when usa team plays againts other team, only fame and celebrities matter, but when it becomes china vs usa, patriotism matters more, kobe never beats yao in this occasion
The writer may have a point about Kobe. He killed 'em at the opening ceremonies. 2. Kobe Bryant This was the oddity of the night. Behind the Chinese president and the entire national team, the one athlete who appeared to get the loudest ovation was none other than Kobe Bean Bryant. The moment was so odd that even U.S. journalists were looking at each other in puzzlement. The Russian, Chinese and American presidents were here, but Kobe was the head of state tonight. http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/ne...cB?slug=cr-ceremony080808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PjcPCSgpoZM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PjcPCSgpoZM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> I like what happened to kobe on this play.
it's true even here in the states and around the world. big men are not very popular, esp. a guy like yao who is so tall. we relate more to guys that we can imitate when we go play basketball and those are primarily perimeter players. yao is a guy i'm sure all chinese admires b/c of his great individual accomplishments in the NBA. but if you have to ask most of the young chines who's in their top 5, yao wouldn't be in most of them. chinese are more proud of yao.
they're asking about sports icon. duncan is NOT a sports icon b/c not every american knows who he is compared to even a guy like carmelo anthony. duncan is not very popular to fans who don't really follow basketball. you don't have to follow basketball even for a little bit and knows who kobe bryant is. that's why they call him an "icon"
This article is bull****. Sure Kobe has a lot of fans, but the crowd is not gonna be divided on Sunday, Chinese people are going to support their own team. It's like this: My favorite player in the league is Dwayne Wade, yet it would not even be a question as to who I would be supporting in a Rox-Heat game. Same here. The popularity of the Houston Rockets is simply amazing there in China. You could grab a random guy and chances are, he knows who Luther Head is. When you ask somebody, he might not say his favorite player is Yao because it would seem to typical and plain. People try to be different.
You are not Chinese, are you? If by top 5, you mean best basketball players, then yeah, Yao wouldn't be in it. If you mean favorite players, that is a whole another question
SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!!!!!! Shame on the Chinese. How can you say that about the soft Tracy Mcgrady? HOw does he have more heart than your golden boy Yao Ming. We clutchfans all know that Yao Ming get to where he is today because of his tremendous work ethic. He is the hardest working guy on the rockets, and possibly in the NBA. How can these poeple suspect that Yao did not work his tails off to become as great as he is. We all know how Shawn Bradley fare with his god given heights. How about Manute Boul(sth lik that)? Or that recent bust Pavel Podolzine? I was at the Macau game when team USA played Turkey and I was the only one booing frekin Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. Now I don't need you Chinese to boo them because I can understand you people not having a strong Rockets root. But by god, at least don't chant MVP for the egotistical prick Kobe Bryant. I have lost all resect for these bandwagon fans who hype individual flash.
lol, me and my dad were watching the Olympic Ceremony and the USA was being presented and my mom walked across the room and stopped and asked. "look, it's Kobe Bryant" me and my dad were like wtf?? we didn't even know she knew who kobe bryant was
I've had enough of this crap. Look, national pride is huge, huge, in China. The best and most famous sport figure they know is Yao. The sprinter is well known for "winning" and that's important. But Yao is the man, and get this, he hasn't won a thing! Kobe is known if the guy follows basketball...all the time. I would submit most of the chinese who follow NBA basketball follow because of Yao or even Yi. When China plays USA, the crowd will cheer for the home team. You can count on that. Do you think for a moment that if the Lakers play in Toyota center that we fans would cheer for Kobe? I would.... for him to break his leg. Home court advantage. Man, the thread starter doesn't know what he's talking about. The home team pride would be 100 times more powerful in China than in Houston for the Rockets. China is playing for keeps with these Olympics, Did anyone miss the Opening show. They mean business and the people will support and cheer for the home team in any event. Count on it. National pride.
china is the host; who the hell makes up the groups to put china with US, spain, and greece? most likely they would place 10th out of 12 teams, which would be a shame for yao. oh well, i'm sure he's proud just to represent yao. china put on a great spectacle to open the games.
I think Yao lacks the Tenacity that players like Kobe and TMac have. Althought Kobe has more of it, add a little confidence in TMAc and anger him, he definitely rises to the occasion. I think Tmac will definitely rise to the occasion this season. As for Yao he needs to step up to the plate and just embarass his competition. It may not be his way of showing honor to the competition but I think it is what people want to see and that is what the fans in China demand. Hopefully this season a little bit of Artest will rub off on him and he'll be a little more differnt in that retrospect.
you're right. yao is just not that type of guy. i think we all have come to accept it. tmac may not have it like a jordan or kobe or even a lebron james, but like you said, if you piss him off, he will bring that "ass-whupping" that you want. he just needs a little pushing. yao, arguably one of the nicest guys in sports ever, will probably let a punch to the face go. we just need him to do his job. that's why JVG or adelman have never pushed yao to be the guy for the entire season. they may start a season doing so trying to see if yao has improved that killer mentality, but the season always ends up with everything revolving around tracy. morey knows deep down tracy or yao are really not "jordan/kobe" type of players and are wisely surrounding them with tough guys like artest/landry/alston... i mean, tracy needs more than a little pushing at times.
you are absolutely right I think. The fact of a Chinese playing in NBA is pushing the attention of Chinese to NBA to a new level. For instance, I myself watched at most the NBA finals before 2002. But I started to watch regular-season games of the rockets and then occasionally games of other teams after Yao went to NBA. And I know a lot of people like me here. The fact is Yao is not the best player in NBA. So if you ask a Chinese whom his baskeball idol is, the answer might be Kobe or Lebron. But Yao is evidently the one who attracts the most attention of and is most supported by Chinese despite he is our idol or not. By the way, I myself like Yao very much.
