<blockQUOTE>Originally posted by windandsea I have edited my thread and deleted the "Cato" quote. Maybe it's better for Rockets and for this forum. </blockQUOTE>No. Don't hold back. besides we'll just reprint it here. According to me, w&s translated a reporter's quote of Ming about what Eric heard Francis say about Cato: "passing to Cato is like tossing a bone to a dog. You will never get it back." Now, maybe my memory is off, so someone feel free to add to my translation.
Thanks W&S for the great report. Here's the English translation of the last part about Yao Ming. Sports Weekly http://www.sportsweekly.com.cn/data/news/new_news/2002/9/4/11495.html Special Reporter Yang Yi reporting from Indianapolis China-Argentina Match Final Analysis: Yao Ming had 4 turnovers, exactly one per period. In the group matches, he averaged 3.3 turnovers per game, the most on the Chinese NT, translated into a 48-min NBA game, that's 6.7/game, posing a considerable concern. Generally, Yao makes most of his mistakes during passing (in this game, 2 of the turnovers were of this kind), especially during the transition from defense to offense. In the instant right after grabbing the rebound, he often gets over-excited and loses control over the strength and direction of his passes. But in this game, the other 2 of his turnovers were because he received the ball in the post and went up for the shot, but with his back to the basket. (One was a charging called when Yao spun with the ball and knocked down his defender; the other is a traveling violation). Yao was never stolen from the behind in this game. To rectify problems like this, requires Yao to accumulate more experience, and so develop more calm and composure. The other requires the general cooperation of the whole team, rebound, pass, and score, Yao Ming can't do it all by himself. "I was very disappointed" Special reporter Yang Yi reporting from Indianapolis. Argentina only needed one period to crush China. Yao Ming finished dinner, and no longer was in any mood to play games or listen to music, and went straight to bed. Reporter: Did you ever imagine this game would end up like this? Yao: No. We knew before the game that Argentina was strong, but their winning by 18 points at the end of the 1st quarter was really bizarre. To come back in this type of game is just too difficult. [uh oh... he better get used to ClutchCity... cuz the impossible comeback is the Rockets' trademark!] I felt really disappointed. At the time, I simply didn't have any opportunity to shoot, only tried to pass a bit more. Soon after, Argentina had totally broken the game open, their timing on the double-teams was excellent. Reporter: In the group matches you averaged 2.7 assists. In this game, you had 2 assists in 28mins in the 1st half. How do you rate your passing ability? Yao: How's my passing? Shouldn't you be asking the guy receiving the pass? Francis told my cousin Eric Zhang that the most important single thing that he liked about my going to play for the Rockets was my passing ability. He said that it is too exhausting when the Rockets rely on him alone on every play, but whenever he gave the ball to Cato in the post, it's like throwing a meat dumpling at a dog, it ain't ever coming back... [this is a popular humorous Chinese saying, referring to something that can't be expected to come back, it ain't Francis's words at all, just an aphorism. Francis was probably simply referring to the low assist total with Cato and Yao was paraphrasing???] If it's me, if I can give back at least 5 balls out of every 10, it would be far more comfortable/easy than him having to slash/penetrate every time... Reporter: These couple of days has seen Rudy coming in contact with Chinese reporters a lot more. I heard that he had reconstructive surgery on his face? Yao: When he was young and playing in the NBA, he tried to stop a fight, but a black dude threw a heavy punch on his face, fracturing his facial bone. I heard that his entire face was deformed, and fell at the time like an axed tree. That chap already made up with him though, after being estranged for like 20 odd years. The reconciliation came when we played the American team in Oakland for the warmup match. Probably it was because he was in such a good mood after watching me play, and so he forgave him? Reporter: The next couple of opponents for the Chinese NT both lost their best players: Kirilenko (Russia) and Marks (New Zealand). Are you happy or sad? Yao: I'm thanking the stars. I'm cool with it. Not much to be disappointed about. Played Marks already in Sydney, and Kirilenko is young like me, so we'll have plenty of opportunities in the future. from reporter Yang Yi
You are right, Windandsea. I encourage friends here to delete those "sensitive" portion in your post in this thread. I have deleted my post. I don't want anything has negative effect. I know, I am just holding too high an expection for the season and future.
Lil, that is a great translation. Guys, how 'bout making Lil our official Chinese-English translater of cc.net? I agree that the "throwing dumpling to a dog" reference couldn't have been Francis' exact wording because it is a Chinese idiom. Don't forget that this is not just a 4th hand quote, but has gone through two translation: Francis to Eric (English) Eric to Ming (translated to Chinese) Ming to reporter (Chinese, might have paraphrased Eric's quote) reporter to windandsea/Lil etc. (Chinese) windandsea/Lil etc. to the board (translated to English)
Also, I don't think we should make too much a fuss about Francis' comment about Cato and other teammates. He is simply pointing out that Rocket ball movement is poor and needs another good passer to lighten his load. He uses Cato as an example because Ming and Cato play the same position.
hey you guys, i don't think you need to worry too much about it... it ain't big news, there ain't any controversy. "chasing away dogs by throwing meat dumplings at them" just a simple (and if i may say so, a damn funny) universally used chinese aphorism, kinda like "spitting into the wind" in English. The exact aphorism goes: "Throwing meat dumplings to chase away dogs. Once it leaves you, it ain't coming back" There's actually a legendary meat dumpling franchise in Taiwan called the "Even Dogs Won't Have It" Restaurant (originally hailing from Shanghai?). They have some damn fine meat dumplings and soup dumplings. And speaking of good Chinese food, ain't no place like Taiwan... Elsewhere, it might be just good Chinese food, but in Taiwan, it's an art form... i guess one way of looking at it is that the passes Francis gives to Cato are usually so good that Cato just dunks it anyway... So it's like no kidding he ain't getting the ball back. Cato's numbers and his style of play is plain as day, everybody knows it, and some people actually like the potential there... No need to scramble to cover for his embarrassment. The Houston Chronicle says things 10 times harsher than that every other day.
Lil, that's from TanJing. But speaking of Chinese Food, Hongkong is still the best, Shanghai comes close second. Nothing against TW though, I've never been there and had only TW food in US. I have to say TW snacks look good on international channel
Stop talking about Chinese food. It is the middle of the afternoon and I'm trying to diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
true that michecon! hong kong has nice dim sum. shanghai has some damn fine Hu delicacies too. each region in China has its specialties. Taiwan has its own Taiwanese cuisine. But if you tried to give an overall rank to the place with the highest overall quality of Chinese food (all types), and with the greatest selection, Taiwan's hard to beat! i think 50 years ago, the finest culinary talent on the mainland (the former imperial chefs) and the head chefs of just about all the major shanghai, beijing, nanjing, guangzhou restaurants either ran off to America or Taiwan, or were drafted by the Nationalist troops to accompany them to Taiwan. i heard that many of the greatest chefs remaining on the mainland also had a tough time during the cultural revolution, and subsequently many had to survive on minimal resources. definitely wasn't a good environment to nurture the culinary arts. and the current generation of big chinese chefs often had to seek out these old legends who'd been neglected in poverty for decades and beg them to show their "secret recipes"... This is on top of the material shortages which often plague restaurants there. No good chefs, no good materials means that great recipes can only go so far? But that just hearsay from Taiwanese mainlanders who traveled back to China around 10-20 years ago. And with the growing Chinese prosperity (esp. the coastal cities), i suspect the culinary arts will have a quick revival. It might very well be the case that restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing have caught up to those in Taipei. The Nationalist elite on Taiwan continued to be connoisseur/patrons to the great chefs. All that wasteful extravagance (banquets, etc.) which served to cultivate Chinese food as an art form followed the KMT to Taiwan, and as Taiwan was blessed with a superb agricultural base and rapid prosperity, they really never lacked materials... (I guess that's one of the few good things to come out of 40 years of oppression on Taiwan: good chinese food!) Furthermore, the competition in Taiwan is immense. Not only did these chefs have to compete to remain at the top of their specialties, but they also had to compete with many other regional specialties. All of a sudden, the best Shanghai chefs found themselves in competition with legends from Guangzhou, Beijing, and even masters trained in Japan... These restaurants in Taiwan are so famous today, that pop stars from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong regularly pay homage to some of our finest eateries. The "Even Dogs Won't Have It" Restaurant I mentioned is a legend in its own right (their meat dumplings are one of the Tianjing Three Greats), but they specialise in only Meat Dumplings and other Tianjing delicacies. They rank probably around 4th or 5th among the Tianjing-style restaurants. And a similar hierarchy exists for each type of regional specialty, whether it be Szechuan, Yunnan, ShanDong, Zhejiang, Guangdong... Others like Ding3-Tai4-Fung1 are where the foreign pop stars visit... And each one of these trace their origins to some sickeningly famous master from the Ching Dynasty or Early Republican Era... Have you seen the movie "Eat Drink Man Woman"? Did you think those foods looked good? That guy worked at Yuan2-Shan1 Restaurant, which ranks below 20th in the overall rankings among Taiwanese restaurants... And the movie "Wedding Banquet"? That posh American restaurant's chief chef was just a minor cook who served under the Nationalist general who lived in Taiwan... I know it sounds like bragging, but these things were based partly on reality... So that's why I said that I doubt any place can compete with Taiwan on Chinese food. I spent 10 years in LA, so I know the quality of some of the finest Chinese food in the USA... On the other hand, I read recently that there's been a young up-and-coming chef in China who is actively trying to recreate the fantastic dishes dreamed up in Jin Yung's martial arts novels (like those offered by Huang Rong to Hung Chi...) If he's successful... That, my friend, is where I want to eat!
No offense almostReady, but please don't you or anyone else sugar coat your posts. I don't want to read "censored" posts(excessive cussing withstanding) and I'm sure the majority of the other posters don't want to either, especially if it is part of an article. We should read it as it was written. Editing someone's negative words to give it a positive spin does nothing but ruin a good discussion in most cases.
"Eat Drink Man Woman." The foods in that movie looked great. (Rockets Rockets Rockets.) The women in it were hotties, too. (Steve Francis, Yao Ming.) Can't believe there would be restaurants far better than the one shown in that film. (Mobley, Morris, Rashard?, Pete Chilcutt.)
http://www.gourmetnet.com.tw/rest/bestchinese.php?r=1 provides a nice ranking... It's in traditional Chinese Big-5 though... The Yuan-Shan Plaza (featured in Eat Drink Man Woman) is: 5th in Szechuan Cuisine 6th in Beijing Cuisine Unranked in Xiang/Hunan Cuisine Unranked in Jiang-Zhe/Shanghai Cuisine Unranked in Taiwanese Cuisine 36th in HongKong/GuangDong Cuisine Unranked in Others(GuangXi/Hakka/Yunnan/Hangzhou/etc.) in the Taipei area... and the ranking is divided into 4 regions - Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Others... Some of these places I probably can't ever afford... Unless of course, I grow 15 inches and start playing for the Rockets...
