http://waymoresports.thestar.com/NA...id=979061475221&call_pagepath=Raptors/Raptors Yao cookie worth a fortune Mar. 5, 2003. 09:06 AM Ming mania hits town as Chinese giant leads Houston against the Raptors Loved for more than his skill, he's humorous and humble Jennifer Quinn When Yao Ming steps on to the Air Canada Centre court tonight for his first and only visit this season, he'll be welcomed by an Asian following numbering in the thousands that will be cheering for both a basketball prodigy and a homeland hero. They love the 22-year-old rising star as much for his personality as for his skill. His humour and his humility are as important to them as his game. "He represents Chinese people not just as a basketball player ?he embodies the traditional values of Chinese people," said Clement Chu, vice-president of the Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association and a member of the broadcast team that airs Raptors home games in Cantonese. "He's humble and he's very cerebral." Chu's association, which has been waiting months for tonight to arrive, bought a block of 2,000 seats and hundreds more from Toronto's 400,000-strong Chinese community are expected to attend. "He's the first superstar," said fan Tony Tam, who had an extra ticket for tonight's sold-out tilt but had no problem finding a taker. "His demeanour, his good sense of humour. He is someone we admire and look up to." At 7-foot-5 and 298 pounds, Yao was the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. Though technically not the first international player drafted first overall, Yao is the first player who didn't play U.S. college basketball to be taken first. And he's quickly become the NBA's centre of attention. He currently stars in two very funny commercials, one for Visa and the other for Apple computers, and coming soon to a computer near you will be http://www.yaoming.net. He attracted a media horde wherever he went at the recent all-star game in Atlanta, his first of many such games, and is a leading contender for rookie of the year. He has even inspired some musical adoration. A song called "It's A Ming Thing," based on the popular "Ol?Ol?Ol? soccer anthem has heated up the Houston airways. It's simple but catchy: "Yao Ming bust on the scene with a bling-bling; Dominating other teams, it's a Ming thing; Envisioning Houston's dream of a ring-ring; Reinvigorating Clutch City, Yao Ming ?scream!" And then there's the chorus: "Yao Ming, Yao Ming Yao Ming Yao Ming. Yao Ming. Yao Ming." Yao has also handled, with a certain amount of bemusement, huge demands on his time and patience. There's a large media contingent that follows his every move and in cities like Toronto, New York and Boston, which have large Asian communities eager for all the latest Yao news, he's even more closely scrutinized. A perfect example is tonight's pre-game routine. Normally, players are available to reporters before games in an informal manner at their locker. Yao's pre-game availability will be in a special room at the Air Canada Centre to better accommodate the media crush. "He has a delightful, actually a delicious, sense of humour," said Bryan McIntyre, the league's senior vice-president of communications. "He's obviously a very intelligent guy who listens to the questions and gives you a thoughtful answer. He's bombarded with both thoughtful and obtuse questions. "The attention focused on Yao Ming and the demands have set very high levels of expectations. I think in almost every instance on and off the court, the guy has exceeded them. He's a great ambassador for the game and for his country." And Yao's tremendous popularity attracts a new, potentially lucrative, audience to the NBA. While Dr. Helen Wu has doubts about his impact on North American Chinese culture, she agrees there's no limit to his marketing capabilities. "His home country is booming," Wu, a senior lecturer and chair of the University of Toronto's Chinese language studies program, said. "It's the fastest-growing country in the world. "Sports can be non-political and when a sporting figure is popular, when the world is focused on China's economic development, that is perfect timing." Chu concurs and said he thinks NBA commissioner David Stern is "salivating" over the billions of viewers ?and dollars ?waiting in the Far East. This season, the league launched a Chinese-language Web site and users could vote for all-stars on-line in their mother tongue. "They understand that it's a new market for basketball," Chu said, noting that hoops is the second-most popular sport in China after soccer. "He is basically salivating because this is the largest market in the world that can be tapped." For some of Toronto's Chinese residents, there's more to it than just money. Tam believes Yao manages to break down stereotypes about Asian people and reinforce positive qualities at the same time. His family has taken to talking basketball around their Thornhill dinner table and his 20- and 18-year-old sons proudly wear Yao jerseys. "Absolutely. I think that's one of the great things about him," said Tam, an engineering manager at Motorola. "He certainly breaks a lot of barriers, like (being seen as having) no sense of humour, not as athletic."
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030303/UMINGN//?query=yao+ming Canada's Chinese look (way) up to Yao Ming By JAN WONG Monday, March 3, 2003 - Page A1 TORONTO -- Yao Ming mania has hit Toronto's Chinese community. At Riverdale Collegiate Institute, where half the basketball players are Asian, size doesn't matter. That makes their adulation of Mr. Yao, China's newest and tallest export to the National Basketball Association, all the more touching. Mr. Yao is 7 foot 6. Jamie Yuen is 5 foot 1. "He's representing Chinese," said Ms. Yuen, 16, a point guard on Riverdale's senior girls team. "You don't see Asians playing basketball." Alas, Ms. Yuen does not have tickets for Wednesday's game. That's when Mr. Yao, 22, makes his Toronto -- and Canadian -- debut as his Houston Rockets play the Raptors in their only matchup this year. Tickets sold out weeks ago. Last weekend, when a Chinese mall in a Toronto suburb organized a "Yaofest," a special reserve of 150 tickets vanished even before the event began. Fans had to content themselves with joining the Yao Ming fan club. They could also participate in a Yao Ming look-alike contest. An impolite question: Don't all Chinese look alike? "Supposedly. But there was a guy there who looked identical," said Ron Yeung, chairman of the Mississauga Chinese Basketball Association, who helped co-ordinate the event. Mr. Yao's radiant smile and self-effacing wit have captivated basketball fans more accustomed to players such as Latrell Sprewell, who tried to throttle his Golden State Warriors coach, and Jayson Williams, a former New Jersey Nets player on trial for the fatal shooting of a chauffeur. Although Mr. Yao's appeal cuts across ethnic lines, he especially spurs ticket sales in cities with large Asian populations. And greater Toronto is the statistical jackpot. With a population of 4.7 million, it has more than 400,000 ethnic Chinese. That compares to 104,000 Asians, including Vietnamese, Koreans and Filipinos, in Mr. Yao's home-team city of Houston. Since Mr. Yao joined the Rockets last fall, Asians have bought 12 per cent of group sales, compared with .5 per cent a year ago. The Raptors don't track ticket sales by ethnicity, but Toronto's Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association alone sold 3,000 tickets for Wednesday's game, about 16 per cent of the total seats at the Air Canada Centre. "Chinese really identify with Yao. Mind you, he's a freak of nature," said Clement Chu, the athletic association's co-founder and a former point guard at North Toronto Collegiate Institute. Mr. Yao has crossed a line few athletes do, becoming a cultural hero instead of a simple sports star. He is also a popular figure in Vancouver's substantial Chinese community, though the city no longer has an NBA franchise. "We have his picture in the paper almost every day," said Albert Tsui, a reporter with the Chinese-language daily Sing Tao in Vancouver. Mr. Yao's mother is 6 foot 3, his father 6 foot 7. Both played on China's national teams and nurtured his career. Mr. Chu's parents, in contrast, didn't exactly encourage basketball playing. "They were afraid I'd break my fingers, after all that money spent on piano lessons." Piano perils aside, Toronto's three Chinese dailies have given Mr. Yao front-page coverage. And while Miami and San Antonio, Texas, broadcast games in Spanish, Toronto is the only NBA franchise that broadcasts home games live in Cantonese. Mr. Yeung, Mr. Chu, and a third announcer, Irving Kwok, do the unpaid honours. "I get my parking," Mr. Chu said. "And I get to go to all the games." Once, he even got to sit beside Michael Jordan. Chinese adore Mr. Yao. He's playing an American game on their turf. He's also a role model who embodies Chinese virtues. Take filial piety. He lives with his parents. He dutifully sends half his four-year, $18-million (U.S.) salary and a big chunk of his endorsements to the motherland, including the Chinese Basketball Association, which released him to play in Houston. Then there's the cultural imperative of modesty. He's turned down the chance to be on the cover of Time and The Late Show with David Letterman. When the Shanghai Sharks, his former team in China, retired his number last fall, he took out a full-page newspaper ad asking, "How does a single blade of grass thank the sun?" Mr. Yao obeys the Chinese taboo against public discussions of sex. Newsweek asked if he plans to move his girlfriend, a 6-foot-3 member of the Chinese women's national team, to Houston. "This is a private matter," he said. "I refuse to answer." Finally there's the Confucian injunction against self-mutiliation, out of respect for one's ancestors. Mr. Yao is tattoo-free. And he hasn't pierced any body parts. "Every Chinese in the world is looking at this guy," Mr. Chu said. Last summer, Mr. Yao deftly defused a racist incident. "Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong, yang-wah, ah-so,' " Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-1 Lakers player, told a radio reporter (while making ersatz kung-fu moves). In response, Mr. Yao appraised Mr. O'Neal's linguistic ability. Chinese was a pretty hard language to learn, he said through his interpreter. When reporters later asked if Mr. O'Neal, 30, had apologized, Mr. Yao replied that it was a private matter. "It was so important to him that Shaq not lose face," said Mr. Chu, approvingly. "Chinese are of a more humble nature. And Yao shows that you can survive this trash-talking, in-your-face world of basketball." On court, Mr. Yao subsequently humiliated Mr. O'Neal, blocking three of his shots in the first quarter of their first matchup. To put that in perspective, in the previous 26 games Mr. O'Neal had his shot blocked only 12 times. Although Mr. Yao is a rookie, 1.3 million NBA fans voted him the Western Conference's starting centre at last month's all-star game, edging out Mr. O'Neal, the reigning playoff MVP. "He's good. He beats Shaq," said Van Luu, 15, a 5-foot-5 Riverdale student. At this venerable Toronto high school, 70 per cent of the student body is Asian. While some play mahjong during recess, more play basketball. Riverdale even has its own Yao Ming. His real name is Long Zheng. Like Mr. Yao, he arrived last year from China. "We all call him Yao Ming," said Trung Duong, who coaches basketball (and has a precious ticket for Wednesday's game). When Yao was 12, he was already 6 feet. At 14, Mr. Zheng is 6 foot 2. Asked what position he plays at Riverdale, he grinned. "Centre. Same as Yao Ming." Just as Michael Jordan inspired a generation of black youth, Mr. Yao empowers those who are, literally, looked down upon. "He's raised the popularity of the game in the Chinese community," said Cam Kilgour, another Riverdale basketball coach. Yes, contrary to stereotype the Chinese love basketball. An estimated 200 million play hoops. The game flourishes there for the same reason it does in American ghettos: to play requires only a ball, a hoop and a small patch of pavement. At the moment, China has more than a hundred seven-footers under the age of 18 in elite training. At Riverdale, Steven Ho, a shooting guard, reluctantly took a year off from basketball after damaging knee cartilage and tearing two ligaments. But today, the 17-year-old will try out for a citywide team. He's also organizing his own league. His parents, who immigrated from China, are not thrilled. "They think it's a waste of time. You know how Chinese parents are," said Mr. Ho, who is 5 foot 7 and Canadian born. He plans to placate them by studying medicine. "My goal," he confided, "is to work on a sports team."
http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSports/ts.ts-03-05-0099.html A TALL TALE The skinny on Yao Ming, the NBA's newest and biggest phenomenon By Mike Ulmer The missive filtered through the Toronto Raptors media offices yesterday morning. It was part of a tidal wave of instructions for tonight's game at the Air Canada Centre between the Toronto Raptors and a Houston Rockets team headlined by Chinese rookie Yao Ming. The halftime entertainer, the hand balancer known as The Amazing Wen, had changed his stage name. In the future he would be known as ... The Incredible Wen. Now you know the scale of Yao Ming's visit to Toronto. Even the Amazing Wen has given himself an image boost, all the way up to Incredible. Yao Ming would appreciate this. In earning consideration for NBA's rookie-of-the-year award by virtue of a nightly average of nearly 14 points and eight rebounds, he has demonstrated a humility and a sly humour that has pushed his phenomenon into the stratosphere. Start with the sheer numbers behind his Toronto appearance. Metro Toronto's 400,000 Chinese make this the biggest collection of Chinese people outside of Asia. There are three Chinese newspapers in Toronto, three television stations and three radio stations. The Raptors run a simultaneous translation of their games in Cantonese. Yao's exposure in the local Chinese media has been so extensive, his fans defy the traditional NBA skew to youth. Tonight's game will attract thirty members of the local Chinese media and Yao will speak at a pre-game news conference. The Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association usually distributes a block of discounted tickets for a Chinese New Year game. This year, with Yao Ming in town, the tickets were sold at the usual price. "We usually sell a block of 100, then another block, maybe another block," said Association vice-president Clement Chu. "For Yao, we've sold 4,000. Given more time, we could have sold at least 6,000." But while his play has reinforced the 22-year-old's credentials as a future franchise player, his star appeal hearkens back to the early days of Beatlemania. He is funny, even irreverent. When told teammate Steve Francis would try to make him the league MVP next season, Yao said: "That's very touching. I think I'm going to cry." When asked about his number 15 being retired by his team in Shanghai, he noted his father also wore 15. "The only sad thing," he said, "is my son won't be able to wear it." After cutting television commercials for Visa and Apple computers, he was asked about acting. "I don't think they can find a stunt double for me." "Chinese people understand that at 7-foot-5, he's a freak of nature, but the way he presents himself embodies traditional Chinese values," Chu said. He points to a widely-publicized incident in which Shaquille O'Neal, the reigning star of the NBA firmament, looked into a camera and then said "Tell Yao Ming ..." before launching into a string of Chinese-sounding gibberish. Rather than take offence, Ming worked to help O'Neal recover from the gaffe. "Chinese people don't want other people to lose face," Chu said. "In Chinese culture, you will be looked down on just for letting someone lose face." Yao deflected O'Neal's attempted joke gracefully, then invited Shaq and his family to dinner. When the American star refused, Yao turned once again to humour. "I don't think our fridge is big enough," he said. While he can be admired for exhibiting traditional Chinese values, Yao also has shown grace in fitting in. His teammates love him. "He's like the big brother I always wish I had," Rockets teammate Moochie Norris said. Now you know why so many people want to give Yao Ming an ovation, including the hand balancer formerly known as the Amazing Wen. YAO FOR DUMMIES Position: Centre Age: 22 Born: China Height: 7-foot-5 Weight: 296 lbs NBA HISTORY - First overall pick in 2002 NBA draft. - Voted to 2003 NBA all-star team ahead of Shaq O'Neill, although received heavy voting support from China. ROOKIE NBA SEASON - Scored career-high 30 points Nov. 21 at Dallas ... Recorded career-high 18 rebounds Feb. 2 against San Antonio ... Ranked fourth in NBA (entering last night) in field goal percentage (51.9) ... Has never scored a three-pointer and only had attempted one entering last night's game in Detroit. PERSONAL - Both parents played basketball for China's national teams. Father Yao Zhi Yuan is 6-foot-7, mother Fang Feng Di is 6-foot-3. - Nickname is "The Little Giant".
Jli :- Cant you stand the fact that Yao Ming is Chinese and a pure person at 22yrs of age. Unlike the majority of American 22yr.olds?
