The Budding Friendship of Yao Ming and Steve Francis

Please...I haven't had my breakfast yet

 

Chinese used to call Russians "Old Hairy". And that was when Mao and Stalin were shaking hands like buddies. I think "black ghosts" is about the same thing. I admit, it's bad to call people by their physical particulars, but still that's not racism. Racism is not part of Chinese culture, and has never been. Chinese tend to discriminate each other and form their own hierachy according to class, wealth, rank...but they seriously fear the outside world and strange people, esp. people who look stronger. That's why whenever there's a law dispute in China with foreigners involved, the result always turns into their favor. Sad thing.

 

"Hey look at that red ferrari!"

"The serial killer might be riding in a blue Mustang with a dent on the left side."

"Which one is Bumblebee?", "He's the yellow Camaro."

"Which one is Barricade?", "He's the black police car."

Chinese use the color terms to describe colors, don't mean anything more nor anything less. People should stop overanalyzing things. The fact is, Larry Smith is indeed black. So?

 

Still do.

 

OMFG yaos jersey isnt best selling in china, that means all chinese people must hate themselves as well

 

And before you post stuff like this...
Aug. 21, 2003

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

The office Jeff Van Gundy chose for himself is hardly a broom closet. And the one he turned down is not the dark-paneled, leather-chaired, opulent palace of corporate CEOs or college football coaches.

But in one of his tours of the Rockets' new arena, Van Gundy checked out the offices that lead from the oversized locker room to the steam room, sauna and whirlpools and made a switch. Rather than accept the larger quarters he had been assigned, he took the smaller room down the hall.

"I thought it would work better that way," Van Gundy said. "It's not much different. An office is an office. It doesn't really matter, as long as it works well."

Image is irrelevant. He got the job. Everything else, he said, is about what works.

Now, Van Gundy said, "It's about winning."

Van Gundy had long since embraced the reality that office size will no more measure success than the label on a suit or shine on a car. He would rather not describe the changes he has made or even the fingerprints he has left around the Rockets' organization.

He is so unpretentious, he seems to consider it pretentious to even admit how unpretentious he is.

But that fits, too. He has made the adjustments he has needed to do the job his way. But he is far from Bill Parcells taking over every thought and moment of a new organization's lives.

Parcells glares from the cover of Sports Illustrated like George C. Scott in the opening of Patton, but the first image of Van Gundy in Houston is him wearing a yellow construction helmet. He even jokes about the almost cartoonish appearance, a cross between Michael Dukakis in the tank and Bob the Builder.

Of course, image and appearance have long and inaccurately been a crutch used to describe Van Gundy. With the faith the Rockets have in him, Van Gundy could wield the omnipotent power in as much of the organization as Parcells has in Dallas -- even without glowering.

But just as he has not seen the need to pose, Van Gundy has moved in without feeling the need to knock down walls just to show he can.

"I want to have input in every decision that affects winning and losing," Van Gundy said. "I don't want to make any decision that doesn't."

In some ways, he would seem the perfect candidate to micromanage. In his study of the Rockets, no detail is too trivial. On the day he was introduced, he said he would watch every moment of every Rockets game last season. That seemed exhaustive. It turned out to be only his starting point.

"When you have not been there every day, like I haven't been, you look at things objectively," he said. "You don't have predetermined biases. You watch the games, break down the stats as much as you can to have an idea why guys are so good at home compared to on the road (and) after the All-Star break, compared to before. You break it down in hundreds of ways."

This is the first time he has ever been introduced to a new organization as a head coach. (When he took over the Knicks, where he had been an assistant, he was an interim choice). In Houston, he not only follows an icon in Rudy Tomjanovich but is replacing a coach whom he considers "great."

But he has not exerted authority with every step to make a point about who is in charge.

In some areas, the Rockets have been adjusted to fit the new coach. He brought in his assistants with the Knicks, Tom Thibodeau, Steve Clifford and Andy Greer, who will serve as an advance scout. He added former Knicks star Patrick Ewing. Dean Cooper, Melvin Hunt and Mike Wells were made video coordinators/scouts. Wells will be a liaison between the coaching staff and the video room, and from the staff to the Elias Sports Bureau to keep the staff supplied in the thick statistical reports Van Gundy demands.

In others areas, Van Gundy has happily deferred. He was very much in the loop on the analyses of the draft prospects and Rockets' options. But Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson and vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey largely made the evaluations, and ultimately, the choice of Malick Badiane. Dawson has remained the front man with agents.

There have been Van Gundy touches. The weight room in Toyota Center was planned for one end of the practice court, duplicating the popular setup at Westside Tennis Club. Van Gundy preferred the area be used entirely for cardiovascular equipment. A weight room will be built down the hall.

But more than change the Rockets, Van Gundy has seemed to be preparing himself and his players for what is to come.

"The main thing is just getting our staff working with the players so we know them as well as we can basketball-wise and personally before the season," Van Gundy said. "The second thing is to give them clear-cut goals as far as what is expected of them so they are in the shape they need to be in to come into training camp. Thirdly, you start talking about how you're going to play.

"It's not about trying to get different. The focus has got to always stay on the players, trying to keep them improving, get them as healthy and as light and as strong and as lean as they need to be to do a good job from the start of the season through. We don't want to have to use training camp for conditioning.

"The guys have to be in the type of condition I expect them to be Oct. 2 so they can play as effectively as possible for as long as possible and stay as injury free as possible."

Van Gundy and his coaches have met with every Rockets player, mostly in person. He said he hopes as many as possible will be working in Houston by September, and he will give each player information about plays and terminology to study before camp. The Rockets open the preseason against the Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 7.

Van Gundy said any tension about his move and starting over was spent during the June decision-making. Van Gundy has never advanced his career as a vagabond coach. When he moved to Houston last week, it was the first time his possessions had been in boxes in 13 years. His emotions are generally what he might expect any season with training camp less than six weeks away.

"Naturally the anxiety grows more and more," Van Gundy said. "I'm cautiously optimistic, realistic, worried. I want to make sure I don't have to utter the dreaded words, `It's going to take time.' We've got to be ready to play, not be distracted, not be excuse-makers, play well right away, win right away.

"See, every team in the league, they all utter the same thing, `We have a lot of talent.' It's true. Every team has a lot of talent. What separates talent from winning and losing is how hard they're willing to work, how much they're willing to sacrifice to win, to go above and beyond, to play through little hurts, nicks, sprains, bumps and bruises ... accept scoring less and winning, or do you want to average more and lose. There are so many things.

"Players are right. There is a lot of talent on every team. Because of how close the talent between teams is, so much, much more goes into winning than being talented.

"The culture and environment you create is paramount to winning."

 

What was this condition exactly? Not being FAT like bonzi.

 

so what if it translated as big blackie? is that racist?

 

I think he was just trying to be loyal to the original text. Nothing more. Overpoliticalization doesn't taste good.

 

blackie biggie okay then?

 

The cultural shock exhibited by many posters in this thread upon reading pryuen's (near) literal translation of the description of Larry Smith as a "black biggie" is understandable, since they have little knowledge of Chinese culture and history.

In Beijing Opera, masks of different colors are used to depict characters of various types. In particular, black symbolizes roughness and fierceness. The black face indicates either a rough and bold character or an impartial and selfless personality.

In Chinese classical literature, General Zhang Fei (in novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" written in Ming Dynasty, but based on turbulent events dating back to almost 2000 years ago) is famously known as a black-faced, bold, and top-notched warrior with an explosive temper. Likewise, "Black Cyclone" Li Kui (one of the 108 outlaws in novel "Water Margin" linked to an uprising at the end of Northern Song Dynasty in 13th century) is a likable folk hero.

Bao Gong, a legendary fearless and impartial judge of the Southern Song Dynasty known for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time, is said to a be "darkie" for having very dark complexion.

Black can have negative connotations. For instance, a person with a "black heart" is ungraceful and greedy. But in the original article pryuen translated, derogative undertone is neither expressed nor implied if one with adequate command of Chinese language reads it.

 

I think our Chinese fans should know more about racist words in US.We should respect US culture, IMO all the words about color is sensitive in US(I don't if it is correct).

 

I think it depends. If a Chinese calls a guy "black biggie" in China he could be entirely possibly calling his dearest buddy. In some other context he might be misunderstood, such as here. So I wouldn't rush to the conclusion of "blackie biggie okey then" or not.
To understand the world is to learn to not to label everything, first.

 

Relax, I actually found the comment pretty funny, I just like to poke at people.

When I read it, I saw, someone big and black, and that sure is Larry Smith!

 

man, you are hilarious. it's not funny to be poked at in the first place, I must admit...

 

And because we are America almighty...we don't have to respect other cultures?!?!?!!?

We don't have to put in an effort to not be so damn ignorant of the world?!?!?!

 

I noticed that also.. not cool.

 

Denniscd is just being anal and using semantics. Technically, JVG didn't take over rudy's office cause he left before toyota center opened. It was just a figure of speech saying jvg took over rudy's office, just meaning he took his former position.

 

Ok, I just reread the quote and it implied JVG cleaned out Rudy's old office......now maybe rudy did have an office at toyota center cause I assume even though it opened after he left, most of the things like offices and stuff were complete before its official opening, so he could have had one there before leaving the team.

 

he didnt have an office...check with anyone at toyota center. the offices werent even completed by the time he came down with cancer. they should bring rudy back to the organization right now.