So you really enjoy this "me against the whole world and let's toil for 10 years and hopefully I earn some respect at the end" experience? I mean, if you can make the playground level, why deprive yourself of the oppertunity? If you can get things do in 5 years given under a better condition, why spend 10 years under the worse condition? The attitude is admirable, but at the end fans want to see results and we including players want W's. That attitude doesn't get you the best result, nor most W's.
There is no question that Yao is screwed by the refs left and right. But the evidences are circumstantial at best that they did to him only because he is from China. You need to establish at least the followings: 1) that Yao is the only big man (say 7'2" or above) who has received disproportionally unfavorable officiating, otherwise there is always this big men are difficult to officiate bullcrap; 2) that Yao is the only foreign player who receives the short end of the stick from the refs, otherwise detractors (SamFisher, for instance) would say foreign players are softies and whiners who can never adjust to NBA's grind and rigor; 3) that Yao is the only Houston Rocket who has been subject to bad calls or non-calls, otherwise apologists (for example those on this board) would invariably present the myth and rationale that the Rockets as a whole never get respect so Yao is no exception.
no I actually posted this not for Yao to do the same. I already said in earlier posts that I am so happy with Yao going out and ripping the officials. I just mentioned the Hakeem thing because I really respect that from him and I dont want Yao to go through the same experience. any news on the fine yet? I think we are NOT lucky because ESPN and NBA TV have a bigger story to talk about than Yao ripping the officials. the NY vs. Denver brawl will completely take all the attention and I dont think Yao will be fined because Mr. Stern has more important things to do
I see we agree that we don't want Yao go through what Dream did. So what has to be done? Merely complaining once every 2 years? Complaining once every month won't even be enough. Houston is not a big market and Stern doesn't give a **** about Rox. Refs are biased against Yao. It would take some direct orders from above to get these refs officiating Yao as they should. And that order has to come from Stern, and the only way to get his attention is when he feels threatened. The best way to make him scared is to hit NBA financially. When the chinese version of the interview hits the fan base over there and when Stern see a sharp sales drop, trust me, it is A LOT more important than some stupid brawl. $$$ is #1 priority for Stern. I don't know the exact sales number, but according to this article, http://blogs.britannica.com/blog/ma...-basketball-diplomacy-and-the-new-global-nba/ Chinese NBA fans bought 400 million pieces of NBA merchandise last year. That is about 1.33 piece for EVERY American. If that # comes down by even 1/4, Stern is gonna loose sleep and hair.
We,the comrades in Las Americas,have also taken offense to the poor treatment towards yao by the Pinstriped capitalist.So much so,that we have gone above and beyond the call of duty,to gather intelligence.We will publish it into a book and present it to David @ the next conference.
http://www.***************/article_19960.shtml Rockets: Yao Finally Cries "Foul!" By Bill Ingram for *************** Dec 18, 2006, 09:30 The knock used to be that he was too dispassionate, too soft. The Chinese culture of being humble and soft spoken simply didn't mesh well with the trash-talking world of NBA basketball. Could a player who was unwilling to make strong moves or make the opponent look bad by blocking his shot ever be as dominant in the NBA as someone who stands 7'5" is supposed to be? Plenty of people had their doubts - including this writer. But Yao has been equal to the task. Over the course of the last season and a half we've seen him throwing down with emotion, rejecting anyone who dared shoot in his vicinity, and relentlessly attacking the basket instead of settling for kinder, gentler fall-aways. He's taking guys to the hole, then shooting over them, then using his hook, then back to the middle. In many ways he calls to mind the memory of Hakeem Olajuwon, who never made the same move twice. This season Yao Ming is off to the best start of his career, averaging 27 points, 10 rebounds and better than two blocks per game. He has scored 30 or more points in three straight games and has been in double-figures in rebounds in those games, as well. He is truly dominating the way everyone hoped he would when the Rockets used their first round pick on him in the summer of 2002. Yao reminds us of Olajuwon in one more way. Hakeem never got the respect from the referees that other players of his stature enjoyed. He was so quick that he drew multiple fouls on every possession, but he was also so quick that he often scored anyway, and thus the refs tended not to call fouls for him. Yao Ming may not be as quick as Hakeem, but he makes up for it with sheer size. He can score despite being fouled, but very often gets credited with a turnover when in reality he should have been put at the line for some free throws. "How tough is it?" Yao told the Houston Chronicle following the Rockets' 2OT loss to the Lakers. "I feel that is not fair. I can't only shoot eight free throws yesterday and six free throws today and they just let their big guy keep pushing me. I would say Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum fouled me 10 times in tonight's game, and yesterday's game also, and they did not call it. That's not fair. "I know I'm big. That's not my fault. They have two hands pushing on my back and keep pushing while I'm shooting the ball. They're not fouling upstairs, not fouling on my hands. They foul on my body. I shot only six free throws. I know that's not right. I hope the league, somebody can help with this. It's not just one or two games. It's been a couple weeks already." Considering the way teams swarm Yao - especially now that Tracy McGrady's out - he should be leading the league in free throw attempts. That would be a great thing for the Rockets, as well, since Yao is one of the better free throw shooters in the league. Yao was named the Player of the Month for November after averaging 25.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.67 blocks - and while attempting only 137 free throws (just over nine a game). He's already averaging better than 27 points, right at ten rebounds, and nearly four blocks per contest in December - while shooting 88% on fewer than eight free throw attempts per game. In McGrady's absence Yao's touches are up, his scoring is up, and his free throw attempts are down??? What's impressive is not so much the fact that his attempts are down, but the fact that Yao stood up and said something about it. He actually spoke out for himself in a situation where he is clearly being mistreated by the referees - and not just by one team of referees, but as a whole. The league's current view of how to call fouls for Yao has to be reevaluated. They did it for Shaq, who commits an offensive foul almost every time he catches the ball. He's bigger than everyone else, so the way fouls are called around him had to be adjusted. The league had to get together and adjust their method of determining what was and what wasn't a foul as pertaining to Shaq. Now the same thing needs to be done for Yao. There is no bigger star in the NBA than Yao Ming. It's time for the league to start giving him his due. Key Newslines Houston Chronicle: "Though Rockets guard Tracy McGrady had no setbacks following his workouts Thursday and Friday and no additional problems were found in Saturday's exam, he was declared out for [Sunday's] game against the Clippers and almost certainly for Wednesday's in Portland. McGrady saw Dr. Robert Watkins, the specialist who examined him after his back injury in March, and will see him again Tuesday, hoping to be cleared for more demanding workouts."
