Yao: Possibility of not playing in Olympics is biggest disappointment of career

I admire Yao for his nationalism, but the selfish Rockets fan in me, would rather see him not play in the Olympics in fear of agitating the foot again.

 

1. He likely has only one shot in his career to play in Olympics. He still has probably 4-6 shots for the NBA title.
2. This is an Olympics hosted in Beijing.
3. If you've ever spent a year in Asian, you know Olympics is a much bigger thing than in the US. Call it propaganda or not, but since China started their economical revolution in 80s they began to win some Olympic golds, so many Chinese have associated the two together and considered success in Olympics a sign of the nation getting more powerful. So there is a lot of national pride involved. Unthinkable? yes, but understandable.

 

I think you misunderstand. The fans got dealt a crushing blow but it's yao who is facing 4 months of surgery + recovery and the worst case scenario of a career threatening chronic injury. And it's not news for any fan that Yao was planning on playing in the olympics this summer.

Again, yao was asked a question and he gave an honest answer. Seems fairly petty that someone would focus on "he should have said NBA finals instead of olympics" when yao has such a long way to go just to get well. suck it up dude. It's like listening to 2 teenagers "I love you more. No I love you more. No I love you more"

This isn't the first time Yao's postseason has been affected by injury. Maybe he felt worse about missing that postseason than this. Maybe missing that one and missing this one is equally painful. Who knows? Who cares? Someone asked, he replied. We aren't a bunch of women sitting around discussing our feelings. I'm an american and could not care less about chinese olympics. I also really dont care about people crying that Yao cares more about this or that. Get well soon, come back and kick ass, that's what I'm feeling

 

Rox will get into the playoff without Yao, just not win Championship. So enjoy the games, and the faster games, that is!!

 

I can accept the first part, but disagree with you on the second part.

Money isn't everything. Your boss (or your company) pays you for your work, right? Out of your 8-hour work in company, mostly likely you are with your family, right? Do your wife or children pay you any money? I think not. But I do expect you put your family first before your company when your wife or children are in need, right?

So please: Money isn't everything, and money is not even the most important thing in life.

 

Plus, Yao being PC or not, if Yao answered any other way, say he said Olympics and NBA are equally crushing to him, he will be so scorned in China, his families and relatives will be taken out the back and shot.

Give the man a break. Geezzz.

 

Oh, get over yourself.

 

seriously. the first post i can sympathize with, because we're all devastated and it would've been nice to hear that all yao's thinking about is an NBA championship. but its been pointed out countless times that the olympics are a HUGE deal, and to have the chance to play for your country when its the host is a once in a LIFETIME opportunity. you don't have to be happy that yao said it, but if you can't even understand it, then you're just being narrow-minded and flat out insensitive.

 

good, get some rest, dude !

 

the olympics, being held in his home country, only happens ONCE in his life for sure, so i'm totally fine with him being so disappointed...
on the other hand, he'll have MANY chances to win a championship with the rox

 

that's a great point!
nba playoffs is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compared to the rare rare home-held olympic game, where he fights for country.

 

Haha, your true feelings show with this post. You think the NBA playoffs is so much better and superior to all the other basketball tournaments that go on in the world. Granted that might be true, but Gasol , Yao, and other international players dont think so. Dig your head out of the sandbox and realize the world is big.

The funny thing is Gasol probably does and WILL value his FIBA championship over his NBA championship. And now that he's on the Lakers, he probably WILL get one. So your insult is worthless.

 

the olympics is in China, he is china to a lot of americans.

i agree with his feeling however much I wish it was not this way.

 

It is 2008 and I'm still shocked about reading americans still not understanding what Olympics Games are. Well, even the Dream Team still have to understand, so no surprise

 

winning a medal for your country >>>>>>> winning an nba championship. some of you need to get a grip, seriously

 

Houston Media needs to realize that although the Houston Organization pays him, it is still a privelege to have Yao Ming. I'm pretty sure in order to get Yao to play we had to buy out his contract with the Sharks, etc.. It's difficult, but when you think about it, if we can't understand, we are selfish. He is representing a whole country in the Olympics. With us, it's just a pro basketball team (whether we like it or not).

 

Why does he need to win another championship to gauge the value of his FIBA championship? If someone won the NBA Championship once and considered it the greatest accomplishment of his career, you wouldn't have any arguments about it I bet. Your logic fails