Jeremy Lin, the stars shine

林书豪，星光闪耀.New York Knicks' point guard Jeremy Lin talks during a new conference before the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge game during the NBA All-Star weekend in Orlando, Florida, February 24, 2012. 

林书豪，星光闪耀.Jeremy Lin's sudden emergence came too late to make him part of this year's NBA All-Star game, but he still managed a starring role on Friday as he shared his story at a press conference before playing in the Rising Stars Challenge.
"Just to be here and to see the company and all the players that are here," Lin said, "it's just been unbelievable, and I'm just trying to take it all in and embrace it and enjoy it every step of the way."
The NBA determined there would be too many reporters and cameras to have Lin meet the media on Friday along with the other first and second-year players in the Rising Stars Challenge. So the league gave him his own press conference; something usually only afforded to Commissioner David Stern.
Lin's first question was from Knicks teammate Landry Fields, who asked his backcourt mate if he knew who the MVP of the San Francisco Pro-Am was in 2009 and 2010. Lin, from the Bay Area, knew it was Fields.
"He played for the Oakland Believers, and he doesn't have a lot of friends," Lin said.
Fields is Lin's closest friend on the Knicks, and Lin spent the night before his breakout game sleeping on Fields' couch since his brother's place, where he had been staying, was unavailable.
The couch story became well known - Fields even posted a picture of it on Twitter - and Lin revealed that a couch was going to be part of the Slam Dunk contest before Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert had to pull out with a knee injury.
"Landry was going to roll a couch out with a cover over it, I was going to be sleeping underneath it, and then we were going to pull the cover," Lin said. "I was going to throw to Iman an alley-oop from the couch, and he was going to jump over both me and the couch, windmill it and then sit down and have Landry hand him a Sprite."

Anelka signed with Shanghai Shenhua 2-year contract

阿内尔卡与上海申花签署2年的合同。A picture of Nicolas Anelka from the official website of Shanghai Shenhua Football Club.

阿内尔卡与上海申花签署2年的合同。SHANGHAI - Shanghai Shenhua have reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign French striker Nicolas Anelka on a two-year deal, the Chinese Super League soccer side said on Monday.
The 32-year-old will join Shenhua in January, the club said in a statement on its website.
Chelsea confirmed in a statement that they had "agreed terms for the permanent transfer of Nicolas Anelka in the January transfer window."
Shanghai, who finished 11th in the league last season, have also been linked with Didier Drogba, Anelka's team mate at the English Premier League side.
Several Chinese clubs have reportedly contacted Ivory Coast international Drogba about a possible transfer. Last month Drogba refused a one-year extension to his contract at Chelsea and the 33-year-old's deal at the London club expires next year.
Local media have reported that former Arsenal and Real Madrid striker Anelka's lucrative contract would involve both soccer and commercial co-operation.
While the signing of Anelka may signal an upswing for the sport in the country, Chinese soccer has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years and disaffected fans have turned away from the game amid corruption scandals, match-fixing and violence on and off the pitch.
The national team has qualified for the World Cup finals only once when they played in the 2002 edition held in South Korea and Japan but lost all their group matches and failed to score a goal.
In January, they exited the 16-team Asian Cup at the first hurdle after finishing third in their group behind Uzbekistan and hosts Qatar.
Anelka scored 59 goals for Chelsea since arriving from Bolton Wanderers in January 2008.

Several Chinese clubs have reportedly contacted Cote d'Ivoire international Drogba about a possible transfer. Last month Drogba refused a one-year extension to his contract at Chelsea and the 33-year-old's deal at the London club expires next year.
Local media have reported that former Arsenal and Real Madrid striker Anelka's lucrative contract would involve both soccer and commercial cooperation.
While the signing of Anelka may signal an upswing for the sport in the country, Chinese soccer has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years and disaffected fans have turned away from the game amid corruption scandals, match-fixing and violence on and off the pitch.
The national team has qualified for the World Cup finals only once when they played in the 2002 edition held in South Korea and Japan but lost all their group matches and failed to score a goal.
In January, they exited the 16-team Asian Cup at the first hurdle after finishing third in their group behind Uzbekistan and hosts Qatar.
Anelka was also a regular starter for the French national team, who plays as a striker. Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has described him as a quick player with good aerial ability, technique, shooting, and movement off the ball.

阿内尔卡与上海申花签署2年的合同。France's Nicolas Anelka kicks the ball between Wang Qiang (L) and Du Wei (R) of China during their friendly soccer match at Michel Volnay stadium on the French overseas territory of La Reunion, in this file photo taken June 4, 2010. 

Factbox on French football player Anelka
Personal information
Full name: Abdul-Salam Bilal (Nicolas Sébastien Anelka)
Date of birth: March 14, 1979
Place of birth: Versailles, France
Height: 1.85 m
Playing position: Striker
Club information

Clubs	Years	Appearances	Goals
Paris Saint-Germain	1996-1997	10	1
Arsenal	1997 - 1999	65	23
Real Madrid	1999 - 2000	19	2
Paris Saint-Germain	2000 - 2002	39	10
Liverpool (loan)	2002	20	4
Manchester City	2002 - 2005	89	37
Fenerbahçe	2005 - 2006	39	14
Bolton Wanderers	2006 - 2008	53	21
Chelsea	2008 - 2011	125	39

National team experiences

Teams	Years	Appearances	Goals
France U20	1997	3	0
France	1998 - 2010	69	14

阿内尔卡与上海申花签署2年的合同。Chelsea's Fernando Torres (2nd R) celebrates his goal against KRC Genk with Nicolas Anelka (R), Ashley Cole (L) and Raul Meireles (2nd L) during their Champions League Group E soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London, Oct 19, 2011. 

Yao Ming was elected vice president of Shanghai Public Diplomacy Council

姚明当选上海公共外交协会副会长。Yao Ming receives his letter of appointment as the "Honor Ambassador" of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association, Dec 5,2011.

姚明当选上海公共外交协会副会长。Retired Chinese basketball star and former NBA player Yao Ming has been elected vice-chairman of Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association, adding another crown to his already swelling title list.
The association's council held its second session on Monday with the newly-appointed Yao as its vice-chairman, Xinmin.cn reported.
The council also named Yao as the association's "Honor Ambassador".
Yao said his new role as the association's vice-chairman will be a little different from his previous image ambassador posts for other causes and accepts he will need to do some "tangible" work.
The 31-year-old father, who retired from basketball in July 2011, said he was looking forward to making a contribution to public diplomacy and sharing his eight-year experience of living in US.
The Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association was formed to help explain Shanghai and China to the outside world.