I personally think pride and experience of playng > the probablities of injuries/impact of the injury to any player at the time. If you went all in with a pair of sevens against pocket 3's and the guy makes a set of 3's on the river, does it make going all in with an pair of sevens a bad play? Ofcourse, if you don't put stock into pride and experience, or believe they are valuable (which is a perfectly legit point of view given where we are this season) then it was bad play regardless of whether or not Yao got hurt. However if you do believe it like I do, it was still a good play and just got a bad beat.
I was trying to say that it was still the right play at the time even if the results are less than desired. If you really want a scenerio breakdown (it'll be a stretch): Pair of sevens (which meant not pocket), not that great of hand but in my scenerio meant to be the high card on the flop or something. There's a major risk in it (you are out), the reward (depending on size of your stack at the time) might not be that great (especially if you have to go all in on a pair of 7s) but at the time, the chance of someone having something better is pretty little. It turn out to be the right play at the time, but the river screwed everthing.
it was not needed. I play poker myself. what i was trying to say was playing Yao was not the correct play as the one you explained above. we have A LOT to loss and very little to gain. The things we could loss are solid things, and it turned out we lost on all those things I feared. The things we could have earned are all hollow concepts, pride, winning attitude. not to mention if they are worth much at all, it turned out we didn't earn any of those either. So it seems to me playing Yao for the last two weeks was a VERY bad move.
Canoner2002, I strongly recommend you sleep on it. I've read through the threads and all you're doing is supporting your posts without having said ... anything in the first place. If Yao had been "sat down" the decision would have had to have been made either by JVG, CD or Les. But the bottom line is no one here believes Yao could have, would have or should have accepted that decision. So what's anyone's point. Angst? I believe we should play the kids, but Yao had better play when he wants to play, or else we're in trouble for the forseeable future.
Man, you started this thread because you didn't want to see Yao hurt his season stats with teams triple teaming him, not because you thought he was going to get hurt. Come on man, this is obviously a depressing day/season so you don't have to go around and say, "i told you so..." Everyone could have listed the positives and negatives of each situation and get 1 right... chill out ok
my point was we had nothing to gain and a lot to loss. I don't care about Yao's stats as much as what he will do next season and in the future. as pointed out, sitting yao would cost him the chance of nba 1st team or 2nd team. so stop labeling me YOF. I am mad because all you guys said was "he will learn this he will learn that" and I told you it was all B.S. and guess what it WAS all B.S. He did NOT improve in any aspect. He actually regressed AND he got injured. and we are lower in the draft order. nobody benefited except other teams fighting for good picks.
Right now everyone who wanted Yao to go fishin' a week ago is probably feeling pretty good about themselves, smug in the fact that they "knew" this was going to happen. Yet I will make the argument that this injury shows exactly why true professional players want to play all the games out, why they want to win every game regardless of whether it's meaningless or not. A professional athlete's career is fleeting, with an average career length of 5 years or less. On any given day, any given game, a freak injury, such as the one that occured to Yao Ming tonight can happen, hampering or even ending a career (not that Yao's injury was either). All of a sudden, the sport you have dedicated your childhood, time at college and your adult life is taken away from you. In few other jobs can you go from being wealthy and on top of the world to being out of a job in an instant. Not only have you lost your job, you've lost your passion, your purpose in life. Faced with such a bleak proposition, wouldn't you go all out in every game, playing it as if it were your last? As the cliched phrase goes, "Carpe Diem!" We all hate Derek Anderson here, but I can certainly understand why he was so upset at being unable to play; to see your life literally draining away in front of you, and you being unable to do anything about it; it would drive the best of us insane. Eric Williams, one of the classiest and most professional players in the league is upset at not being given an opportunity to play up in Toronto. I can definitely empathize with these two players' frustration, and it proves to me that they get it; they take joy in playing, rather than just sitting there and collecting a paycheck. One is no more likely to be injured in a meaningless game than in a meaningful one (in fact, I would surmise that more injuries take place early in the season, when athletes are still getting into game shape). Yao wants to play in every game, be competititve in every game; I applaud him for that. I have no problem with an organization that always brings their best, always allows their players to play, and doesn't force them to lose and watch their career slip away for the sake of the franchise. I truly hope that most of the players in the NBA play because they love the game; sadly I know that such players are probably in the minority. I hope that owners and GMs realize that they aren't dealing with machines, only good until they wear out, but humans that have natural desires to win and who (hopefully) comprehend their fleeting careers. Cal Ripken Jr.'s games played consecutively streak was amazing to me on two levels; first, that a man wanted to play every single game, wanted to make his career as long as possible, enjoying every minute, and second, that the organization had enough respect for him to allow him to do it even when they could have undoubtedly helped themselves to sit him down late in losing seasons to preserve him for the future, or bring up a prospect to play. I'm studying Engineering, I got an INTP on the Briggs-Myers test, so I understand the rational side of the argument and that overall, sitting our star players is best for the future. But being a sports fan means being irrational and ignoring stats and contracts sometimes, and thinking with your heart instead of your brain. Here's one of those times for me. If you have a guy who's willing to play in essentially meaningless games at the end of a season, just for pride and with the knowledge that his career is fleeting; I can't get upset at the coach or the front office for letting him play. May Yao Ming get better: he deserves it.
Hi Mana, great spin effort. maybe it is time to let your brain take over. You know when you buy auto insurance they ask you how many miles you put on the car per year. The more you drive the more you are likely to have incidents. Playing games are the same. Why increase your risk when the game is meaningless? I laugh at the idea that we will loss heart and professionalism had we sat him. If anything, it would have made him more eager to come back strong next sesaon.
Hi Mana, good post, very well thought out speech Canoner2002: "maybe it is time to let your brain take over", that was an un-provoked personal attack
it was targeted to what he said in his post. Second to last paragraph. Nothing personal. I just felt that brain has better control than heart, which is essentially emotion.
If he read it, that's good enough for me. There are many people in the world who are steadfast in their beliefs, and it's not like they're unintelligent or uniformed; try to convince a devout Christian there is no God, even using hard logic, and they'll continue to oppose you. Try to convince a kid who grew up idolizing Michael Jordan he's not the greatest player of all time, you'll be arguing for hours. I made my post to express my opinions; Canoner2002 has every right to not believe in them and express his own. The point of Canoner2002 and I posting should not be to convince each other of our viewpoints; it is obvious we disagree, and its unlikely that either of us will budge. Instead we should put our views alongside each other, and let those who have no strong feelings either way decide to whom they will listen. Thank you for reading as well.
Playing Yao was like going all in on the flop with top pair when the pot only has the blinds in it. You have little to gain (if you win you're just winning the blinds) and a lot to loose (someone could've hit two pair or a set).
those who bashed me thought they were holding a low pair going all in with $5 when the pot is $1 mil high. Yeah, that is their logic. THEY ARE STUPID!
