I was at the game last night, pretty close to the action. Here is what I noticed. Francis tried to help Yao find the beat to a Hip-Hop song that was being played during the shootaround. It was a funny sight. Franchise must be trying to get him off of the Backstreet Boys. At the end of the shootaround someone w/ the rpess took a picture of Yao and Bradley standing back to back at midcourt. Id'e like to see it. Cato sat at the end of the bench, and I mean the END, past Collier. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood though. I was looking to see if he was sulking. I think he just joined the team late and hasn't practiced in a week, so Rudy sat him down. Mo really looks to pass to Yao down low. Yao seems more comfortable when the ball is in his hands. Yao also got really winded by the end of the game. He also needs to keep his hands up on defense. He is getting banged on so much, that he keeps his arms down for protection. I also noticed that Yao's legs are really thick. Over twice the size of Bradley. We stuck to the perimeter when Yao was not in the game, taking low percentage shots. Don't know why didn't drive more. I guess Dallas has gotten pretty good at shutting down the lane. Mav's fans look at me dirty when I scream. "Yao Ming Baby!" A guy in the bathroom was singing the Yao Ming song.
while watching the game on tv, i heard someone scream out "WAX ON, WAX OFF" when Yao was shooting a free throw. Were there lots of these types of stupid, racial comments being thrown around in the stands?
"while watching the game on tv, i heard someone scream out "WAX ON, WAX OFF" when Yao was shooting a free throw. Were there lots of these types of stupid, racial comments being thrown around in the stands?" mulletman, i wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot. he's going to hear it whereever he goes, that's a guarantee. I think they reported that in his first game in indiana, some people behind the bench were saying something like ching chong and making fake chinese accents. Good thing yao doesn't understand too much english yet or racism yet. it'll be easier for him to ignore it.
I was at the game last night too. One racial thing I noticed was every time Yao missed a free throw a gong sound was made over the loud speaker.
the mavs had a "gong" sound play when Yao missed a free throw in the second half. That got a chuckle out of the fans around me, but I found it more than a little offensive. Also, I had a guy who sat behind me actually tap me on the shoulder to get my attention and tell us that he thinks, "Y'all got yourselves a player with Yao." I was thinking to myself, well duh!?! But I guess the word is slowly starting to get around Dallas. It seems like on these radio shows and talk shows with two hosts, one host takes the "Yao will be a stud"-stance and the other takes the "Yao will be a bust"-stance. The Big Show on ESPN Radio: Chuck Cooperstein: pro-Yao Newy Scrugs: anti-Yao PTI on ESPN: Tony Kornheiser: anit-Yao Micheal Wilbon: pro-Yao One thing is for sure, I'm glad he's on our side!! But it's days like this when it's hard to show my pro-Houston face on campus. Damn these Dallas sports fans. Today wasn't so bad, my sophomore year in 1999, after a game against the Mavs where Rockets got blown out, I walked into the Student Lounge in the Engineering building and one of my friends taped up the sports page with the headline: "Mavs make it look easy" That was embarassing.
Yeah, as much as it sucks, Yao will receive racial taunts. Back when I was in college, I made a point to attend all of our soccer games, and verbally abuse our opponents as part of the home field advantage. If someone had a big nose, we'd pick on that. If he wore his socks too high, we'd pick on that. Shorts too high, we'd DEFINITELY pick on that. Bleached hair -- picked on. Anything that stands out is fair game to the opponent's fans. Not saying it's right, just typically the way it is. I don't think there's any real meaning behind the taunts, and in fact, I'd venture to say after the game's over, lots of those people taunting Yao about his race would love to meet him, shake his hand, and maybe get an autograph.
