You’ve heard the refrain from soccer fans for years: “But it’s the most popular sport in the world!” That might have been the case in the past, but that might not be the case any longer, as basketball might have overtaken soccer as the world’s most played sport.

The reason? Call it the Yao Ming Effect. As Julian Borger of THE GUARDIAN writes, basketball has skyrocketed in popularity in China while soccer’s has plummeted. 12 percent of all people in China play basketball, twice as much as who play basketball. And that gap is going to continue to grow: one in three Chinese youths play the sport with more starting every day.

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• Meet England’s answer to Erin Andrews: the lovely Charlotte Jackson.

• Kobe reaches 22,000 - but the Lakers could have used 22,002.

• Ex-Washington star Reggie Rogers grabs a six-pack … of DUI arrests.

• Ex-wife dishes on former Met Art Shamsky’s amazin’ bi-sexcapades.

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Having trouble finding that perfect Christmas gift for that special someone? Not sure what you want this year? Unless you’re from Houston or China, Yao Ming-related merchandise probably isn’t high on your list. But after you see this, you’re totally going to want one:

That’s right, it’s the Yao Ming Transformer! Or, at least I think it’s Yao. It would be kind of disappointing if it was just Wang Zhizhi. It’s also unclear if and where these are available for sale. I hear the Tracy McGrady toy is flashy, but always gets stuck during the first step of its transformation.

More pics after the jump.

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It’s a play on the old “tree falling in a woods” hypothetical scenario: If the NBA holds a preseason and nobody’s around to see it, does it even happen? Last week Brooks posted about the horrid numbers that NBA preseason action in Vegas was getting, but that looks like a ratings bonanza compared to the amount of interest it received in China.

(Three’s a crowd?)

In case you didn’t know, the NBA held two preseason games in China last week between the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks. But since these two teams don’t have much in the way of “star power”, pretty much everyone in China went about their daily lives, never even pausing to acknowledge the fact that the NBA even exists.

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• MOUTHPIECE SPORTS sits down with Craig Sager, and the fashionable sideline reporter shares a fun story about Ted Turner changing planes ’cause he was Fonda Jane.

• RANDBALL hears the editor-in-chief of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES’ saying that Jay Mariotti will be missed - but “not personally, of course“.

• BUGS & CRANKS learns that Kenny Rogers is no fan of instant replay in baseball, and the perturbed pitcher blames A-Rod for it’s introduction.

• THE SLANCH REPORT wishes PEOPLE magazine would have chosen a better photo to announce Misty May-Treanor’s appearance on this season’s “Dancing With The Stars“.

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• It appears that Chinese fans will go ga-ga over anything Michael Phelps - even BBC reporters who look like the gold-winning swimmer.

But when it comes to employees of the Beeb, we prefer to go ga-ga over swimming analyst Sharron Davies.

• Teasing the Aussies about coming home with less Olympic medals than the British? The Sun is there.

• A Canadian fencer says a loss to a rival felt like “a kick in the nuts” - which is more remarkable considering the crestfallen foiler is female.

• With the Beijing Games now gone, how will Yao Ming be able to get on with his life?

• It’s bad enough when a football coach assaults a player from an opposing team, but it’s downright disgusting when said player is only 8 years old.

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With the Beijing Olympics coming to an end yesterday, I have no doubt there are some people out there who are upset about it. I know I’ll miss the games a bit myself, because while the Olympics are going on I always have something on television I can watch. However, some people are taking the end of the Games a bit harder.

I mean, I’m kind of sad about it, but if you listen to some folks, it’s as though their lives & their world are coming to an end. Take Yao Ming for example, who when asked about the Olympics finishing up sounded like a 15-year old girl who had just been dumped by her first love and had to put her dog to sleep on the same day.

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In a busy off-season of monumental player moves, the NBA went through another one on Wednesday, as the Houston Rockets acquired Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings.

Artest must be pretty pleased going to a playoff contender (although he frankly could care less unless the money’s not good). But one of Ron’s future teammates, Yao Ming, voiced a little reservation about Artest landing with the Rockets. Read more…

Hosting an Olympic Games is not cheap. There’s all the stadium construction, the security costs, trying to keep the protesters in line, and so forth. Now, if you’re China, what are you going to do to try and recoup some of the costs?

Have an absolutely massive garage sale and make everything available, including Yao Ming’s bed, according to the L.A. TIMES’s Olympics blog.

CHINA DAILY reports that Beijing Game organizers hope to raise up to $1 billion yuan ($146 million) by selling furniture, fixtures, clocks, light bulbs, “a variety of sports equipment” and even some of the land underneath Olympic Games venues. The sale will be conducted by the China Beijing Equity Exchange, which describes itself as “the sole institution for the transfer of ownership of state-owned enterprises.”

I’m only interested in any of this if the Chinese government is willing to pay for shipping. However, the most interesting part is the 7′6″ Yao’s sleeping quarters, and sadly, the Chinese aren’t giving their greatest pro sports export any sort of royal treatment in that regard.
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• CLEVELAND.COM’s AND ONE gets a sneak peek at Yao Ming’s new Pump Omni Hexride sneakers:

No wonder his feet hurt - must be from embarrassment.

• LAIST reads up on Tito Ortiz & Oscar De La Hoya duking it out in Los Angeles today - in a battle of book signings.

• YAHOO’s GOLF EXPERTS BLOG wants folks who shout “Get in the hole!” to shut their own holes.

• Colby White of the DAILY TEXAN learns that some football folks have been bothered by the college bowl system as far back as 1948.

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