Popular Rockets center holds court as fast-food spokesman By KEN HOFFMAN Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Eating lunch with Yao Ming is a spectator sport. He eats. You grab a seat and watch. In awe. Everything about him is larger than life. His knees stick up above the tabletop. He pops McNuggets like they're Raisinettes. His enormous hands turn Quarter Pounders into finger food. He opens each bun and gently removes the pickles. "I like everything except pickles," he says in English that's getting better each day. Yao, the 7-foot-6-inch Rockets center, is McDonald's new supersized spokesman. He and I had lunch last week after a particularly long and grueling Rockets practice. So he was extra-hungry. When he was done eating his, he ate mine, too. "Sure, you can have my Quarter Pounder," I said. "As an athlete, don't you worry about eating this much McDonald's?" He said, "I have to gain eight pounds. It's not a problem." Yao is 23 years old. Two years in a row the fans voted for him to start the NBA All-Star Game ahead of Shaquille O'Neal. He's a multimillionaire, possibly the most popular athlete in the world. Life these days ... Yao's lovin' it. But come on. Eating all the McDonald's he wants without worrying about his weight? That's just plain unfair. Yao was 12 years old when the first McDonald's opened in his hometown, Shanghai, China. "It was a very big deal. People were excited because they wanted something new, and everybody had heard about McDonald's," Yao says. "My parents knew that kids loved McDonald's, so they used that as an incentive for me to get good grades in school. If I got good grades, they would take me to McDonald's. "My mother still made most of my lunches. She would make a pork chop with rice, or a small piece of beef with rice, or fish with vegetables. I would eat lunch at school, too." Yao's appreciation of fast food graduated a few years later when he became a member of China's national team. "I started traveling internationally as a basketball player when I was 17. Everywhere I went, there were fast-food restaurants. It was very simple to get this food. It's so convenient." Yao recently signed a multiyear contract as McDonald's new international spokesman. For McDonald's, ever conscious of its image, partnering with Yao was a slam-dunk. McDonald's previous two choices for celebrity endorsers: Kobe Bryant and Justin Timberlake. Ouch. Yao will star in TV commercials and make public appearances for Ronald McDonald House charities through 2008, when the Olympics will be held in China. "That is one reason I am happy to work with McDonald's. They do a lot to help children," he says. Even better ... "Now that I'm working with McDonald's, I don't have to bring money when I want to eat there." Yao admitted that eating at a McDonald's is impossible these days because of his basketball celebrity. A movie star can put on sunglasses and a hat and stand unnoticed in line for a Big Mac. Sunglasses and a hat can't disguise 7 foot 6 inches. "I remember one time the team took a bus from Golden State to Sacramento," says Nelson Luis, director of media relations for the Rockets. "We stopped along the way at a fast-food restaurant. All of the players walked in and it was no big deal. Then Yao walked in, and the place went crazy. All the customers came running over to Yao. We had to get him back on the bus. That's how he affects people." So Yao became a drive-through, eat-in-the-car guy. Now he can't do even that. But it has nothing to do with fame. "After I bought my BMW, my mother won't let me eat in the car. She says it's too nice and I can't get it messy," Yao says, laughing. Yao is very careful where he eats and what people see him eating. When we sat down for lunch, the first thing he did was move a cup of Coke away from his side of the table. Yao endorses Pepsi. No photos, please, of him drinking the competition. I asked Yao, what's your favorite thing on McDonald's menu? "I usually order Double Hamburgers. They're very nice," he says. "Don't forget the fries," Luis adds. "No, you don't have to order fries," Yao corrects him. "They come with the Value Meal."
LOL about the Coke and Pepsi. I kind of wish Yao didn't eat McDonald's food. Yeah sure you can gain some weight eating that their food, but it is real unhealthy. There are alot better ways for Yao to gain weight(like pumping iron).
leave it to Ken Hoffman to write an article on fast food but how he mixed it with sports is beyond me...
Does KEN HOFFMAN have a part time job with MaCDonald's? Or is he accepting kickbacks from them? Curious.
At least he isn't sponsoring Taco Bell. Then he could really redefine what it means to be an "explosive" player.
Hoffman takes kick backs from ALL fast food restaurants. I bet he's got a lot of bad cholesterol build up...
"My mother still made most of my lunches. She would make a pork chop with rice, or a small piece of beef with rice, or fish with vegetables. I would eat lunch at school, too." Damn, mom! All I got was PB&J!! I'm movin' in with the Mings.
And being the outstanding citizen you are, you didn't partake, and brought justice to those who did..........right? That is just so gross, inconsiderate, and childish....
That's pretty messed up man. If you participated or if you didn't remove the pickle buckets before they were they were given to actual customers, you should be f'ing SHOT.
