Brief ESPN interview. http://broadband.espn.go.com/ivp/splash?id=2633433 2 observations I am really impressed with Yao's English I do believe that Tmac was depressed last year, but that's not a laughing matter. Hopefully he has overcome whatever was bothering him
I will try to transcribe the interview. Yao Q You are arguably in the toughest division there is. I mean, you guys are going ot have to get past Dallas, San Antonio. How prepares is this team to do that? A Since the first day of the traning camp, I have a different feeling about the team compared to last year. Last year, I feel our team didn't have a lot of choices in terms of players. Like we struggled with teams who had shooting 4s, or quick teams like Dallas with pick and rolls. THis year we have new players and have so many choices. We know how to play against them. We have the right players. Now we can challenge them and felel we can have a great year. I relaly feel that way. Tmac Q People can say oh he had back spasms and why he isn't playing, but people who suffered from that know how debilitating that is. How concerned are you that it is going to reoccur? I am not. I am not. I have dealt with it back in Orlando. And I have learned how to paly through it. Last year, you know, because I had other things going on, dealing with death of my wife's mother and other business situations. I think because I was stressed, and I truly believe that stress hits the weakest part of the body and because my back was aching at the time, it hindered it the whole season Q Was it just stress, because there are aslo reports that you were suffering from depression? Depression? (Laughs). No i wasn't depressed at all. I was really stressed. I admit I was stressed because I had a lot of things going on.
It's very embarrasing and unmacho to say I was down or depressed. He was trying to be diplomatic and not show any weakness. I respect him for that. He will be in a leadership role and can't appear less than tough. I am excited about this season, because those 2 guys get along so well. They seem to genuinely liek each other. They are 2 of the most low key superstars in the NBA and they are both on our team.
WOW THAT WAS A BRAVE QUESTION TO ASK??? DEPRESSED? Man do you guys really think tmac is mentally/emotionally weak?
Depression has nothing to do with being emotionally weak. Webmd.com is a good source to learn more about the symptoms and cures of depression. Perhaps you can gain some knowledge before tackling the issue
Another symptom is authority figures tend to lose their hair. Joking aside, this is not a laughing matter.
that depression question was random...where did these depression allegations come from? have i been living in a cave? thats the first time i've heard of t-mac being depressed
I'm sorry to say this because I love tmac and I’ll defend him till the end but, I don't think he should cite "stress" for exacerbating his back problem. Whether or not that truly was the case, as a world class athlete it makes him appear to be emotionally weak. Kobe was dealing with enormous amounts of stress during the rape trial but was still putting up incredible numbers in the playoffs. They both have had season ending injuries and Kobe has already shown that he can bounce back. I like to try to think of these two on the same level but it’s hard to make the comparison if he lets this “stress” affect his professional career.
Count me in as one of the people who thinks Tracy was depressed. I minored in psychology, so while I'm by no means an expert on the subject, I do feel I have a good eye for it. In fact, the way he played it off like it was such an absurd allegation only leads me to believe it even more. Denial is quite common, and there are far more cases of depression in men, yet the % of treated cases is lower than women. So I think there is definitely a lot of denial as a result of machismo, and I can only imagine it'd be even more of a factor for a professional athlete/celebrity. I just hope that if he was depressed, he got help for it (on the down low, of course) and has it under control. As far as Yao's English, it's getting pretty damn good.
I don't agree. He was just being honest about the fact that offcourt stresses do affect his back physically. Lying about what is really affecting you is not a sign of strength. Also, anyone who thinks that depression is emotional weakness should read about Churchill, who suffered from depression, but saved Britain from the Nazis during WWII.
5 bucks? They must know he is Yao and he got money. I got the same haircut a few years ago in guangzhou... I paid about 75 cents USD.
