http://www.phoenixtv.com:8086/fhkp/...60&currchid=494 Dude was talking about the pressure on him in Rox, which made him very tired. Dude is also worried about his personal life exposed the the public. He was having a pizza while having interview, talked about that he's overweight now, should eat less, he said his strength cant afford this weight right now.
Dont know why URL corrupted , anyway it's in Chinese. This was a first part of the interview, and the sencond one will be aired next week. I was typing it up while watching it just now, so please bear with my poor grammar. ;( Besides what I wrote early. He talked about how he felt overwhelmed in China, 24/7. He felt in US, although also bombarded by media, he could still handle it, because he still had private life after game. But he said in China right now it's just too much. He also talked about how he felt very frustrated that Rox didnt make to playoff this year. What frustated him is that he felt Rox gave 100%, but still fell short. He talked about that he was really nervious before YaovShaq #1, and how he felt very uncomfortable when he was benched for the first 8 games. He joked that if he could choose how he can have his life, he would choose to live on the Moon.
The last 1000 interviews about Yao talk about him being tired. Our dynasty player is going to be run to the ground before he gets to his 2nd year in the league. WTF!
Anyone else noticed that there's a new Yao Ming interview/chat almost every few days? That is too tiring for him! How can one stand all those questions!!!
Yep I found the page. You can't just paste the URL and access it directly. Have to find your way from the phoenixtv mainpage. It's a pay-per-view video interview. But there's a written version though. Ok allow me: 24th August Personality Face-to-face: Is Yao Ming a Warrior or a Star Q: So you basically came back to China during the SARS period? Y: Correct. Q: The warning hadn't been lifted at that time? Y: Yes. Q: Were you afraid then? Y: A little bit. Q: I heard that in Shanghai there were many rumors about the SARS in Beijing? (Shanghai wasn't hit that bad) Y: I only heard some, like everyone wore mask on the street. Q: What else? Y: Everyone stayed at home, grabbed for stuff from the supermarkets. After grabbing the stuff then stayed at home and didn't come out. And I had some mental thingy, was afraid to breath deeply when I alighted the plane. That was definitely a mental disturbance. Q: And you surely need more air, more oxygen than other people. Y: Yes. Q: I feel that you are less active and "colorful" than before. Like you have something bothering you. Y: Maybe because of the pressure from life. Q: What kind of pressure? Y: Expectations. Expectations from the others. Pressurize me all year long. Q: Specifically? Y: This time, I stayed for a long time there (US), and experienced something new. It's the mentality of the CBA teams that are just hovering above the relegation zone. In NBA, there's no relegation. But there's a hurdle -- playoffs. And Rockets are always one step behind from overcoming this hurdle. Everyday we had to be very very hardworking in training, yet still not sure about winning games. But once you don't training hard, you'll surely lose. We did train very hard, for the 50% posibility of winning matches. Compared to when I was in the CBA, we the Shanghai team when we reached the later stages we were already leading strongly. Even if we slacked a bit we could still win. That's the kind of pressure. It's a big difference. When a person needs to change so much, he has to ponder about many questions. You have to reorient your attitude. I've always think that attitude is very important. Then, of course everyone hoped that I played well. Me too. How should I say this. Sometimes when you have no desire, you are strong (some philosophy). But since now I have desire, then I'll feel the pressure. At the later stages, sometimes I had no wishes. Only hoped that the matches had 2 results. One is that I could win the game, that's the most important thing. Secondly, I didn't hope that I had extraordinary performance anymore. Earlier when I just went there, I always hoped for extraordinary performance. Later on, an average technical result would satisfy me. (This explains Yao's decline at the end of last season.) Q: Why? Y: Too tired. At that time the pressure was already too heavy too heavy. Q: Tell me, what is your reaction under heavy pressure? Maybe we can't imagine your reaction. I can only imagine like when I am going to interview someone, if that assignment is quite tough for me, then I feel the pressure. My reactions will be problem sleeping the night before the interview, still thinking in my dreams. What about you? Y: Let me put it this way, for example, before going up against Lakers' Oneal, I was very nervous. Was really a bit nervous. But sometimes if I think about it in a simplified manner, it's just 48 minutes, right? Just 48 minutes. It's about using what kind of attitude to solve a problem. Q: Do you have problem sleeping when nervous? Y: Yeah, and not only I had the problem. My parents also could't sleep. They were not worried about the game's result. They were worried about whether I would get injured or not. Q: Do they tell you their worries? Y: I'm afraid not. But obviously their attitude and behaviour would be different. I can sense it. Q: Would you comfort them? Y: Do you think you can console them under such situations? You can't. It'll make them more nervous. I can only try to be more relaxed myself. Right? If you are more relaxed, they'll feel that maybe he (their son) is confident, maybe he has figured out a plan. If you try to comfort them, they'll think too much. Well at least I feel that my parents are these type of persons. Q: In the warmup matches recently, you have sat on the bench to record your teammates' technical statistics. How long have you not been benched? Y: I did get benched in NBA. Really. Q: What's the difference in mood between being benched in NBA and being benched here? Y: If I'm benched here, I know that I will definitely enter the game. In NBA initially when I was benched I had the feeling of uncertainty, whether I would be bench forever or if I could make it out of the bench. I'm familiar with the situation here, familiar with the teams in CBA. I knew I could enter the games and make immediate impact. Q: Did you feel lonely when benched in US? Y: Not a nice feeling. Like i said it's a big difference. From being a top player in a top Chinese team, to suddenly being bench there. Bad feeling, bad life. Those first 10 matches might only be 1/8 of the whole season, hmm 1/10, it's the first 8 matches. Those 1/10 of the matches felt sooo long. But now when I think of it, it was very meaningful, those 10 matches (wrong again, 8 matches), it was some sort of training for me. Q: When you were facing there mental difficulties, who over there helped you to overcome the problem? Y: Family, friends, the most important thing was a home environment. Q: Yao Ming, I suddenly wonder, how much do you each per mean? Y: I didn't eat a lot last year. This year though, I eat a lot. Q: Is it because you need to gain weight? Y: No, I need to loose weight now. Q: Why? (duhh...) Y: I'm overweight. (duhh...) Q: Not like Oneal his weight is an advantage to him? Y: But he has enough strength to support his weight. I don't. Q: Oh I see. Y: Conversely if I'm too fat, my body weight is already very high, if I can't run, then I would be very agile right? You might think that one trip (down the court) I seem to be able to run ok. But 48 minutes, if you spend a wee bit more energy every minute, at the end you can't move. The accumulate result makes it very very exhaustive (I choose not to use the dreaded word here). Q: Do you guys have any rules on food? Any requirements from the team? Y: Yes, they recommend how many food for your breakfast, for your lunch, before matches, recommendations. Q: This recommendation thingy is also different between China and US. They give suggestions, about training and other issues. Whether you decide to train or not, it's up to you. If you don't train and your performance decline, some other player will replace you. Chinese coaches will force you, you have to complete it. It's different in terms of dedication. Y: When you jump over to phoenixtv from CCTV, you faced a lot of difficulties didn't you? (hehe, Yao Ming avoiding the question) Q: It was ok, not really difficult. But even now people still ask me why did I left, why did I left. Y: China is like that, used to loyalty (sticking with something for good). Q: That day I searched on the web, entered the phrase "Yao Ming" and clicked. I got 251000 related webpages or news. Imagine a person with 251000 links on the Internet. Y: This reminds me of one thing. I remember the 1999 Asian Championships when I was officially in the national team for the first time. After the championships, I went online to search for my name. I remember clearly, it was a global search engine, and I search for both English and Mandarin. About 200 news. Q: How did you feel then? Y: At that time I was satisfied with 200. Q: Plus you were especially concerned about it? Y: Yeah, because at that time I didn't knew what would it bring me in the future. I thought that it would bring me fame or something. Because who doesn't want to be famous, before you actually become famous. Q: Which link can you still recall? Y: I'm afraid I don't remember, really don't remember. Q: Don't remember. Just felt that you were getting attention, with 200 links. Y: (not making sense) But I once did, as a teenager, being competitive. Of course I'm still a teenager. I used the names of my other teammates to search, totally beat me. Q: Really? Whose name did you use? Y: I searched for Big Zhi (WZZ), Bateer, and Hu WeiDong etc. I didn't get the least results, but was at most in the middle in number of results. Q: What about now? Do you still occasionally key in your name to search? Y: No, no such thoughts now. Q: Never again? Y: No. Q: What bothers you the most now? Y: The most bothersome thing is anything. I think someone said something really classic: "Ever since Yao Ming came back, any tiny bit of matter about Yao Ming becomes a news". This bothers me the most. Q: You totally live under the magnifier glass. You are already very big literally, but still magnify you by 10000 times? Y: They are very penetrative. They ask me what do I eat for breakfast, what do I eat for lunch, anything delicious that I haven't tasted, what do I most want to eat, where do I go for fun, what kind of friends do I meet. I think, I don't need to report to you so much. How do I put it? The feeling of constantly being trailed is not nice. Q: But I said just now, I can get 251000 links about you. Yao Ming can't escape. Do you wear sunglasses in your live? Is it any good? Do you know that I myself have heard many oudiences complain: Yao Ming is too much, too proud of himself, doesn't sign autographs for me, doesn't want to have meal with me (WTF? I say screw them), becomes like that after going to NBA, etc. I've heard these complains. Have you? Y: I have to argue in defence of myself in this matter. Sometimes I feel it is useless to explain myself, but in this matter I need to. We have visited 9 cities in a span of 27 or 28 days. Other than during match days when we have to play and go back late to rest, basically there're welcoming dinners arranged every night. Every dinner is very chaotic. This person will want an autograph, that person will want an autograph too, also one every 10 seconds. I'm not exaggerating. No way I can eat my dinner. No way I can eat my dinner (repeat). I could stand the first visit. I could stand the second visit. I bore it until the seventh visit. At the either city visit I couldn't stand it anymore. I was tired. I need to play matches. More than 35 minutes per game. Q: This is longer than the minutes you play for Rockets? Y: Eventough the minutes are longer, but the 'competition strength' is not that high. But the mind is constantly at a high alert level. Because of the matches, that's why I can't sign autographs for everyone. I really wish to say sorry to them, I have no way of signing autographs for you. But this time I don't know why I really don't feel like saying it. Maybe because I am really t____. Q: What do you feel when you reject their requests? Y: When I reject their requests, I am worried that they will say that I am too proud of myself. I don't think I'm an arrogant person. But I have to admit that I never thought of this. I used to tell myself that if I ever become famous I must not be arrogant, must not be chesty. But what can I say now? Everyone has human feelings. We are bound to be in a bad mood once in a while. Let's say you lost 100 dollar today, you will feel not nice and all. I'm giving you an example. You also don't want me to give you some fake smiles don't you. That's how it is. Maybe he happened to meet me when I was in a bad mood. Besides, in the later city visits, the match organizers noticed the problem that my presence causes uncontrollable situations. So they arranged for 4 guards to be with me, to block all those people seeking autographs. Then I told them (the guards) that if there's only 1 or 2 fans I'll stop and sign for them, but once you detect many people coming, I meant 7 or 8, 10 or more, then you must quickly cover me. Quickly escape. Because I was injured before. Injured in these kind of situations. Q: How did that happen? Y: Maybe it was a pen, slashed a blood trail on my finger. The pen head was metal and was sharp. Made a bloody cut. Q: What was your reaction then? Were you angry? Y: In their way of saying it, my arrogance wasn't that big at that time. So I wasn't angry. If you all support me, not because I can sign nice autograhps, but because I can play ball, that's the most important thing. I have to be always at a condition to be able to play a high standard match. I'll sign for you later. Because my first job is playing ball. Signing autographs, wealth, fame, any other matter, are just by-products of playing ball. Q: Do you still remember the first fan who wanted your signature? When was it? Y: You are the second reporter asking about this. I remember he came for my signature in the 1995 National Youth League. I was absolutely a nobody. I guess he also didn't know who I was. Maybe he was chasing for stars, maybe it was fashionable at that time. He watched a game. I didn't played too well, but not bad either. So he let me sign. And I also didn't really understand this signing autograph thing. But I saw in the TV, stars will sign for other people by writing their names. Because it was my first time signing an autograph, I felt like successful, hey someone wants my signature. I took the pen, and very neatly wrote Yao Ming these two words. He took it, said thanks and left. Q: He only got to know your name after seeing your signature? Y: Yes, I guess so. I went back home and told my mom that someone wanted my signature. She asked me how did I sign it. I said I wrote my name very neatly. She said that can't be right, scribbling should be the way to write a signature. Okay who else wants to continue the translation? Only a portion left untranslated. I'm 90 minutes late for my dinner, and I'm afraid that my muscles have shrinked a bit because of this.
Terrific effort! I want your autograph. I want to be your guard against too many autograph seekers keeping you from that dinner. You have the bladder of a champion!
Great work, zhao. You know I'm starting to think that Yao's place on a lake in a boring Houston subdivision might be his ideal spot in the NBA. It made me tired just listening to his daily routine. THe guy probably has less privacy than the president of the UNited States.
Oh, Poor Yao Ming. No wonder he is always tired. In addition to playing basket ball non-stop yearly, he still need to entertain so many media and crazy fan. I remember I read somewhere that during the exhibition tour in China, there is even someone knocking on his hotel room at midnight time. Worst still, after one of thier match, the whole team is arranged to visit a factory of basketball manufacturer so that someone can take picture with him. Before last year's draft, I always want to see Yao Ming end up in New York cause they have larger fan base there. Now I think may be Houston is a better place for him.
Yeah! This is one thing that Yao has attempted to tell this reporter, I think. "Too many interviews already. I cannot stand it anymore, Please Leave me alone"
Props to you Zhao... I can understand the pressure and possibly anxiety of being in the spotlight with high expectations... If he isn't already, get him a personal trainer and nutritionist to balance out his mind and body... Go Yao and Rox!!!
"We have visited 9 cities in a span of 27 or 28 days. Other than during match days when we have to play and go back late to rest, basically there're welcoming dinners arranged every night. Every dinner is very chaotic. This person will want an autograph, that person will want an autograph too, also one every 10 seconds. I'm not exaggerating. No way I can eat my dinner." i think its getting rediculous over there, looks like its the extra curricular activities that is wearing him out. i guess my question is WHERE THE HELL IS TEAM YAO! aren't they suppose to co-ordinate all this? i've got a question for guys who have been following yao pre-draft, almost every interview (i think he gives too many) he complains of being tired, was he like this when he was playing with the sharks or did this started after draft?
Ok I'm back. Dinner was a bowl of noodles with many chunks of cow meat (i think there's another better word), plus a half bowl of spicy sour noodle with minced fish (I'm the trash can whenever my girlfriend can't finish her meal). Well the rest of the interview is just about Yao Ming's problem with media frenzy and related stuff, which I doubt you would like to listen to (again). So I just give you the concluding questions and statement from Yao. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Then how would you prefer for your live to be like? Y: That's why I said that I wish I'm living on the moon. Quite. No one there. Q: But if you're on the moon, you won't find any opponents. Y: Yes. That's why the world is not perfect. Since you are in to playing basketball, you are famous, then you must face this kind of things. It's that simple. No need to go around whining. Your attitude determines everything. Well don't worry folks. I think Yao is mentally very strong. He survived the first wave of stress last season, and the media frenzy is slowly and surely going to cool down over the years. He will emerge victorious again. A true champion always finds a way. We will see what Yao is made of.
