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[Chron] Yao bringing America, China closer together

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by durvasa, Feb 28, 2008.

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durvasa Contributing Member

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Yao is too good of a person for this stuff to keep happening to him. When he says he's sorry over and over again, that just breaks my heart.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5577000.html

[rquoter]
by Jonathan Feigen

The "mountain" just keeps getting larger.

Six years ago, Yao Ming innocently looked at the anticipated clash of giants to come and said that Shaquille O'Neal "is the mountain in my way." It was about basketball then, and about the excitement of a new career full of promise that was about to begin.

The challenge now, however, has become far greater than any single opponent, more daunting than finally winning that first playoff series or his new goal of playing 82 games in a season again. Perhaps it always was.

He was charged with bridging two worlds, bringing the West and China closer together.

He was to be the individual, through the relatively harmless prism of sports, to help us understand and appreciate China and to bring China and its still-new relative openness closer to the West.

We learned this week that it is the peak he still has not conquered.

The stunning news that Yao will miss the rest of the season because of a stress fracture in his left foot more than crushed him and radically changed the Rockets' prospects.

It made him, through no fault of his own, a barrier rather than bridge between factions and suspicions on either side of the Pacific.

There were rapid criticisms from China that Yao was overworked, leading to his injury. Though he was playing an average of 37 minutes a game, there is no evidence that playing time could be blamed. Not when the soreness began in February, with 30 games to play. Playing 34 or 35 minutes for 82 games and then playoffs is more taxing than his 37 minutes in 50 games.

Overworked in China?

There was conjecture, equally unfounded, that he was overburdened by his duties to the Chinese national team. But he took most of June off for his individual training. He spent much of July and August on his wedding and honeymoon. He played in a few exhibitions, but with no more demands than the average player at Fonde Rec Center.

The comments about his play in China would have you believe he is chasing chickens in a field and carrying teammates on his back. He does fly coach, and when he is with the national team he stays in relatively Spartan accommodations. He did not break his foot in February because he failed to stay at the Ritz on a road trip in September.

Eventually, he will have to cut back on his summer workload. There is only so much ball a player, particularly one carrying 300 pounds, has in him. His now-frequent injuries bring understandable concerns about his threshold. But much of the suppositions are based on attitudes about Chinese treatment of athletes now outdated as they relate to Yao.

Worst, and most foolish of all, there were charges that Yao was somehow wrong to have said that he would consider missing the Beijing Olympics the greatest loss of his career.

If he is not committed enough to his NBA team, no one is. No one gives more.

When Tad Brown, the Rockets CEO, went to the locker room on Tuesday to give Yao a hug, he could not get there fast enough.

"I'm sorry," Yao said. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to the franchise. I'm sorry to the city. I'm sorry to Mr. (Leslie) Alexander. I'm so sorry."

"If there is anyone dedicated to his team in the entire league, it is Yao Ming," teammate Shane Battier said. "Anyone that doubts that needs psychiatric help. But especially these Olympics, with the magnitude of the Olympics on a global scale to showcase China as an international power, with him as the centerpiece — it's incredibly important."

Undue criticism

Yet Yao was criticized for his devotion to playing for his national team in the one Olympics in his career that will be played in China.

This is the height of hypocrisy given our frequent criticism of American athletes for not representing their nation. We're supposed to be the country that understands and embraces other cultures and values, not the country that tries to change them. We don't condemn differences; we celebrate them.

Yao is Chinese. He cherishes playing for his national team. At the end of an NBA season, the last thing he wants to do is jump into a summer season. But a month later, he wants to play for China. He needs to play for China.

"He's a player that is shared among the Rockets, the city of Houston, the NBA and China," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. "We're absolutely OK with that. It's Yao. Yao Ming's Chinese heritage is so important to him. Him not playing, not representing his country in China would be like not playing basketball at all.

"It's who he is."

The Rockets don't merely accept that Yao plays for China.

"We love it," Brown said. "The things he embraces so dearly, we embrace. He is a man of honor, nobility, charity and humility. You look for more people like that."

Everyone does, which, in the end, is something shared. China's pride swells when Yao plays for the Rockets, just as the Rockets celebrate his play for China.

Perhaps, then, in that way, he can still bridge cultures so far apart.
[/rquoter]

#1 durvasa, Feb 28, 2008
Last edited: Feb 28, 2008

poprocks Member

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Good article. Get well Yao!

#2 poprocks, Feb 28, 2008
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Great article...w/out the subjectiveness of the board. I said it before - the only thing you can ask as a Rocket fan is that he give 100% when he's w/ the team. I don't think anyone doubts he's the hardest working guy wearing a Rockets uniform.

#3 professorjay, Feb 28, 2008
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cant say the "big stiff breaky"... dosent at least give 100%

thats probably his biggest advantage and weakness at the same time...

#4 Astockmarketgod, Feb 28, 2008
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Nice article.

Good luck to Yao. Go Rockets!

#5 mms, Feb 28, 2008
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anyone who has a problem with yao saying missing the olympics would be the "greatest loss" of his career either did not watch the press conference or has an ulterior agenda

that was as genuine and honest a press conference as i've ever seen. dude talks from the heart for 15 minutes about how devastating it is to miss the rest of the season with the rockets, and you focus on 1 question and answer that you dont like?

seriously whatever fans are feeling about losing Yao for the season, Yao feels 100000000000x worse about it. cmon people

#6 bloop, Feb 28, 2008
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This is the height of hypocrisy given our frequent criticism of American athletes for not representing their nation. We're supposed to be the country that understands and embraces other cultures and values, not the country that tries to change them. We don't condemn differences; we celebrate them.

I love this part. It is still long way before we can say we have done what we are supposed to do.

#7 RoxD, Feb 28, 2008

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durvasa said:

This is the height of hypocrisy given our frequent criticism of American athletes for not representing their nation. We're supposed to be the country that understands and embraces other cultures and values, not the country that tries to change them. We don't condemn differences; we celebrate them.

Everyone does, which, in the end, is something shared. China's pride swells when Yao plays for the Rockets, just as the Rockets celebrate his play for China.

[/rquoter]
Click to expand...

Oh my dear God!!! Finally, someone shows rational sense of America! OOPS donot feel comfortable with what i say? Sorry, Guys Chill

#8 rocketfan.china, Feb 28, 2008
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Some real good article. I was thinking about a hypothetic question since I heard the news: what if this injury was diagnosed in the NBA finals? Pretty sure he is gonna play through it if there is no hope for the Olympics, even it might shorten his career. It's fortunate that we have him, it is unfortunate some fans here could not get this fact.

#9 roxfan123, Feb 28, 2008
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Hearing Yao repeat, "I'm sorry" over and over breaks my heart. Poor guy. He gives so much to everyone. I just hope that he has no regrets.

Great article.

#10 mic, Feb 28, 2008
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I am worried whether there is a solution to prevent similar stress fracture from reoccurring. If it is indeed, the current "stress fracture" is not due to any incident of collision or impact but due to stress of playing basketball too much then or jumping or moving too much then the obvious solution to it is to play less, jump or move less. However, that's not good news it may not be possible to achieve as the stress fracture occurred after half the season games only. There is another half season to go.

Assuming some linear correlations, if Yao playtime is reduced to half by Adelman, the probability of such stress fracture reoccurring again near the end of the season is very high. Bear in mind, Yao did not commit to a lot games last summer for China. The only possibility to avoid such fracture to reoccur is to reduce the intensity of Yao practice or training from the perspective of running, jumping and moving. That would have effects on his stamina.

I would hope Rockets gather some specialist on stress fracture research to
involve in defining the type of training and monitoring of Yao plays during the season from the perspective of accumulation of stress to Yao leg. It would also be good to identify ways to reinforce Yao's leg bone structure and for Adidas to investigate the increase of dampening and absorption of stress to Yao legs so that his legs will take the full stress when he is running or jumping.

#11 kwng, Feb 28, 2008
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OOPs!! Adidas = Reebok

#12 kwng, Feb 28, 2008
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durvasa said:

Yao is too good of a person for this stuff to keep happening to him. When he says he's sorry over and over again, that just breaks my heart.
Click to expand...

Too true. I think I feel worse for Yao than for the rest of the team. God knows he's taking this harder than anyone else. He is undoubtedly the worst person for this to happen to.

#13 rookie17, Feb 28, 2008

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i am biased as a rockets fan but honestly i wish any other player on this team was out for the year except yao (if i had a choice) the guy just tries so hard and cares so much that its just a damn shame. i really hope that one day sooner than later he wins a championship, if anyone in the nba deserves a ring after Deke retires its Yao

#14 The_Yoyo, Feb 28, 2008
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Really, I don't know how some of you guys can criticize Yao for saying that the possibility of missing the Olympics would be the biggest disappointment of his career.

#15 CharlieMurphy, Feb 28, 2008
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Now that's real journalism, being a positive force to present the truth, not just trying to stir up a big farce and planting hatred between different parties based on groundless assumptions and prejudices.

#16 J-Wolf, Feb 28, 2008
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WOW. that is easily THE best article by a sports writer that I have ever read!

#17 Blue Brick, Feb 28, 2008
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Yao bringing America, China closer together ... Clutchfans.net driving them apart.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=143625 too crowded!

#18 g1184, Feb 28, 2008

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I suggest every Rockets fans read this. Great article.

#19 Zfan, Feb 28, 2008
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kwng said:

I am worried whether there is a solution to prevent similar stress fracture from reoccurring. If it is indeed, the current "stress fracture" is not due to any incident of collision or impact but due to stress of playing basketball too much then or jumping or moving too much then the obvious solution to it is to play less, jump or move less. However, that's not good news it may not be possible to achieve as the stress fracture occurred after half the season games only. There is another half season to go.

Assuming some linear correlations, if Yao playtime is reduced to half by Adelman, the probability of such stress fracture reoccurring again near the end of the season is very high. Bear in mind, Yao did not commit to a lot games last summer for China. The only possibility to avoid such fracture to reoccur is to reduce the intensity of Yao practice or training from the perspective of running, jumping and moving. That would have effects on his stamina.

I would hope Rockets gather some specialist on stress fracture research to
involve in defining the type of training and monitoring of Yao plays during the season from the perspective of accumulation of stress to Yao leg. It would also be good to identify ways to reinforce Yao's leg bone structure and for Adidas to investigate the increase of dampening and absorption of stress to Yao legs so that his legs will take the full stress when he is running or jumping.
Click to expand...

Good point!

#20 Queeni, Feb 28, 2008

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