good press for badminton

I may not have been around the badminton world very long (I started playing just a few years ago), but from my observation it seems that there has been increasingly good press for badminton in the Western world recently, especially due to the OG and the fact that an American team managed to advance to the QF in MD.

Back in 2005, when the US won the world champs, it didn't really seem like such a big deal. I was a badminton player so naturally knew, but few people seemed to know, or even care that the badminton WC were being held in the US or that an American team had actually won the gold.

3 years later, it seems a lot has changed. I'm just going to list out a bunch of places where I think badminton has been getting some good (and well-deserved) attention, feel free to append, comment, etc.

It all started with that infamous VitaminWater commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfwqSBWDW_A

While there was a big furor over it and a lot of badminton fans thought it hurt that sport's image, I think it helped a great deal in terms of exposing Americans to the sport and giving the impression that it was actually played indoors, with actual rules and competitions. Currently it stands at one of the top results (around 5th) for "badminton" on youtube and has aroun 400,000 views. Pretty decent, I'd say

Starting around the olympics there was even more press surrounding badminton, especially Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong's Olympic quest. From Bach's bio on nbcolympics.com you can access several interviews that NBC conducted with both Bach and Malaythong

http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=826/bio/index.html


Then there's this Home Depot commercial that played numerous numerous times during the course of the Olympics (and will probably be played for the remainder of the games) where Bach appears alongside various Olympians in Track, Cycling, Marathon, Judo, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-VVNWu3lY

Then there are a couple good articles on NBC that I would like to link too that give me some hope for badminton in the US -


http://www.nbcolympics.com/badminton/news/newsid=197021.html#badmintons+billionaire
(Bill Gates loves badminton!)


http://www.nbcolympics.com/badminton/news/newsid=209479.html#the+loneliest+sport+america
(highlights badminton's struggle in the US)

http://www.nbcolympics.com/badminton/news/newsid=129129.html#historic+five+qualified+beijing
(while not positive news, shows that NBC is at least following what's going on)

Here are a couple articles from misc. sources as well -

http://www.maxim.com/GetaQuickerFirstStep/articles/39810.asp
(showing badminton is a highly demanding athletic sport)



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/writers/richard_deitsch/08/17/lin.dan/index.html
(to a certain extent, westernizing badminton. draws parallels western audiences will understand)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/15/olympics2008.olympicsbadminton
(another similar article that the above one links to)

Overall, compared to the last OG, the coverage for badminton was much better and deeper. Exposure in popular culture, especially commercials, was also helpful.

Don't forget the new usabadminton website at: http://badminton.teamusa.org/
which has lots of news and profiles as well ast the newly revamped badzine.info, which is one of my favorite sources for English badminton news.

Over dinner tonight a few friends and I were discussing the future of badminton in the US. I think that there is enough wealth here so that the sport can be promoted and financed to a good degree. With the explosion of badminton in the Bay Area and the good press the sport has been getting lately, I feel somewhat hopeful for badminton's future and image in the States.

What do you guys think?