Happy Chinese New Years From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

In what could be a promising sign for the Denver Broncos, January 31st marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year- with this weekend kicking off the year of the horse. According to the Chinese Zodiac, people born in the year of the Horse are characterized as outgoing, energetic and thrive when they're the center of attention.

These traits were probably what disgraced former Communist party official Bo Xilai was looking for in policewomen in the tourist hub of Dailan when he announced the formation of an all-female mounted patrol. During Xilai's meteoric rise to Chinese Communist Party Central Committee heir apparent, the all female horseback patrols were started with retired racehorses donated from Hong Kong in the early 2000s. The idea was to have the patrols become a source of civic pride and tourist attractions in their own right [apparently they even have their own reviews (in Mandarin) on Tripadvisor- NANESB!] but have come under scrutiny lately. The policewomen also give tours of the training grounds and equestrian performances during the warmer months, charging tourists ¥50 (or around US$ 8) for admission. However, under Chinese law, police officers aren't allowed to engage in business activities putting the policewomen at odds with some of the law's they're tasked with enforcing.

Then again, attractive women riding horseback on public dime was the least of Xilai's problems. The former mayor and governor was accused of keeping fellow officials under electronic surveillance, his own chief of police accused him of corruption and Bo's wife was implicated in the 2011 murder of a British businessman. In September 2013, Bo was sentenced to life in prison and stripped of all his assets.

As for the women on horseback, a retired traffic policeman in Dailan filed a request regarding the cost of maintaining the horses and the overall effectiveness of the unit. According to the released report, the monthly cost of feed and supplies is about ¥2500 (around $405) while the monthly salary of the policewoman ranges from ¥1800 to ¥3800.

According to Dailan's current mayor, there's been public criticism of the policewomen on horseback but said it's 'too soon to talk about cancelling it' and while admitting some of the criticism is valid, the program shouldn't be cancelled on a whim. Over the last decade, a number of other cities in China- such as Shenzhen or Baotou- have also followed Dailan's lead.

Happy New Year's From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Well, here we are bidding farewell to 2013- some of us went from having a hard time believing that baseball or football season was already here to counting down as that ginormous crystal ball gets set to drop from Times Square.

As far as sports go, 2013 was a pretty good year. Obviously, the Red Sox won the World Series and the Bruins advanced to the Stanley Cup during a strike-shortened NHL season, only to collapse to the Blackhawks in a matter of seconds.

As far as domestic and international politics go, the year 2013 was one to forget. A landmark sporting event in the capital of my home state was targeted by Islamic terrorists, killing three people and injuring hundreds. In their haste to assign blame for the Boston Marathon bombings, a number of pundits almost gleefully accused the Tea Party or setting up IEDs at the Boston Marathon finish line before two Chechen brothers killed an MIT Campus Policeman in an ambush, carjacked a motorist and shot it out with Eastern Massachusetts law enforcement in the predawn hours in Watertown, MA. One brother was killed and the other was arrested after he was discovered hiding on a boat in somebody's backyard nearly a full day later.

Just the west on I-90, New York governor Mario Cuomo and his cohorts in the New York State Assembly crammed through the SAFE Act, a sort of Holy Grail for the gun control crowd that was written and passed so hastily that lawmakers forgot to exempt NY State law enforcement from its provisions. No doubt gun control groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns will continue to tout the NY SAFE Act as 'common sense gun safety laws' [such as the theoretical prohibition of owning a 10-round magazine, later amended to allow ownership, but only loading no more than 7 rounds at a time- NANESB!]. States such as Connecticut, Maryland and Colorado also passed similar gun control measures, but lawmakers supportive of the new gun laws in Colorado have already paid a political price, with two state Senators being recalled in a first-of-its-kind campaign and a third resigning from office rather than face recall herself.

In October, President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid forced a government shutdown when the Democrats refused to entertain even the most tepid and watered down requests from the Republicans to delay the implementation of 0bamacare. Within weeks of the shutdown, there was the disastrous rollout of the healthcare.gov website and millions of Americans who previously had health insurance would have their policies cancelled because they no longer complied with 0bamacare regulations. Although the White House claims that the website is fixed, enrollment numbers are still well below even the most modest projections from HHS. Ironically, only a few weeks after the government shutdown, President Obama began a series of unilateral changes to his signature law- similar to what some GOP officials had asked for during the shutdown- that some experts pointed out were well beyond the constitutional authority granted a sitting President.

On the rails, the Bakken Oil boom appeared to be renewing the fortunes of New England-based railways until a runaway Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train wiped out the heart of the village of Lac Megantic, Quebec in July. At least 47 people were killed that night and the MM&A had to file for bankruptcy. The line is looking for a buyer and has yet to re-open.

2013 was also the end of shortline holding company Rail America after being purchased outright by Genesee & Wyoming, putting all of Rail America's considerable holdings under the GWI umbrella.

So all in all, 2013 was a pretty eventful year. but I'm not too sad to see it in the rearview. Here's hoping that I'll have far less to complain about in 2014.

Happy Valentine's Day Chinese New Year From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Fair warning- the actual Valentine's Day is hardly even upon us and after spending the last couple of days helping out around the local florist, I'm already burned out over it. This isn't necessarily "Bah! Humbug!" because there's no Bar Rafaeli look-alike waiting for me with open arms at Casa De Fenway [I have 364 other days to complain about THAT- NANESB!], I just burned out on Valentine's Day quicker than many people because of my work as an 'insider' (so to speak) over the last couple of days.

To the best of my knowledge, the florist that's hired me on as a temp has done no business in regards to Chinese New Years, which actually started a couple of days ago on Feb 10th. Then again, the Lunar New Year apparently involves everything but flowers. There are feasts with friends and neighbors, family reunions, burning incense, prayers for a safe and prosperous New Year's. Gifts could also include flowers, but money in red envelopes is considered customary. Another custom is for a person to pay off their debts before the New Year so they can start the next year in the red.

In case you ere wondering, this year is the Year of the Snake on the lunar calendar, so if you were born in 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989 or 2001, you're pretty much a Snake.

Unfortunately, single women in China in their late 20s or early 30s are often referred to unflatteringly as 'leftovers' and chastised by their family for not having a spouse yet. The overlap of Chinese New Year's and Valentine's Day on the western calendar has seemingly created an uptick of single women 'renting' boyfriends when they return home to visit family during Lunar New Years.

Rent-a-boyfriend is the latest must-have purchase for single Chinese women desperate to soothe relatives who are quick to judge their unmarried status. In China, single women in their late 20s are dubbed "leftovers" - even by state media - and reproached by parents.

Valentine's proximity this year to celebrations for the Lunar New Year - when the Chinese traditionally return home to their families - has made it particularly difficult for many of female singletons to avoid difficult questions and parental disappointment.

Online searches for "rental boyfriend" have gone up by 884 percent compared to last year, according to China's most popular shopping website, Taobao.

Entreprenuerial Chinese men have set about exploiting the embarrassing social pressure and offering their services as holiday companions - for a price.

Thousands of announcements featuring a range of services, with a basic package costing 400-800 yuan ($60-$120) per day, have been posted on Taobao - a popular Gumtree-style website in China.

Extras include kissing (50 yuan per kiss), watching a movie (10 yuan per hour) and shopping (15 yuan per hour).

[As I'm writing this, the temperature in Harbin, China is -11°. I suspect 'cuddling' could also be thrown in as for a few additional yuan- NANESB!]

"$130 a day to 'pretend' to be your boyfriend and fool around with you for a few days? You drive a hard bargain, but you have yourself a deal!"

And yes- I cannot let the mere mention of China or a major holiday in Asia pass without some completely gratuitous cheongsam imagery.

Of course, I seem to be inadvertently promoting this false notion that all women in China and elsewhere in Asia wear are- cheongsams all the time. That simply isn't the case. For the most part, they're usually reserved for more formal occasions and depending on the designer and fabric, many cheongsams are unaffordable to most Chinese. Of course, some places that cater to western visitors may have the staff wearing cheongsams instead of western garments because that's what the visitors are likely expecting- is sort of a chicken and egg kind of deal.

This isn't necessarily limited to China, either. A popular reality show in South Korea featured a number of contestants strutting their stuff in the silky garment that can be traced back to the Qing dynasty. Korea's Next Top Model contestant Hwang Mi Hee looks particularly stunning in the red cheongsam and gold trim she's sporting above.

China has a more traditional festival called Qixi that has been called the "Chinese Valentine's Day" since the 1990s- although that's somewhat misleading, since Qixi takes place in August. Instead of a boyfriend, fiancee or husband giving gifts, women in the same family will make offerings of flowers and tea to the spirits of two lovers named Niu Land and Zhinu while praying to find a good husband or to carry a child if already married.

Happy New Years and Good Riddance 2012!

I gotta be honest with you- between the Red Sox worst season in 50 years, the NHL lockout, the re-election of a petulant, thin-skinned used car salesman from the Windy City to be leader of the free world for another four years and a Mayan-predicted apocolypse that never qute materielized (yet), I was more than ready to drop-kick the year 2012 into the dumpster of shitty years gone by. In fact, if the year 2012 was an abandoned shed, I don't think I'd hesitate to cram it full of oil and kerosine soaked rags, light a match, watch it go up in a firey blaze before taking a piss on the ashes and charred wooden remains.

So it's with little fanfare that I turn the page on the 2012 calendar to 2013. Although featured above is a 1950 calendar from Esquire featuring artwork from Al Moore. Born in the pacific northwest, Moore led a fairly interesting life, playing football for the Northwestern Wildcats and Chicago Bears at running back before opening up his own commercial art studio in the late 1930s. In addition to doing work for the US government during WWII, Moore also was comissioned to do ads and artwork for Nash automobiles, Coca Cola, the Saturday Evening Post and US Rubber.

By 1948, Moore was chosen by Esquire to replace Alberto Vargas and produced two highly popular calendars for the publication starting in 1949.

This belle above would've been the first thing readers would've seen in Esquire's 1950 calendar as she raises a toast to the new year and new decade.

Happy Chinese New Years! Year of The Dragon Begins Today

Well now! SOMEBODY has been paying attention to what I like

Monday marks the beginning of the Chinese New Years, although there were many parades and festivals in Chinatowns throughout the West over the weekend to mark the unofficial start.


With the Year of the Rabbit passing by quicker than one can say 'I, for one, welcome our Chinese overlords' in Mandarin, January 23rd marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon on the lunar calendar. The mythical dragon is considered an auspicious symbol that represents power, wealth and success in Chinese culture.


Manufacturers of luxury goods are seeking to take advantage of the dragon symbol and the status it represents by selling watches, designer handbags and even $15,000 hand-engraved cellphones to well-heeled consumers in China.

Chinese Actress Gong Li (left) on the red carpet sporting a noticably different variant of the cheongsam with a plunging neckline and raised collar

And of course, what would Chinese New Years be without the Chinese gown known as the Cheongsam (or qi pao). As demonstrated above, they're available in a wide variety of colors and lengths....and wearers.

It's no Chinatown dragon parade, but I do hope you at least enjoy the scenery.

Ringing in the New Year at Not Another New England Sports Blog!

A little late with this one, but in my defense I never said anything about being punctual as part of my New Years resolutions. Also, I figure if long-standing New Year's Day institutions like the Rose Bowl (or more recent ones like the NHL's Winter Classic) can get pushed back by a day, then where's the harm in me following suit?

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy New Years. The past 10 days or so have been pretty hectic for yours truly and it was probably pretty apparent with the fairly sparse updating.

The mischievous raven-tressed beauty shown at the stroke of midnight above is from pin-up artist Bill Randall. Randall, who attended the Art Institute of Chicago and reportedly did anti-nazi propagnda posters for the French Resistance during WWII.

After the war, Randall did covers and artwork for magazines like Glamour, American Weekly and Esquire as well as print ads for Palmolive, General Motors and 3M. Starting in 1953, Randall's artwork was published in a series of datebooks and calendars bearing his name.

I'm not certain of the name of the title and exact date of this piece, but thought it would be worth sharing nonetheless.

Happy Chinese New Year's From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

I'm a tad late with this, thanks in large part to my not being Chinese, but Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) began on Feb 3rd.

And you know what that means, right? Well....aside from several consecutive days of dragon parades, festivities, family reunions, feasts and decorations throughout many parts of Asia (including our largest creditor) as well as Chinatowns throughout the world- that means 'tis the season for some seasonally appropriate Eye candy from the Far East, of course!

If you're not familiar with the choengsam or qi pao, I was able to provide a fleeting introduction during last year's Chinese New Years. Now granted the model for the garment last year was nothing short of absolutely stunning, but the angle of the photo failed to adequately highlight what I thought was the best part of the cheongsam.

This time around, I was able to find one that did, as you can see above, the vertical slit which can allow the wearer to show some leg if she's so inclined. And in this case, I think we're just a little better off for her doing so.



In case you're wondering, this is the year of the rabbit. Supposedly those born in the year of the rabbit are calm, sociable, level headed and gregarious.

If you're curious about your Chinese Zodiac, you can check here (scroll down for your date of birth). I remember a few years back having lunch at a rural diner in upstate New York. They had these placemats which a pretty detailed chart showing the years and personality traits of the Chinese Zodiac- this stood out because this wasn't a Chinese restaurant, the owners weren't Asian and it was nowhere near the Chinese New Years.....they apparently were out of kid's activity placemats or thought it was important that we started studying up on our Chinese Zodiac at a reasonably young age.

21 Killed in Egyptian Church Bombing; Copts Clash with Police

Worshippers returned to services on Sunday in a Church that was the target of a suspected suicide bombing that killed 21 and wounded more than 90 on New Year's Eve.

The attack targeted Coptic Christian worshippers attending New Year's Eve services at the Saint's Church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. Egyptian authorities initially believed that the blast came from a car bomb, but the Interior Ministry said it was more likely the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber among the crowd in the street outside of the church.

In the days following the attack, Copts in Alexandria and Cairo have taken to the streets to protest inadequate security and ended up clashing with police.

Egyptian authorities have been looking into passenger manifests of flights arriving from Iraq (where Al Qaeda in Iraq issued statements threatening Christians in Egypt after carrying out attacks against Christians in Iraq) for any evidence of an Al Qaeda financier or recruiters linked to the New Year's eve attack, but the investigation seems to be mainly focusing on Egyptian-based radical Muslim groups at present.

Happy New Years From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

And just like that, 2010 is over and done with. Hard to believe, isn't it?

I thought it appropriate to ring in 2011 with this image from Esquire's 1950 Calendar titled Skiing is Believing by the late Al Miller. Miller did the artwork for the magazine's 1949 and 1950 calendars, long before pin-up calendars were being outsourced to out of work Mexican stewardesses.

After trudging around in hip-deep snow during last week's blizzard and with the weather pretty frightful in many other places around the country, the beauty depicted in Miller's work seems all the more alluring.....and is that a mug of hot cocoa next to the pillow?

The hot cocoa is a deal-breaker. Count me in!

I hope that the regular visitors to NANESB! had a good 2010 and I would like to extend my wishes for a happy and prosperous 2011.

Happy Persian New Year's From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

The Persian Holiday of Nowruz dates back to Zoroastrian times in ancient Persia, although it's exact date of origin is unclear. The first day of Spring also marks the beginning of the new year on the Persian calendar. Apparently the holiday is celebrated any number of ways, but primarily revolves around cleaning up the household (signifying a new beginning and ridding oneself of excess baggage) ahead of a visit from friends and neighbors. Some celebrants believe that a person's mood during Nowruz celebrations will affect their outlook for the rest of that year.

Never really known for their outgoing, fun-loving nature, the Iranian regime this year announced another heavy-handed crackdown during one of the festivals leading up to Nowruz, Chaharshanbe Suri (jumping over a bonfire to purify oneself).

And what kind of holiday would it be at Not Another New England Sports Blog! would it be if I let it pass without gratuitously throwing out some ocular sweetness that's (at least tangentially) germane to the Holiday being observed? From Iran, even.....

Attractive Iranian women? you might be asking yourself. Believe me- that is no contradiction in terms. The perception seems to be the females that currently populate Iran are joyless, plain, dour bhurka-clad souls....and the backwards 'leaders' of Iran don't do much to dispel that stereotype. After the Ayatollah Khomeni seized power in 1979, thousands of Iranian families fled to the USA, Canada, Europe and the UK. The children of those families would be in their 20s and 30s by now. [I happen to know firsthand a few such women of Persian background who fit that definition to a 'T', but "That chick that works in the sales department over in the Nissan dealership" or "The pouty girl with the accent at the barbershop" are pretty obscure examples- NANESB!]. Some of these women have never even set foot in the country their parents were born and raised in though.

Sarah Shahi

Take for instance Sarah Shahi from Showtime's The L Word among other appearances. Sarah (who's given name is Aahoo Jahansouz according to wikipedia) is of Iranian ancestry, but born and raised in Texas and was even a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader for awhile.

And there's also the introverted, shy, girl-next door Roxana Saberi- a journalist, former Miss North Dakota and one-time political prisoner of the Ahmedinejahd regime. Saberi grew up in Fargo, ND the daughter of an Iranian father and Japanese mother. In 2009, she was accused of espionage by Iran's Revolutionary Guards while working as a journalist and interpreter and recieved and 8 year prison sentence. In May 2009, her sentence was overturned by an Iranian appeals court and she received a two-year suspended sentence before returning to the USA.

Or singer and model Claudia Lynx, who's family left Tehran for Norway when she was a few months old, and moved to Canada when she was five. She's also appeared in Levi's magazine ads and had a cameo as 'Miss World' on The West Wing.

That's not to say all the attractive Persian women were able to flee the Islamist regime and live freely in America or Europe. As we saw during last year's presidential elections and the subsequent protests over in Iran, there is still plenty of vintage Persian ocular sweetness to behold.However- they are required by law over there to wear a headscarf and dress 'modestly' at all times, even in the summer when the average temperature in most of the country exceeds 100 degrees. It would be one thing if they chose to dress like that, but that decision (along with many others) has made for them by a bunch of dour, faceless old men for the last 30 years. You gotta think that deep down inside, like 90% of these girls currently in Iran are just dying to put on the proverbial little black dress, go out clubbing with their girlfriends [and probably make catty remarks to their friends in little back dresses about other girls in their little black dresses- NANESB!] without the Basiij militia or 'morality police' gunning them down as they stood in a traffic jam harshing their mellow.

But for now, at least, they still have Nowruz.

Happy Chinese New Year From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Well now, it's been a fairly eventful convergence of holidays and events these past few days, with the Winter Olympics getting underway, Truck Day, the NBA All-Star weekend and Valentine's Day. And we still have Mardi Gras and Presidents Day to boot!

But it's also worth noting that Chinese New Year has begun. 2010 marks the Year of the Tiger (and thus inviting obvious references to Tiger Wang for the rest of 2010) on the Lunar calendar.

And in the interest of promoting awareness and cultural harmony with America's largest creditor, I would like to point out that the white, form-fitting traditional silk garment that the lovely creature depicted above is wearing is called a Cheongsam or Qi Pao (I think the difference between the two comes down to a matter of the length of sleeves or collar, but don't quote me). Despite pre-dating the Generalissimo by several centuries, these garments were considered ostentatious relics of Chaing Kai Shek's China and were banned under Chairman Mao Tse Tung. However, they still retained a degree of popularity in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and ethnic Chinese communities overseas and have gradually come back into acceptance on the mainland in recent years.

Happy New Year's From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

To all the readers and visitors of Not Another New England Sports Blog!, I'd like to wish you all a happy and prosperous 2010! Happy New Years everybody!