Who's hot, who's not in China sports (Week 3)

Doubts over CBA All-Star ballot

Imagine a scenario where LeBron James is losing the NBA All-Star vote. That's where JR Smith is about to be in the CBA. In the latest weekly balloting results released on Monday, Smith, who led in previous rounds with 101,864 votes, failed to make the top five in the South.

Wang Zhizhi of Bayi Rockets became the new alpha dog, with 216,786 votes, more than double the 97,130 votes he received in the past three rounds.

If Smith's slide on the ballot can be explained, there are media speculations that fans have something to say about his recent callous attitude on the court and his declaration on Twitter that he planned to return to the US as soon as the regular season ends. But the beloved Stephon Marbury almost losing a starting spot (he barely made the starting list, with 117,626 votes) really bewilders the public, who suspect the ballot may have been rigged by authorities who are unhappy to see too many exotic faces on Feb 19.

My spin: The All-Star game is supposed to be a star-studded carnival where fans have a great time enjoying the game and participating in its entertaining programs. But what if they don't? The only thing that matters in balloting is fairness. Just because we haven't had any clue about whether the CBA All-Star balloting had any frauds, that doesn't mean we can be easily fooled like we used to be.

Ding slams Masters schedule after loss

Last time Ding lost a game at home, he said playing Chinese nationals is meaningless. And he attributed the Monday loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan, 4-6, in the first round of the 2012 Masters, to his overwhelming homesickness. The Chinese snooker said the intensive schedule distracted his attention, as he was in the mood to go back to China. I have thought of a new and somewhat more convincing excuse for Ding, which is the sponsor tag on his shirt, considering Mengniu is in an even more extreme misery than he is.

Shaq jumps into Spring Festival

The former NBA superstar and now TNT color commentator took a one-day trip to Hunan, China, for a Spring Festival gala. Mr Diesel showed off his dance skills and martial arts moves, and learned how to make dumplings, providing a lot of fun for the audience. Apart from his tricks, however, he stood on stage, baffled, as the hosts continued doing their narcissistic droning, which was far less enjoyable compared to what Shaq does on TNT.

Li, Zheng hit strides in Australian Open

Li Na was honored as female player of the year at an awards ceremony held by China Central Television on Sunday night. And she has started another run at it by cruising into the third round at the Australian Open. Zheng Jie, who just won her first championship in five years last week, also made it through the first two rounds. It sort of reminded me of the two golden flowers meeting in the semifinals at the event two years ago.

Shenhua to sign Drogba this week?

Chinese soccer club Shanghai Shenhua has officially announced its pursuit of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. The club's boss Zhu Jun said that talks with Drogba showed progress and a deal is expected to be inked before Spring Festival (Jan 23). He even selected one Weibo follower to witness the final phase of the negotiation.

Shenhua officially signed Joel Griffiths, former Beijing Guoan striker, to a one-year contract Thursday afternoon.

China starts to review its sports cause

People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, lashed out Thursday at the nation's fetish for gold medals at world sports events. It pointed out that the eagerness to achieve quick success in sports has caused harm to whoever is involved in it and a deformed development of sports is inevitable.