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Boston.com article about relationship between Colin Pine and Yao

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by morganmanor, Nov 30, 2003.

  1. morganmanor

    morganmanor Contributing Member

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    Let's take a break...forget about the losing streak for a while...
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Star's sidekick helps translate NBA experience
    By Dana Calvo, Globe Correspondent, 11/30/2003

    HOUSTON -- From behind his desk in a tiny basement office at the State Department, Colin Pine translated Mandarin-language newspapers and shrugged off the suspicion that he was missing out on something bigger. The blond-haired Baltimore native worked hard, studied for the LSAT, and got accepted to law school. Still, he was restless.

    In China, Yao Ming, a 7-foot-6-inch basketball player for the Shanghai Sharks, dreamed of an alternative destiny as well. He wanted to come to America and play in the NBA.

    Two years later, Pine and Yao have forged one of the most uncommon relationships in modern sports. Pine, 29, translates for the 23-year-old Houston Rockets center, one of the league's newest stars.

    "This year he looks more comfortable than last year," Yao said in English after Pine translated a question from a reporter.

    "Last year, he was scared," said Yao, placing an enormous hand on Pine's slight shoulder during a break from the Rockets' practice. "He was a rookie -- like me."

    Pine loyally saw the number one draft pick through the awkward initiation weeks of intense media coverage and NBA pressure last year. Pine also helped Yao's parents navigate the bureaucracy to relocate to a new country, as well as make sense of utility bills. In return, Yao said he wanted only Pine to translate for him during his second year here.

    "It's way, way below six figures," Pine said about his second one-year contract.

    He is guiding Yao through US culture, but the athlete has already advanced beyond the initial American experience, and his fame has spread far beyond Houston, where the number of Asian immigrants is around 300,000.

    "If you're coming from Latin America, and you're going into baseball, you have all sorts of other athletes who have preceded you and speak your language. But when you're coming from China, you're not going to have other athletes you can turn to for an interpretation of what you're experiencing," said Jay Coakley, a sociologist at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, whose book "Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies" is in its eighth edition. "The translator is the link between what's going on in the athlete's life and the meaning the athlete gives to that."

    During news conferences Yao looks directly at Pine, and rarely at the reporters asking the questions in English. Asked about the rough play of the Miami Heat, for example, he answers the question in Chinese. Pine imitates Yao's "love it or leave it" tone, saying: "This is the NBA."

    Yao is one of three Chinese basketball players in the league, and by far the most famous. He has appeared in commercials for Visa cards and Apple Computer; in the latter ads, he was paired with Verne Troyer, the diminutive actor who played Mini-Me in two of the "Austin Powers" movies.

    "Yao will never be a normal American. [You can't be] the number one pick in the NBA draft and be a normal American," said John Huizinga, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago who is also a member of Team Yao, the small marketing squad that secures lucrative promotional contracts for Yao and pays half of Pine's salary.

    Pine helps Yao handle the onslaught of attention, as well as the intricacies of becoming a role model for Chinese-Americans. Yao signs his autograph in Chinese characters, and if fans look bewildered, Pine says plainly: "That's his name."

    "I thought Colin had this incredible love for two things that were critical: basketball and Chinese. He really excelled on the two. It wasn't just love; it was knowledge," said Huizinga. "They get along great. There's a lot of kidding around."

    Last year the two's arrangement was almost too precious: they bunked together in Yao's family home in Katy, a suburb about a 40-minute drive from Houston.

    "I think we hit it off," Pine said. "If he had found me totally grating and annoying, he probably could have fired me."

    This year, however, their relationship is different. Yao, and thus Pine, does far less media than last year. Part of that is dwindling interest from outlets. But part is a strategy by Team Yao, coupled with Yao's desire for more privacy.

    Yao is also getting more comfortable with the nuances of American life. He unfailingly says "God bless you" to people after they sneeze -- a custom that fascinated him initially. Last year, he asked Pine why he always waved to other drivers on the highway after shifting lanes. Pine explained it was a gesture of appreciation -- one that Yao then adopted.

    "Luckily no one has ever followed us," Pine says. He drove Yao everywhere last year, but after taking driving lessons from Pine, Yao got his own license this year. The move forced Pine to get his own car, and it allowed Yao to custom-order a new one, a dark gray BMW, with lower and larger seats.

    After living solely with his family last year, Yao has made arrangements to stay at a downtown hotel on game days so he doesn't have to drive home. Pine has moved on as well. He is living in his own apartment, where Yao "can crash if he wants to."

    "Last year he lived with me and ate what my mom cooked, so I ate only this much," Yao said, his hands forming a small circle. "This year, I can eat this much," he laughed, expanding the space to the size of a trash can lid.

    "I think it's important for both of us to have that independence," Pine said. "You know, I'm not going to be here forever . . . This year he has to figure out how to live in the US -- what he's comfortable with."

    Pine is doing less spoken translation in practice, but he is spending many hours mired in paperwork from Coach Jeff Van Gundy, who gives Yao player-personnel reports. Gundy has also removed Pine from the huddle at practice. Instead, Yao wears a wireless mike and earphone and Pine sits in an annex to the gym, translating Gundy's pep talks and strategies.

    "We're trying to get him more dependent on English . . . Last year they were Mutt and Jeff," said Carroll Dawson, the Rockets' general manager. "Now, Yao Ming is more one of the guys, and Colin's there if he needs him."

    The Rockets play about four games a week. When they're on the road, and Yao feels too stir-crazy to eat another dinner in the hotel room, Pine calls ahead to a restaurant and tries to secure a quiet table so the two can eat in peace. After more than a year of shadowing Yao, of sharing a house with him, of wading through his family's bills, few people know as much about the star as Pine does.

    And as Yao becomes more famous, it is the kind of trusting relationship that he may find becomes as rare as a peaceful dinner. Recently, the player was asked about the faded red macrame bracelet around his left wrist.

    "Nothing personal," Pine said. "I won't translate anything about his personal life."

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/a...dekick_helps_translate_nba_experience?mode=PF
     
  2. mirror_image

    mirror_image Contributing Member

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    Thank you morganmanor for the great article! :D
     
  3. Sishir Chang

    Sishir Chang Contributing Member

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    I agree great article. I'm a little dissapointed that Pine isn't paid more. One would figure with how valuable he's been to Yao he would at least get six figures.
     
  4. wakkoman

    wakkoman Contributing Member

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    man forget about pay
    i would love to live with Yao and be his friend.....Yao seems like such a great and humble guy
     
  5. wfchan

    wfchan Member

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    Pine will get his true finanncial rewards when he can write about his experience or just talking about it in public. Millions all over the world, most of them Chinese, would love to know more.
     
  6. ttboy

    ttboy Member

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    Talk about an opportunistic mindset. I'm glad you're not Yao's translator; I don't think Pine would betray Yao's trust and friendship like that.
     
  7. Relativist

    Relativist Contributing Member

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    I'm sure Pine will get permission from Yao for any deal that comes his way. Some of us may have "opportunistic mindsets", but Pine will be confronted with these opportunities whether he wants them or not. He will have to make decisions about the extent he wants to cash in.
     
  8. fa7999

    fa7999 Member

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    wakaman,

    You can live with Yao by marrying him.:)
     
  9. finalsbound

    finalsbound Contributing Member

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    w00t! Kay-taaaay. Too bad he doesn't live in the fun part (Fry/I-10/Saums). He lives by Cinco Ranch, where the houses are filled with riches, lots of the women are b****es and they all wear Abercrombie and Fitch(es).
     

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