From the sage at Useless Tree comes word of China's invasion of the NFL.

That's right. They're trying out Chinese athletes on the gridiron -- hoping to grab some of that 1 billion-strong market share.

The plan was devised by the N.F.L. to penetrate China, that fertile untapped market, by giving Chinese sports fans someone in a helmet and shoulder pads they can readily connect with. Gao, Ding and Shen knew next to nothing about football when they were selected by the N.F.L. at a tryout last summer in China. Now they are immersed in the experiment, a crash course on the craft of kicking footballs that may culminate in August with one or two them taking the field in the N.F.L.’s first exhibition game in China.

On March 5, they will participate in a tryout camp for N.F.L. Europe in Tampa, Fla., after which two of them will be assigned to teams for the 10-week European season as final preparation for a shot at suiting up for the N.F.L. exhibition game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots in the 66,000-seat the Workers Stadium in Beijing on Aug. 9.

Of course, it's an uphill battle getting audiences interested in a game that involves such big pads and so many breaks in play -- a game that takes so long to unfold. But this might just be the beginning of something big....

Until now, the three kickers said, football has had little resonance in China. N.F.L. games are generally broadcast on Mondays, when few people have four hours to spare. Ding said that even with his background in rugby, he had a difficult time understanding the game at first. Gao’s and Ding’s parents were startled by the sport’s violence when they first saw it on TV. But Ding said his father grew to like it and now stays up to late to watch highlights and reruns.

They're not planning on recruiting a new Yao Ming any time soon, but some day... something interesting could happen.