BOT
TM - Yen Cheng-hung 20p+6rb, Wu Yong-jen 12p+5rb+7a+7s
BOT - Hsu Chih-chan 16p+4blk, Chang Jung-hsuan 10p+11rb
Yulon 109-90 PY
Yulon - Wu Chih-wei 23p+5rb, Yang Che-yi 17p, Tseng Wen-ting 16p+9rb, Lee Chi-yi 12p+8rb
PY - Chen Shih-chieh 23p, Lin Ching-pang 12p
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
CTBA slaps penalty on nine
Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) handed down penalty Tuesday on nine players and team staff for the confrontation in the Taiwan Beer-Taiwan Mobile game Sunday night in Hsinchu.
CTBA's Disciplinary Committee announced in a press release that Mario Boggan, who plays for Taiwan Mobile, received a four-game suspension and a NT$50,000 fine for throwing his elbow.
Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Chia-hua was suspended for two games and fined for NT$20,000. Manager Lin Chieh-he was slapped with the harshest penalty -- a NT$100,000 fine and suspension for the remainder of the season.
TB forward Ho Shou-cheng received a two game suspension with a NT$20,000 fine. Five players, including Yen Hsin-shu, Hsu Cheng-wen, Pan Jen-te, Wu Tai-hao and Lee Hsiao-tse, were fined for NT$10,000 and an one-game suspension each.
Chen Chih-chung named BOW
Yulon guard Chen Chih-chung was named Baller of the Week for leading Luxgen to a 2-0 week. Chen averaged 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in two games.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Follow-up on the scuffle
A total of nine players and team members were ejected after the scuffle in the Taiwan Beer-Taiwan Mobile game Sunday night, including TB head coach Yen Chia-hua and manager Lin Chieh-he. Ensuing suspensions and fines are expected to be announced soon.
TM import Mario Boggan, who elbowed TB forward Wang Chien-wei and started the confrontation, was the only TM player being sent off. Boggan stressed that he was only trying to free himself from Wang and wasn't intended to throw his elbow out. Judging from the TV clip, I think Boggan was right.
The mass nine-man ejection set the SBL record, Apple Daily reported.
Taiwan Beer's Wu Tai-hao, Yen Hsin-shu, Pan Jen-te, Hsu Cheng-wen, He Shou-cheng, Lee Hsiao-tse and manager Lin Chieh-he were sent out for leaving bench while head coach Yen Chia-hua was out for two technicals.
In fact, that was not all. Plus team trainer and other staff, thirteen TB members were ejected.
However, no TB member went back to the locker room. Instead, all of them sat and watched the game from courtside. And no referee enforced the rule and asked them to leave the court. Enjoy the photos...
Yulon beat Bank of Taiwan 85-75 in the third and last game Sunday night. (Photo source: Liberty Times, Apple Daily, UDN.com)
(Photo source: Liberty Times, Apple Daily, UDN.com)
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Six TB players ejected after scuffle
Yen Chia-hua, head coach of two-time SBL champion Taiwan Beer, went off again.
These players sure picked a good night for a fight, since there was no television broadcast. Six Taiwan Beer players were ejected in a confrontation of the Taiwan Beer-Taiwan Mobile game Sunday night in Hsinchu, UDN.com reported. TM beat TB 90-82.
TB head coach Yen Chia-hua was ejected for cursing the referees with less than nine minutes left. With 5:19 to go Taiwan Mobile import Mario Boggan decked TB forward Wang Chien-wei with his elbow and started the whole mess. Almost the entire TB subs left the bench area to join the scuffle and were ejected later by the refs.
That left TB with six players -- Lin Chih-chieh, Wang Chien-wei, Ha Hsiao-yuan, Yang Ching-min, Chen Shih-nian and Hsu Hao-cheng -- to finish the game. Even TB manager Lin Chieh-he was ejected.
Fights on hardwood happen. I'm not naive. However it is sad to see things like this happen every once in a while. When temper flies in the heat of the moment, I guess not too many players can keep their head in the game. But anyone who's been to the game knows that a bench-clearing brawl can be real frightening sometimes and you don't know what would happen.
It is even sadder to see people like Yen Chia-hua, who now can be dubbed as Taiwan-version Bob Knight, and Lin Chieh-he, who once tried to go after a referee after a loss. Yen is a head coach and Lin is TB's manager. You go figure.
In the first game, Lin Yi-hui had 24 points and Tien Lei had 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting as Dacin handed Pure Youth its third consecutive defeat with a 99-89 win.
Byron Allen had 12 points for Dacin, whose 4-game winning streak was snapped by Yulon Saturday. January SBL MVP Chang Chih-fung also chipped in 17 points.
Chien Chia-hung paced PY with 19 points and five boards and Chen Shih-chieh had 13 points and 7 assists. Zuo Tsun-kai came back from injury and scored 10 points.
Yulon-BOT game is ongoing.
Wu's perfect night snaps Dacin's 4-game win streak
Luxgen head coach Chang Hsueh-lei had no choice but went to Wu after starting center Tseng Wen-ting fouled out with less than five minutes left in the game. Wu had a three-point play with 1:06 to go to boost Yulon's lead to 11 points and ensured the victory.
Yulon was again without the service of top scorer Chen Hsin-an, who was out with a knee injury. Chen Chih-chung led the team with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and three steals.
Chang had nothing but sweet words for Wu after the game, saying that it was not easy for a sub to step in and make plays with the game on the line. Dacin import Byron Allen, who gave Tseng Wen-ting trouble all night long, was not able to contain Wu in the end.
Su Yi-chieh, SBL rookie of the year three year ago, finally returned to action Friday night after sitting out most of the last two season with injuries in his left elbow and right wrist. The talented point guard had eight points and three steals in 18 minutes.
In the other game, KKL edged Taiwan Mobile 95-94 for its second win of the season.
(Photo source: Yahoo Taiwan Sports)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Chang Chih-fung named January MVP
Dacin guard/forward Chang Chih-fung was named January Most Valuable Player Friday for his consistent performance which helped Dacin to open the season 4-0.
Chang, who averaged 21 points, 6.8 points and three assists in January, said that he felt like this year he was in the best condition in his career. Being injury-free has been a plus, he told the media.
Chang beat out teammate Tien Lei, Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting and Taiwan Beer guard Yang Ching-min for the award.
(Photo source: SBL)
ESPN Taiwan agrees to broadcast SBL games
In a bizarre twist of fate, ESPN Taiwan reached a verbal agreement with the SBL Committee Friday night to broadcast SBL games. The agreement came three weeks after Videoland abruptly terminated its cooperation with the league and left the league without a broadcast partner for the first time.
Videoland and Elta Technology signed a broadcast deal with the SBL on the eve of this season to carry SBL games on television and online. VL stopped its broadcast operation on Jan. 16, one week after the season opener, saying that the SBL had not actually signed any concrete deal or memo with the TV station.
Since then, no SBL games appeared on television. Elta Technology was not able to provide online broadcast as well. Fortunately, the season soon hit a two-week lunar New Year vacation and not many games were "blanked" during the span.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed. Central News Agency and the Liberty Times reported that ESPN Taiwan, which lost the bidding war to VL prior to the season, reached a tentative three-year verbal agreement with the SBL for approximately NT$60 million.
Media also reported that ESPN Taiwan offered an incentive plan which will award the league with a bonus if the rating surpasses 0.35.
The interesting thing was that both sides still did not sign anything concrete. Another verbal agreement after Videoland pulled out? It's unfathomable to me. However, it probably shows that broadcast partners don't trust the SBL Committee, which has a bad track record in terms of TV rights and marketing fee negotiations.
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