Evan Osnos, The New Yorker’s Man-in-China, writes about American footballs’ prospects in the China market in the wake of yesterday’s  Superbowl:

The N.F.L. is no longer looking to groom its Yao Ming. Richard Young, the managing director of N.F.L. China, told me that he now compares his sport’s future to that of coffee. “Years ago, I took a Chinese friend to try a cup of coffee, and he choked down this black liquid and said, at the end of it, ‘Richard, Chinese people will never love coffee.’ And you know what? To this day, they still don’t have the big barista machines at home. But they’ll gladly go to Starbucks, and Starbucks is all over China. So coffee is not going to replace tea, and we’re not going to overtake soccer, but it doesn’t mean we can’t build a good business.”

On a related note, click here for the Wikipedia entry on Edward Kai Wang, the NFL’s only current “full-blooded ethnic Chinese player” whose parents are from Beijing.

The multi-million dollar TV ads that run during the Superbowl generate as much chatter as the game itself, and this year is no exception – especially in Michigan, where, according to the Huffington Post, Pete Hoekstra, a State Senate candidate, has riled many viewers with a race-baiting campaign ad:

The 30-second ad opens with the sound of a gong and shows the Asian woman riding a bike on a narrow path lined by rice paddies.

Stopping her bike, the woman smiles into the camera and says, “Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spends so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow.”

Over at our sister site thebeijinger.com, Jonathan White links to a few articles from the Wall Street Journal blogs, Shanghaiist and ABC News about rising costs at a number of fast-food franchises in Beijing.

Meanwhile The Clown & Co. are embroiled in yet another food scandal – this time relating to “ammonia-treated beef” – according to The China Daily.

The use of ammonia-treated beef has been approved by the US Department of Agriculture, meaning that it is generally recognized as safe.

“In China, the use of it as a production procedure is also acceptable under the relevant laws,” said Fan Zhihong, an assistant professor at China Agricultural University’s college of food science and nutritional engineering.

“But with the addition of certain acids, ammonium hydroxide can turn into ammonium nitrate. More important, ‘pink slime’ is usually used as animal food in some countries. That could cause some people to feel disgusted when consuming such beef.”

If you’re sick of local banks or  just can’t spend your money fast enough, head’s up: chinesestock.org reports that China has allowed Citigroup to issue its own credit cards (previously all credit cards had to be issued via Chinese banks) as the WTO investigates alleged trade barriers against US credit card companies in China. This move is seen by some as a signal that the Chinese banking industry will become more open to foreign players – a bit of wishful thinking, perhaps, but worth keeping an eye out all the same if you often need to make transactions with overseas accounts.