Clutchfans has a powerful search tool. Please help yourself. Started from pre-draft till the day Yao retired, the discussion never died, whether we should get him or trade him with someone else. It was perfectly normal. The world is beautiful because everyone is different. There is no such thing as every single fan of any team welcomed any young player with open arms, unanimously.
Well of course not everybody liked Yao, it was a hyperbole. My point is he was welcomed to the city of Houston. The city, the fans, the players and the coaches all accepted him the moment he came to this team.
Funny thread! Voted "still is Asian in the fourth quarter of games too". But some older fans may recall. In his rookie year, Yao didn't start under assistant coach Larry Smith when head coach Rudy T took break to take care of his illness. Even worse than "didnot play in the fourth quarter". And Larry Smith was not in the NBA since that season. :grin::grin:
i remember the talk alone in houston when yao first came, even among non basketball fans. everyone was like
Do you really welcome and accept someone you don't like? If he's accepted by everyone, where did those "trading Yao" threads come from? I don't even know what you are trying to say. Is that another one of those lines, "we all liked Yao, and we liked Lin before, but because of his fans, I don't like him"?
As we're talking about colleges and universities... I think one of the most fascinating (both good and bad) things that we are witnessing in terms of race relations is happening in our big public state universities. These schools, often facing decreased funding from their governments, are increasingly having to rely on out-of-state and international students in order to bolster tuition revenue. A large percentage of these students tend to be Asian. Meanwhile, the in-state student population tends to be non-Asian (predominantly White). So we have a stark divide in these big schools: an Asian population that is not only from out-of-state, but also from out-of-country; and a non-Asian population that is mostly from in-state. The non-Asian in-staters came to college expecting a certain college experience (i.e. the American Pie movies), and instead, they see that a huge segment of their class does not buy into that "All-American College Experience®". Then, you end up with stuff like the OSU Haters Tumblr and its many similar offshoots.
What does Lin have to do with anything? I said the Rocket fans welcomed him with open arms. Nobody cared about his ethnicity, and he was made comfortable and accepted. For whatever reason you are trying to start some pointless argument. I was exaggerating when I said every Rocket fans welcomed him with open arms, I made that clear. My point is the city and the team accepted him when he came over. No **** some people didn't like him, that exists everywhere. Now are you done having your panties twisted over this innocuous post that I made?
Considering the fact that I already clearly said it was a hyperbole, I guess reading is not your strong suit but winning petty arguments is. Congratulations?
Tell me about it. I became a member of CF in 04 or 05 and could not stand those 'trade Yao' 'he is soft' threads and basically left the forum and had to re-register again. I truly felt at that time, and still frequently now, that the fans on this forum are not being appreciative. They are always unsatisfied with and judgmental towards their own players. And it's not just Yao. But Yao was lucky. He got the full support and trust from his coaches and teammates. Ultimately that's what matters. The official documentary for Yao's early days is very touching. Players and coaches kept passing him the ball believing that he could catch the next one with his butter hands. It is totally different when the team made it clear to you on a consistent base that they believe in you and are with you no matter what. I don't know if it is Dawson's thing. But how I wished that that mentality could be shared by the fan base instead of this 'he sucks let's trade him for someone from another team' thing.
Sigh. You started out saying everyone welcomed and accepted Yao with open arms, while every single day during his 7 years tenure, there was a live "trade Yao" thread on the first page here. This, is not hyperbole, which you said after being called out, but rather completely ignoring the obvious fact. That could NOT be overlooked even if you try really hard, just like that 7'6 frame.