Maybe an American expat can buy some sort of cable package, here in Hong Kong, that gets you all the sports TV you might be able to see back at home.

I haven’t found it yet.

But I’m not totally disconnected from the goings on, via television. I saw two L.A. teams in action today, here at the hotel in Hong Kong. But neither was USC. Sigh.

Turns out, the baseball playoffs — which belong to TBS back in the States — are being shown on ESPN’s international channel overseas. Or at least in Hong Kong. Because I saw at least part of all three Dodgers playoffs victories over the Cubs.
I’ve seen sections of both of the Angels’ defeats, but they didn’t play today — Sunday in Hong Kong, that is.

I saw the Dodgers win — or the Cubs lose, depending on your point of view — and celebrate at Dodger Stadium. That finished at about 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon here and I held off going for a Dim Sum lunch at Nice Garden restaurant until the game was over. (The crispy boneless spare ribs were particularly good, by the way.)

Earlier, I was sorta watching the Brewers and Phillies … when we realized that one of the five sports channels available here in the hotel was showing (yes, true story) the Los Angeles Galaxy playing the Crew in Columbus. Live. In Hong Kong.

I’m guessing that game being televised was 99.9 percent about David Beckham, who is huge here Hong Kong. Well, in Asia, far as I can tell. The game was narrated by Cantonese-speaking announcers (I assume it was Cantonese, because it was a Hong Kong station). Anyway, I saw the last half-hour of the Galaxy’s 1-0 defeat — in which 11 Galaxy guys played but only one had a name. That would be “BICK-em”, as the local guys pronounced Beckham’s name — every time he touched the ball.

Your average American sports fan would much rather see some college football — any college football — than Major League Soccer. But it doesn’t make the cut over here. None of my five sports channels had even a single score from Saturday’s college football games.

That sent me to espn.com and the game-tracker system, plus a smattering of highlights a few hours later. The Trojans look back on track. Their game was easy to find, on the web, because they’re ranked. UCLA’s game was a bit harder … but I see the Bruins won, as well.

Anyway, this is more L.A. sports, on TV, than I expected. I can follow the Dodgers right till they are done, it would seem — though some of their games might start as early as 2 in the morning here.  This is a huge advance, and something that probably wasn’t possible even 10 years ago.

In truth, I might be one of the few people on the island interested in baseball. This was a British colony, remember, and what little attention Hong Kongers give to sports seems to go to soccer, cricket and rugby — British standbys. This isn’t Taiwan or Japan, where baseball is played seriously.

So, yeah, a bonus to find ball on Hong Kong TV. Hope it follows me to whatever apartment I wind up in.