Jason and Stephanie's final day in Beijing, and other pictures

We had quite the going-away party for Jason Cox and Stephanie Zhang yesterday, first at a Russian place called The Elephant, where we were treated to a cabaret show, then at a bar called 2nd Floor in Sanlitun.

The highlight of the night, for me personally, was Jason chugging a bottle of 100-proof baijiu. I chanted "chug" when I passed him the white poison but had no expectation of him actually doing it. When he lifted the bottle, well, let's just say I couldn't press the RECORD button fast enough. I got the tail end of it though.

If you want to know how shocking this was for everyone, just watch the reactions of those around him: first Joe jumping up and down flapping his arms like a kid who just got his dream present on Christmas morning, then Jim cringing like a gambler with 10 grand on the table...


An entire photo album dedicated to the night is here (titled "Jason and Stephanie's last night / Joe makes out with Beijing").

Jason, we'll miss you.

From Betsy Beijing:

hey frisbee faithful,
trust me when i say betsy would not break her vow of silence for just
anyone. after what happened in shanghai this past june between myself,
lincoln, claire, toni's vomit, and barbie's pink barbie outfit, it's going
to take a lot more penance for me to win my way back into god's good graces.

but some thing's cannot be passed by without proper comment.

the day that betsy once warned you about has finally come. jason is leaving
beijing. it may not be in a straight-jacket like many of us predicted, but
it seems there's nothing we can do to stop it.

i've been in beijing since the dawn of beijing ultimate, and i can say with
complete certainty that over the past 3 plus years, no one has done more for
the expat ultimate community in beijing than jason has. if it weren't for
him, there's a high probability we would still be fighting for pavement
space in the gong ti parking lot. he's used satellite photos, gps
technology, and his mountain bike to go scout out fields for us. he's kept
track of our money, only skimming off the top for his and stephanie's
anniversary. he's designed jerseys for us, helped plan leagues for us,
helped start the beijing ultimate committee, gotten us to and from
tournaments without losing anyone (well, i haven't seen julio since sunday
night in jeju, but that's another story), and has turned beijing ultimate
into one of the fastest growing frisbee communities in asia. and that's not
to say he's only been focused on us expats either. he's been at the
forefront of helping to make frisbee more accessible and open for chinese
players. when jason came to beijing, ultimate here was heading towards one
of it's low points. jason is the number one reason it turned around. i
know there's been a lot of other people that have contributed to make this
growth spurt possible, but if it weren't for jason at the center of it all,
who knows where we would be? beijing certainly would not have just hosted
it's first ever tournament this past may.

so take a moment to think about what jason has meant to this community.
it's no accident that jason keeps winning our annual spirit award, no
matter how much doc thinks he deserves it instead. he's been at the heart
of beijing ultimate for three years, and it's going to be a tough, tough job
to try and fill his shoes. good luck trying, kevin.

so jason, as you move back to vancouver, and you think back of beijing
ultimate, i hope you remember us fondly. because when you come back to
visit, you'll probably find that we've eaten each other alive like the true
cannibals we are.

we'll miss you.

Jeff:

I missed the baijiu that ruined you but I was there later and I want
to reiterate from a drunken stupor at five in the morning how much
this community will miss Jason.

words cannot express the love that the entire community should have
for this man.

he carried us through to what I see as the other side. and here we are
and I hope we continue to kick ass in his name.

we will miss you Jason. We all wish you and Stephanie the most
happiness.

And more pictures, because not all could fit on Facebook (no duplicates here, so be sure to check out the link above):








Happy Rat set to attack Little Jason's nipples.


Rest assured, ladies, Joe likes you more.







Stephanie as buffer.









Hey, if it's your last night...




She's 16. Keep that in mind as we proceed...


Normal people!


On the left: like father and daughter. On the right: not so much.







Joe definitely won the party.

POSTSCRIPT: Anther photo album, this one of Beijing Ultimate. It's part one of two, going from the Tianjin tournament through Shanghai. Part two will come after the Hong Kong tournament in late October, which I will officially be attending -- just had my flight changed a couple days ago from September 12 to October 29.

The morning after, and ESPN The Magazine

Backdated entry, published 2:53 a.m., July 5, 2008

After waking up at about 8 a.m. and wondering why I was naked in bed, underwear and shorts on the other room's bed, a sock on the ground, another strewn in the bathroom, I pried the dry contacts out of my eyes and returned to bed, only to discover -- with horror! -- a dead hooker under my sheets. I didn't know what to do, so I tried going back to sleep.

Alas, I could not -- the nausea! I considered jamming a thumb up my throat but instead planted myself on the bathroom floor (which was cold and hard and probably dirty) with my upper torso draped over the bowl, which reeked. I dry-heaved some stomach acid into my throat but it would go no farther.

In the afternoon I was taken to Beijing Sports University by Christine, my father's assistant, for an interview with an Olympic marathoner.

I had dinner at Aaron's with Lincoln and Molly, who I felt obligated to give an apology because when you can't remember what you did the night before, chances are you owe lots of people apologies. We shopped in the Oriental Plaza, then Lincoln and Molly cooked spaghetti while I stressed out about the interview I was supposed to transcribe and translate.

That interview turned into this story for ESPN The Magazine's website, the latest update from the "Beijing Bureau." I'll link to all my stories some other time.

A day well spent.

(Except for the dead hooker. I still need to take care of that.)

POSTSCRIPT: If you don't know why I couldn't remember Sunday night (but I've been filled in plenty, thank you Aaron and Kevin, Betsy, et al.): read this and this, and watch this.