Go to a net bar and use ninemsn.com.au or yahoo7.com.au

there will be a link there 

worked for state of origin last year

I hope you are referring to Rugby League and not that other Victorian rubbish?

If you check on Google you might pick up some illegal live streams of many sports. livescorehunter, sportlemon, hahasport etc. The quality is poor but at least you can stay in touch with your favorite sports.

Not since the revolution. It was outlawed in Tianjin

I just recently came back from Tianjin since it is close to Beijing. I wasn't there for long but if you could find a bar that plays sports channels than you may have some luck finding what your looking for.  As far as riding your bike far and wide you should have no problems there as far as what I saw there. Also, english maps or maps in english shouldn't be hard to pick up in China since English is the second most sought out language to learn here. 

try ali baba restaurant or may be ajo bar.