You want tough? Look 7 1/2 feet up. http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/12/you_want_tough_look_7_12_feet.html You want tough? This is tough. It's not about shouts or slams, poses or chest bumps. Tough is many things, but real toughness, not the kind that looks good at the end of SportsCenter, cannot be found in a highlight. It's about something deeper. It's about who you are as a person and an athlete. Yao Ming said his team was soft after the loss in Philadelphia and many did not understand what he meant because they don't know what it is to be tough. Yao does. Yao has been accused of being soft. You might as well call him short. Tough is wanting the ball with the game on the line. Tough is wanting free throws when everyone is missing them. Tough is competing, not just when it is convenient, but when things go badly and it is hard to keep coming back for more. Tough is facing the scrutiny and harsh judgments and a standard impossible to reach, then never shying away from any challenge. It's about moving yourself and your life across the planet to take on anything and everything the world's best basketball league can throw at you. It's about taking all that the most powerful big men the NBA have as they physically try to beat you and defeat it. You want to stop Yao, you do it with quickness. Strength doesn't do it, because of toughness. Yao will compete with every bit of heart he can muster. That's what toughness is. It's not about dunking or laying it in, no matter how tall a person is. Would you prefer Stromile Swift because that's a guy who can really slam? Yao did not learn the game as a performance, a reason to bend rims. There are times when he makes a move quickly enough to be in a position to dunk and does not. But that's because his instincts and training are to be in control. On other occasions — which by the way are much more common occurrences — he is under control and in position to gather his momentum to slam and does, as when he drove past Rasheed Wallace and threw it down on Antonio McDyess, two pretty tough individuals. Sometimes, he does not have all that body so well controlled and has to lay it up. And who cares, anyway? Both are worth two points, and neither measures toughness. Toughness is sticking your neck out, as Yao did, and leading, and putting the attention and pressure on yourself. It's demanding everything of yourself and the next day asking for more. It's about commitment. Yao is a skilled, shockingly agile giant. That's the kind of athlete he is. Look at him. He is not a brute. Neither was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yao's not Kareem, but there is nothing wrong with grace, and it does not preclude real toughness, the kind found in one's heart and mind. Whether he can inspire that in the Rockets remains to be seen. But if they want to develop real toughness and need to see what it looks like, they need only to look up.
LOL, what the hell is this? Sorry, Yao's not tough. Love the guy, love his work ethic, blah blah blah, if you think Yao is tough, you are either blind or work for the Roc...err Chronicle.
You gotta beat your chest and howl after you dunk the ball in so ESPN will put you on the highlight reels and then the whole world will think you are tough.
oh boy I feel sorry for Feigen to waste time to write so many words to explain what toughness really is for a player and a leader. You still don't get it. Please read Feigen's blog again. Yao is developing the real toughness and leadership. We all witness this process.
I totally respect Yao's work ethic and desire but I wouldn't consider him tough. I guess I was spoiled watching dream and moses growing up. Those guys were tough. Dream and Moses would have no problems b*tch slapping Tmac for taking too many jumpshots.
If it was JVG time, It would have been taken as a loss, and Jeff would extend the practice of tomorrow and lock those guys in the gym until they make a million FTs.
I'm astonished at Feigen's homerism. Yao did some good things today,but he was soft on some occasions too.
i completely disagree. he's not aggressive enough at times but i thinks that's different from being tough. anyone who can take the amount pounding and punishment he takes and keep on going is a tough dude.
I find it funny that feigen says he doesn't read this board but he seems to write articles on our topics/rants of the week.
Toughness bulls**t aside (Honestly, I remember when the Spurs and Tim Duncan were supposed to be so 'soft'), I just can't believe Yao isn't puttin up damn near 20 shots a game yet. I was appalled tonight when we inored him on several plays down the stretch. At that point in the game, he was the only one hitting anything, was being guarded by midgets, and was our only guy worth a damn at te FT line. Yao has got to start screaming for the rock.
For real. When i picture the Rox watching game tape of this win, I kinda liken it to when a dad sees a recording of his child being born...your so happy it happend, but watching it over is really gross.
It doesn't matter how much he screams for the ball. The ineptitude of the pgs is what keeps the ball from getting to him. I saw him in the paint numerous times last night with great position with both hands up but then an errant 3 pointer would go flying over him towards the hoop.
