Shanghai Scrap

Quick post to let interested readers know that I’ll be appearing live on the BBC World News, via webcam, Saturday at 12:45 GMT. If you’re in China, with access to BBC World News, that’s 8:45 PM on Saturday night. If you’re on the US East Coast, that’s 8:45 AM, Saturday. Most important, if you’re in Minnesota, that’s 7:45 AM. And just to be clear: we’re going out live with this.

So. When I was asked to do this last month, I figured that we’d be talking about the usual suspects: air pollution, nationalism, China’s moment, etc.

How wrong I was!

Get this: if you’ve ever wondered what I think about the chances for this year’s USA basketball team, which Olympic sport I’d most like to see banned (hint: it involves trampolines), and which one needs to be saved (hint: it involves bats), then this is your program (if not – believe me, I understand). As a bonus, and depending upon just where I position the webcam, you might just get a view of my green couch and/or the out-of-tune piano.

Now excuse me while I go shave.

[Addendum: in response to the inevitable 'just what're you doing with a webcam?' questions: y'all get yer heads out of the gutter. It came embedded in my new laptop.]

[UPDATE: And while we're on the topic of the USA Redeem Team, Scoop Jackson of ESPN has a great column on the subject that would be even better if all references to Amare Stoudemire were changed to "KG." Going on record: I don't see gold in this team.]