[ESPN] McGrady, not Yao, has top-selling jersey in China McGrady, not Yao, has top-selling jersey in China Associated Press NEW YORK -- A Houston Rockets player has the top-selling jersey sold in China. Not that player, the other one. China Photos/Getty Images Tracy McGrady's fans expressed their love at the Beijing airport in August. Tracy McGrady tops the list of best-selling NBA player jerseys in China, based on sales from retail locations across the country as of November 2005, the league announced Monday. Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson is second and Houston center Yao Ming is third. Yao, a native of Shanghai, was the first pick in the 2002 draft and one of the first Chinese players in the NBA. He also has played for the Chinese national team. McGrady gave a knowing smile when asked about the top sellers. "I'll give you the top 3," he said Monday. "Probably myself, Allen Iverson and Yao Ming." When told he was first, he said: "I knew that already. I've got a lot of love over there in China." McGrady spent some time in China last August on a publicity tour for adidas. His ranking above Yao surprised some of their teammates. "That's pretty impressive," Rockets forward Stromile Swift said. said http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http:...ry?id=2313239&name=FPT-2313239-013110&srvc=sz
Wow! That's weird! Is it the case in China as well as the USA that fans always want to "be like [insert popular guard here]" because a big man's game has much less glamour? I know that's the case in the USA, guards/swingmen are always more popular among fans, because they excite you more with their moves and athleticism, but is that also the case in China?
I am not surprised. But the picture in the article is misleading. As a Chinese, I am pretty sure what that guy meant was: Let me welcome you on behalf of Yao. After all, he is wearing Yao's jersey. In a good or bad way (depends on how you view it), fans in China are like those in US: they like glamous play too. AI is such a short guy in NBA's standard yet he is so in the top level for quite some time, that wins a lot of fans. Tmac has top selling jersey because: 1)He has glamous plays; 2)He is Yao's teamate. I am pretty sure that #2 is the difference between him and Kobe.
Maybe everyone already has 15 Yao jerseys? Next will be Hayes with the best selling jersey once everyone has T-Mac's jersey.
TMac needs to be traded to GS so he can reach his full potential. TMac for Fisher, Murphy, and Dunleavy would leave enough talent for Yao and the rockets to continue to be productive while giving TMac fans what they really want: Baron Davis.
This makes sense. You are attracted to a team because of someone, you start watching that team, that allows you to notice how sweet of a player Tmac is, so he becomes your favorite player.
Wow--what's the world coming to?? Next thing we'll hear is that Yao gets more all star votes than Shaq--IN THE U.S.!!!
I can already hear Amare complain about how he'll never get to start the All Star game because of the billions of people in China voting for TMac over him in the Forward spot.
Chinese people do not watch NBA because of Yao Ming, as surprised as it may be. You cannot image how big AI always is, not because of his tatoos, but due to his unstoppable fighting spirit.
In a way, it's good to know that, because it shows that they're open-minded people who love the game before their love for a single player who happens to be of the same nationality. While it's undeniable that Yao got the world's most populous country really interested in basketball, I think it's safe to assume that once Yao retires (hopefully after a long, illustrious career) those fans will remain NBA fans and remain basketball fans. It's a really easy game to pick up, understand, and enjoy without being raised in a culture in which basketball was a major sport. Can't say the same for football and baseball, those two sports you pretty much need to grow up with. This is why I truly believe basketball is the ONLY American sport that will ever be global in scope, because it's so fluid and so mesmerizing to watch giants with freakish athletic abilities dunk the ball and make nice passes and dribble and all that good stuff. It's the only sport that has a chance in hell of one day challenging futbol for the crown.
I probably can't say for others. I've been a big sports fan (observer only) for quite long, although I am no good in any sports Soccer and Basketball are the two most favourable sports for me, now adding hockey to the list. But I like swimming, track and field, and pretty much everything as well. During offseason, in desperation times, I even watch baseball (coz I never really consider that as sports, since some of those players have worse figure than I do ). NBA was big for me and my friends at similar age, and Yao was not even born at the time. People know more about Chinese sports fans, especially NBA fans, thanks to better communication between countries. With better coverage on TV and Internet, with better economy, Chinese people get more and more vocal about their opinions. Americans are surprised that there are so many Chinese basketball fans overnight. It's easy to attribute it to Yao effect. There is no argument about it, that Yao created lots of Chinese Rockets fans, also lots of casual Chinese basketball fans. But as for average Chinese basketball fans, they might be more interested in the Rockets because of Yao, but you can't say they never cared about NBA before Yao. I became Rockets fan because of Dream, as a Chinese, I am more than happy to see Yao joining my favorite team. 30 years ago, Americans think Chinese are all hard-core commies who would share everything including women among them, and destroy everything good. Chinese saw Americans as evil imperalists and capitalists, who make average working class suffer big time, given any chance, we would go and liberate those poor workers and farmers At information age, people start to get better and clearer perceptions about others, and the world found out there are lots of Chinese people do like basketball, but it happened even before Yao's birth.
