介绍:
The Western sports leagues best known in China are the professional ones -- the NBA, English Premier League, Bundesliga.
在中国，最知名的西方体育联盟都是职业的——NBA（美国男子职业篮球联赛），English Premier League（英格兰足球超级联赛）, Bundesliga（德国足球甲级联赛）。
US college sports teams are little known here. What seems to be a mystery to many Chinese are the deep passions local university teams arouse among fans – they are much more widely popular than pro teams in most cases.
美国大学的运动队在这里鲜有耳闻。很多中国人似乎还不知道，美国当地的大学校队在粉丝心中所引发的强烈情感——大多数情况下，校队的影响力远比职业队广泛得多。
The Chinese system is more geared toward having the most talented athletes attend specialized sports schools.
中国的体育体系与此不同，它更加注重的是让最有天赋的运动员进入专门的体育学校。
For most of us in my extended family and that of my wife, the sport that is a deep part of our culture is the one in which helmeted men bash into each other. It is known as “American football” and, in China, called gan lan qiu or olive ball because of its shape.
对于我和我妻子家族的大部分人来说，我们文化深层的体育竞技就是戴着防护帽的球员猛烈地相互冲撞。这就是“美式足球”。在中国，根据球的形状叫橄榄球。
This has been an especially exciting season because my college team, the Georgia Bulldogs, and my wife’s team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, were for a few weeks No 1 and No 2 in the national rankings. When Georgia was named No 1 in the playoff poll, it was upsetting for Alabama fans, whose perennially dominant team has accustomed them to the top spot.
这一季我的校队Georgia Bulldogs（乔治亚大学公牛犬队），和我妻子的校队 Alabama Crimson Tide（阿拉巴马赤色风暴队）连续几周在全国排第一第二，所以赛事格外激动人心。如果季后赛中乔治亚队排了第一，阿拉巴马队的粉丝就会忐忑不安。他们习惯了自己的球队常年垄断，稳坐第一。
My team took a drubbing in a recent game and fell to No 7, and my wife’s team is No 1 again.
近来我的校队遭到重创，落到第七名，而我妻子的校队又重回第一。
Still, there’s a very good chance our two teams will play each other in the Southeastern Conference championship on Dec 2 in my hometown, Atlanta.
不过，12月2日东南联盟（Southeastern Conference）锦标赛在我家乡亚特兰大举行，两支球队仍然很有可能同场交锋。
My wife -- in jest, I think – has graciously offered to give me a blanket and pillow so I can sleep on the couch.
我妻子——开了个玩笑——大方给我准备了毛毯和枕头，好让我睡在沙发上。
To understand the power of college football, especially in some areas of the United States, it’s helpful to know that the southern states long were the national family’s poor cousins, where opportunity and education were harder to come by. Strong football teams were a point of pride, and continue to be, even as more prosperity has come to the region.
想要理解大学橄榄球的作用，特别是在美国有些地区的作用，可以去看看南方各州。长期以来，他们是全国大家庭中较为贫穷的兄弟，获得机会和教育相对困难。但他们有强大的橄榄球队，橄榄球队曾经，并将一直是他们的骄傲，哪怕南方已经繁荣起来。
College sports is so engrained that my wife and I often describe colors by their corresponding teams: “Sweetie, is that red more Mississippi State or Alabama?” “That looks like LSU purple!”
大学体育深入人心，生活中我和我妻子常常拿对应球队来描述颜色。“亲爱，那种红色是更密西西比州立（Mississippi State）还是阿拉巴马？”“看着像路易斯安那州立（LSU）的紫色！”
It might help to take a look at a short video showing the cultural prominence of the University of Alabama cheer: “Roll Tide”. Go to https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7AGf/espn-roll-tide. It really doesn’t exaggerate much.
有个文化短片可以一看，拍的是阿拉巴马大学里人人常提“赤色风暴”，请见https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7AGf/espn-roll-tide. 内容其实并不怎么夸张。
My wife, an English teacher, even has a video of some of her students in Shanghai cheering “Roll Tide”, which she taught them.
我妻子是英语教师，她甚至还有一段视频，录着一些她在上海的学生欢呼“赤色风暴”，那就是她教的。
As the number of Chinese college students attending US colleges has risen in the past decade, some US universities are reaching out. Vice Sports noted last year that the University of Illinois broadcast football games in Mandarin, thanks to students from Changzhou and Chengdu.
过去十年，在美留学的中国大学生数目有所增加，有些美国大学人满为患。美国媒体Vice Sports注意到，去年伊利诺伊大学（University of Illinois）播报橄榄球比赛使用了普通话，因为学校有来自常州和成都的学生。
For us, college football is a family thing. One of my first baby pictures is me dressed up in the bright orange of my dad’s university, Tennessee. We teased my brother, an Alabama fan, when he married into a family loyal to his team’s main rival, Auburn. Luckily, they have two daughters -- one for each team.
而对我们来说，大学橄榄球是家里的事。我最早的婴儿照里就有穿着我爸的田纳西队（Tennessee）亮橘色球衣的。我们还会打趣我兄弟。他喜欢阿拉巴马队，结婚却进了奥本队的死忠家庭，这可是阿拉巴马的主要对手。好在，他们有两个女儿——两支球队一人一个。
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