Wow, you are kind of hopeless if you still can't see my stance. Learnhowtoread.com <-- You need this site.
Other folks try to make it personal? You are not helping either. This guy tried to point out thow Yao's outlook towards his country and his team is different from others and you slammed him.
"It's the biggest thing for me ever," said James. "I got to the NBA Finals, and I thought it was pretty big for me. But winning an NBA championship never would compare to winning a gold medal for my country."
Soccer wise, if I had to choose between a World Cup or a Champions League Cup I would choose the world cup definetly. Basketball wise, I would choose the gold medal. Not because it's country or club, but because its a gold medal. Best acomplishment an athlete can wish of.
I support Yao and what he thinks 100%. What, you really don't care about your country? OK, suppose you are an elite "made in the USA" NBA player and you get a chance to play for your country. Short of serving in the armed forces, (which by the way - is way more sacrifice), it's representing your country. It's those 3 letters on your jersey that makes it special. If you win the NBA championship, you are playing for yourself and your team/city. Team USA represents your country. So what it doesn't get any run at ESPN. When did ESPN set the standard for what's important? Now that the rest of the world has "caught up'" in a way, it's even more important to sent the best the US has or there will not be any Gold for the home team, in a sport invented in the US, where the best league in the world resides. Imagine a team of college kids playing for the US? It used to be enough but it's not anymore. The game and competition is for real. Yao didn't retire did he? He has ALWAYS been know to have his honest opinion and he was preparing his life for this event. Now it's over. Now what? A normal question to ask oneself. His immediate answer was to rest and get ready for the season. He wants to win playing against the best just like any other competitive person out there. If he wasn't. He could have stayed in China and be the greatest player that ever played there. I have high hopes for this season. The moves to get Artest and Barry, the way Scola and Yao has played. This is shaping up to be a Big 4 team and that is scary good. You can say all the bad and negative things you like and wish injury on our own players (which is how some of you sound like you are doing). But I will watch and wait and when the smoke clears, there will be a lot of happy tears at Toyota center because this is the perfect storm and the league won't know what hit them. Celtics did it last year, It's time for the Rockets to pull out the big 4 and do some major damage.
last time i checkd there was only one olympic basketball championship to every 4 nba chips. i didnt want china to win or keep competeing strictly cuz i honestly wanted yao resting as soon as possible, but in a culture like the one yao was raised in. even i understand how hes so much more passionate about being THE face of his highly populated country. oh, and yao is crazy passionate at all the close rockets games...
This is my first post on this forum after reading it for a while, but I really think people are getting WAY too upset over nothing. First of all, the reason why you see NBA players cry after they win an NBA championship is because they experience failure season after season. When you fail after trying to accomplish something and then you accomplish it then it brings out that emotion because you've been through a struggle to get to that point. Even though the USA didn't win gold in Athens, that was just once failure. On top of that, most of the players weren't on that Athens team. To say that it doesn't mean as much to them because you don't see them crying over it is crazy. The whole Yao situation is overblown because most people don't know why these Olympics meant to much to the Chinese country as a whole. They've been waiting on these Olympics for years to try to get out of the social rut that they're in. Yao felt a great burden to carry the torch for his country in these Olympics and carried that torch proudly. For Yao at that specific moment, the Olympics were the most important thing in his life because he carried the torch for the whole country and not just the Rockets. Yao is loyal so I expect nothing but his best when he suits up for the Rockets. And to the guy that said Yao plays in "summer leagues", you need to really understand why Yao was playing. Yao played in the same world championships that Lebron and co. played in a few years back had to participate in the Olympic qualifying last year so they could play in the Olympics.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's silly as hell to really care which Yao thinks is more important? Does anyone else also think it's silly that some can't realize playing for some city team typically doesn't carry as much weight as playing for your country? Especially when that city team is a foreign one. A country is made up of states, which is made up of cities and towns, etc. Then add being the face of the games for your country. Not that complex to comprehend. The NBA is not bigger than the Olympic games. Geez!!! I love Houston with all my heart but I do realize it isn't the best city in the world. Snap into a slim jim and snap back into reality....
See thats the difference with my view and yours. I don't see the Houston Rockets as just entertainment, i see them as a representation of my city, state and country. All jokes aside, that is why i think he does'nt understand it. He sees this as just entertainment. He sees China basketball as a way of life and a culture. If he ever understands that, it can help achieve a level of greatness that he has never achieved in the his NBA career.
You say life and sports are separate, but wasn't Yao basically bred and raised to play basketball for his country. So in a sense, sports is his life. You know how all our different cultures are just that...different. Maybe it doesn't make sense to you, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. But hey, Yao's pissing you off, and I'm sure you are pissing plenty of people off. Do you really think he's not going to come in here and give his all this season and every season?
Hey as long as we get a quality big man for him, i would'nt wine about it. After losing Hakeem and Drexler becuase of age and time, i have learned that kife must still go on in this league. So as long as we can assemble a team that can trully compete and have a chance to win, thats ok with this Rockets Fan.
