http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1715353 very well written, talked about Yao, his life, his mom and X-mas, maybe Yao's mom will be a better coach than Rudy?
Anyone knows what Yao means when he said about Pine (his translator): "When the sun comes out, so does my shadow." Yao sometimes likes to be philosophical I guess.
that was a great article. i remember calvin talking about his christmas card on monday and being impressed with how genuine yao is.
Not sure in English, but in chinese, "shadow" could mean somebody following you anytime, anywhere. That's Pine,
That's easily one of my favorite of all the Yao articles out so far. I, too get a kick out of reading about Yao the person. When the Rockets are champions again they need to give Yao's mom a ring because what she is doing off court is going to end up being HUGE in Yao's development on court. His parents are making a huge sacrifice for his benefit. Those of us that are parents can understand can understand how gladly they give themselves up for their son. The greatest satisfaction is knowing that your child appreciates it and Yao certainly seems to "get it" about alot of things. The Rockets, and we as their fans, are so blessed to have had this young man and his family become part of this team and the community.
Yao's mother stabilizing force during rookie season By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle The scene was at once surreal and familiar, odd and overwhelming, then somehow comforting. This would be Yao Ming's life from that moment on -- a blur of excitement and expectation all focused obsessively on his every step, saved from the madness by a hug. A thousand sets of eyes searched for a first sight of him that day. Necks stretched from behind airport barricades to offer a vantage point to see Yao's first steps in Houston when, from the mass of strangers squeezed together to greet and perhaps just to stare curiously at Yao, Fang Feng Di could no longer contain her excitement. Yao's mother had not yet seen her son turn that corner to walk into his new life. But she ran toward him anyway. All that excitement, the noise and pressure, would be there. She would get to him first. Fang wrapped her son in a protective hug before giving him, at least part of him, to the world. Two months later she shares him. But she has not let go. "I want to give him support," she said. "I want to be able to provide a place where he can feel at home, so that when he has worries outside, when he comes back, he has something to rely on. "I think a good mother and a good father can do that. I worry about him. I see the pressure. I worry." But she protects him. Eventually, as with all mothers and sons, he will leave the security of that embrace. But he is in many ways entering a new life with the Rockets, experiencing its possibilities for the first time. And as with children testing themselves, he ends each day back in the world's safest place, his mother's home. Yao, 22, does not deny the pressure on him. He has often said there is more attention on him than on any other rookie. But he is Chinese, which he said requires that he must be understated. He knows the attention he faces cannot even be compared with another NBA rookie. The pressure on Yao, the scrutiny and judgment, the demands and responsibilities, go so far beyond all precedent that to measure it in sports terms is laughably inadequate. He cannot insulate himself with blissful ignorance and knows he has become such an enormous source of pride in China, where he is watched even more closely than he is in the United States and where so much of his heart remains. He knows about the harsh rush to judgment of his awkward first NBA steps, that NBA players are increasingly anxious to test and measure him and that the Rockets have pinned so many of their hopes on him. He has been called the new face of China, but even becoming the personification of the world's most populous nation does not capture all he is said to represent. He stands in many ways for China's unprecedented move toward political and economic openness, its membership in the World Trade Organization and its giant steps toward a market economy. "There are so many people watching him, I am proud of him, but I also worry," Fang said. "People can see it how they want to see it. Whatever somebody sees is their truth." He was sent in many ways to become an ambassador of those ideas and to build momentum and talent for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. And he is too aware of all those demands to protect himself by naively pretending he is just a basketball player, even if as the first foreign professional ever taken first in the NBA draft, that would be pressure enough. "I feel a lot of pressure on me," he said through his interpreter and companion Colin Pine. "But I feel it every day. I am used to it. "It is a bit of a burden on me, but I have to realize it's a responsibility I have to shoulder." Yao has faced the burden with a blend of his mother's gentle affability and his father's quick wit. He has disarmed and charmed the media that surround him and won over those who doubted him. (They should not feel bad about their predictions. Even his mother, once an accomplished player for the Chinese national team, said she did not expect Yao to succeed to this degree so quickly.) He has so successfully seemed to handle the demands and scrutiny that there have been few signs that it has bothered him. Even Pine, who lives with Yao and his mother and acts as Yao's tour guide through America, said he has never seen an indication the pressure has gotten to him. But Fang knows better. Even if no one else sees the pressure show itself on her son's face, she does. Yao does not argue. "I do see the pressure on him," Fang said. "And I hope that I can help, help him to relax. I worry. If he worries, I worry. If he's happy, I'm happy. We often talk about it at home. "A mother knows her son." This is why she knew she should be here, to give Yao a home and a safe haven from the "challenge" as he calls his unique burden. Fang arrived in Houston two weeks before her son and had a home ready for him. Though he does just fine with American cooking -- he is a steak and potatoes guy, loved Memphis ribs, hated Thanksgiving turkey -- nothing has come close to approaching his mother's cooking, especially her soups. But there is more to their home than the tastes and smells that greet him. In many ways a typical Houston suburban home, it offers an escape from judgment. "He is not very different at home," Pine said. "But he can let his guard down. "I really don't see the pressure showing on him. I'm consistently amazed with how well he deals with the pressure. His mother is able to sense what is going on. I think it's the same as with anybody. It's a home. You get home and kind of forget about a lot of things you deal with on the outside." That home also offers something -- the most important thing -- that is not new. Asked what he missed most about China, Yao said "familiarity." "I miss a kind of atmosphere, a kind of familiar atmosphere when I'm not in the gym," he said. "Nothing (here) is familiar besides the gym." But at the end of each day, something is familiar. Someone gets his dry sense of humor, which is subtle enough to be Chinese (you never see the punch line coming) and disarming enough to get him through the daily demands. Asked if he has adjusted to the American media, Yao sounded like an understated Charles Barkley: "I dislike the traffic more than I dislike you." Fang laughs, almost despite herself, at her son's one-liners. He teases her about her efforts to speak with a Mandarin dialect, rather than their preferred Shanghai dialect, so Pine can translate. "Your English isn't good enough, your Chinese isn't good enough," he said. "I'm getting older," Fang answered. "My tongue is harder." They laugh often. The comments traded are in a dialect Pine cannot share, but that only seems to reinforce another enormous benefit of Yao sharing his adventure with the woman who understands it, and him, best. It does not take long with them before Yao no longer seems to be so much under the microscope. There are millions watching him. But when he and his mother are together, it seems they are also watching all of us. In a life in many ways unique, and in a world in which everything else is new, there is normalcy in sharing it this way, in eating familiar food, maintaining the relationship that never changes no matter what else does. "We've all been through this," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "I went away to college (at Baylor), and I was only 60 miles away from Alba and I was homesick. I can imagine being halfway around the world. I thought this was gigantic. The first thing you miss when you leave home is your mother's cooking. To have her here has been a monster stroke of luck." Yao has his teammates, his basketball and his constant companion to guide him through his transition. Of Pine he said, "When the sun comes out, so does my shadow." His mother arrived with many friends from her playing days to help her. "I don't feel it's very difficult, but I'm not used to it," Fang said. "There are always going to be differences between the customs of the two cultures. But overall I am OK. I have my son here. I have good friends here. They have given me a lot of help. It makes me very happy to see how fast my son is adjusting to life." She worried and worries as any mother would. But her understanding of basketball and Yao's unique challenges on the court, coupled with his move to such a different society, gave her deeper concerns than if she did not know what he would face. She watches Rockets games with more than most mother's knowledge of the sport. When Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich was teaching a particular zone defense, Yao kiddingly suggested he consult his 6-3 mother, who once played in a similar zone. "There is an expression in China," she said. "Bystanders sometimes see things more clearly than the person in the middle of the situation. "Are there any female coaches for men's basketball teams in the United States?" But understanding what Yao faced, being able to "see things more clearly," made her far more concerned than a bystander. "First, Yao Ming was coming to a completely new environment, an environment completely different from China," she said. "He never had any NBA experience or much experience in the United States. "He had none of the experience of American basketball. And of course, there are differences between basketball in China and the U.S. Before he was playing by international rules, not NBA rules. He's not as big and strong as the American players. I thought there would be a longer period of adjustment for him. He's been playing in China continually for so long, he's quite tired. "When Yao Ming was in China, he also had the media interested in him. But coming to the U.S., more people are interested, not only U.S. reporters, but Chinese reporters. There's less time for him to rest. That worries me." Asked in pre-game interviews what he does when not playing or practicing, Yao always answers "sleep." Occasionally he reads and plays computer games. An only child, Yao joked he was as anxious for Christmas to arrive as any child checking under the tree because it meant he would get the day off. Yao and his mother do not celebrate the holiday. "We're very familiar (with the holiday)," she said. "A lot of young people in China celebrate Christmas. We celebrate Chinese New Year (on Feb. 1)." "I've never seen Santa Claus," he said. "I can definitely sense the holiday atmosphere is here." Asked if he has been bad or good, he played along, saying, "I guess we'll know after Christmas." But even Christmas offered another reminder of how easily, and willingly he has adjusted. Before Monday's game, Yao delivered Christmas cards to every teammate and Rockets employee. "I love him. I love him," Rockets guard Cuttino Mobley said. "He's not a cocky kid. He's lovable. I just love playing with him." Steve Francis has often repeated his now well-known quote: "He's just like me, except 7-foot-5 and Chinese." "He is a ballplayer," Francis said. "When we were playing growing up, he was playing in China growing up." But he symbolizes much more. He can escape his importance with something as simple as his mother's chicken soup or a sharp bounce pass to a teammate, but reminders are never far. The reach of the networks carrying Rockets games in China make Super Bowl Sunday look like the PBA Tour. There are more households in China, 287 million, with access to Yao's games than there are people in the United States. He knows he represents his country. As Hakeem Olajuwon taught many about the Muslim religion, Yao is a loyal representative of 1.3 billion people who are in many ways being reintroduced to the world. "I'm not the only thing that is exciting about China. There are a lot of things about China that are exciting," he said. "I'm just doing what I always do and doing what I think I should do. I don't think it's a burden. But if people can learn something from that, that's great." It might even be worth all the pressure and demands placed on him. But as much as Fang is here to offer an escape from all that, there is a pride obvious in her eyes as she watches him defeat it, as if she had to be here to see that for herself. But first, she had to hug. She cannot explain how she knew he was coming around that corner that day at Bush Intercontinental Airport and how she saw him before anyone else. Answering for her, Yao explained, that the rest of the thousands breathlessly waiting for him "didn't know what I looked like yet." Fang covered her mouth and giggled.
LOL dude. it's not THAT "fang". i know a chinese whose surname is fang too he said it's pronounced as "FUN".
Very nice article. I guess that's why a lot of people is pulling for Yao because of what he had to go through. As far as his parent is concern, I think it's very typical for Asian's parent to sacrifice everything that they have for their child (especially with Yao being the only child). And I think Yao is also a very good son to his parent. I read somewhere that Yao give most if not all his salary in China to his parent. I guess that is something good that we can learn from other culture.
