What do you guys think of this Mexican fan's comment ?

One would've thought Bill Walton would love Mo Taylor..

 

Oh man, thanks for the laugh....where do you get this stuff? Are you playing people on here? Yeah you are! You are messing with people's heads - I LOVE IT!

 

Do you remember that movie white man can't jump? Remember how the white dude said that black dudes would rather look good and lose then look bad and win.

Maybe it's because Yao doesn't look good. He's not graceful, he's not in your face. He get's blocked by short guys, pushed a round a bit....so by a certain standard....

Maybe for some it's not about the stats. But I don't think it's because of yao's race....if Yao fit the mold in terms of style, he'd be welcomed.

I have to say - America is pretty open that way. If you fit the image - then you're accepted, race doesn't matter. People cry race because they see Yao's difference and assume that's what it is. There's a not-so-subtle but sad irony in that....

 

Exactly...I was like WTF when I read that comment. That dude is racist himself.

 

You were the one who tried to bring racism into a discussion with every chance not too long ago. After a few people have called you out on that, you have now taken a 180 turnaround and bash everyone who mentions racism. It's obvious that your stance is dictated by what's politically correct around here, not by your own thinking. How laughable. You are not being true to yourself, dude.

Anyway, I think Kyakko has hit it on the nail here:

I agree this 'pack mentality', instead of racism, explains the treatment that Yao has been receiving in the NBA. There is certainly a 'us vs them' mentality here. Anyone who can't see it needs a head examination. But this kind of mentality exists everywhere, not just the African American community. Suppose a black guy goes to China and dominates the gymnastic competition there, he'd probably be under more scrutiny than the Chinese gymnasts too. It is just a natural human response to the ones being looked at as 'outsiders'.

 

Keep in mind that I said media experts. Media exparts quite often disagree with the moves of the GM's and the advice of scouts.

Yao was all about potential and there was still a great deal of unknown about him when he was drafted so unless you were a GM or Scout that did his homework of course drafting Yao seemed much more risky.

Of course most GM's would have been willing to take a risk on Yao because of the reward if he did reach his potential regardless of the risk.

But the media experts weren't willing to take a chance and go out on a limb to go against the popular oppinion that Yao would be a bust for fear of being called an idiot by their peers.

So most of the hype surrounding Yao from a media stand point was that he was going to be another LaRue Martin...not the next great dominate center.

Vince Young is a completely different story since a lot of scouts did not beleive he should play quarter back...almost every single one thought that he could play in the NFL the debate was always at what position.

Did anyone every think Shaq was going to be a bust? NO. How about Zo? Nope...no one. Did anyone think Dream would be a bust? I don't remember a single writer that claimed he would not be a damn good NBA player. Of course every situation is different.

And last but not least CB4 wore the #4 hear in Houston and last time I checked this was a Houston Rockets forum...so please refer to him as CB4...or refer to him in what ever way you want but don't preach to me about how to refer to him.

 

I got to this thread late and didn't read through the whole thread, so I apologize if I repeat things that were already said in the thread.

I believe the media/analysts and the fans think differently of Yao.

The media when Yao was first introduced to the NBA, almost all analysts assumed bust. I mean I can't fault them because there had been no examples of a successful 7'5"+ player. All of them either were horrible or had injuries that barred them from any success. Yao's first year, and I would have to say mostly all his games on national tv were his off games, which created that image of bust. Also he hasn't adjusted to the new NBA and the culture of America yet. I think the first year of him struggling reenforce these analysts that he would never be a good player and made them clamped on to their prediction. Now as years past, and Yao improving. These analysts never want to be wrong, especially with them just saying how terrible he will be and he's the next chinese shawn bradley, so instead they point out Yao's problems and don't compliment on how far he has gone as a player. These analysts are "professional" and so they can't say Yao is doing great and is the best center, when from the beginning saying he'll never be even Shawn Bradly. I believe that is one reason why Yao gets all this negativty from the media.

The fans now, as I checked around nba forums with nba fans all over the US, they realize how much of a monster Yao has become. In almost all the MVP threads, Yao is always mentioned and there has been really no argument with Yao in the MVP talk. Yao is consistant and now plays so well in national televised broadcast, where the average fan can see how great Yao has become. Of course not including extreme homers of opposing teams.

Another reason why I think the media downplays Yao is because he is the tallest player in the league. There is always that underdog vs the favorite, where the media loves to take the underdog. I don't mean as in the favorites for the Rockets to win, but just like that david vs goalith, hence that ridiculous stripping foul on Nate replay over and over.

I think the only way Yao ever recieves the recognition he deserves is by going deep in the playoffs a few times but especially winning a nba championship. The only other way I see it is by Yao leaving to go to a high profile team as NY or LAL. I don't think Yao will ever leave as he is as loyal to his team as anyone can be.

Of course race could also be apart of why he is critize so badly, since we have never seen another race especially an asian dominate this sport. This is an american sport and we as americans take such pride in this game and is so cocky, that maybe that is why Yao gets the treatment he gets. I don't believe its racism but more of a sterotype.

Anyways Go Rockets!!! Beat those sorry Warriors, and wouldn't it be cool to blow them out by 40 too?

 

I wish Yao averaged 2.5 blocks!

I think he could average that if he challenged more shots instead of trying to take stupid charges all the time. I can't remember Hakeem ever trying to take a charge under the basket.

 

last time i checked, media is not all black people. how do you explain white people are also biased toward Yao? cause he's not black?

 

what's that supposed to mean??

 

I remember hearing about Yao before he was drafted in the US media (sorry no links), I think it was a little after Wang Zhi Zhi came into the NBA and people were saying 'yeah Wang's ok, but there's this really tall kid back in China who's even better, who may even become a star in the NBA.' Nobody seemed to know that much about him, but the talk was pretty positive.

Then when the draft came and it became clear that Yao was going to be one of the top picks, all the naysayers started to appear, calling him a bust waiting to happen, etc. Not many seemed to know what to expect at first, but the easiest and most frequent putdown about Yao was that he was another Shawn Bradley. After all, they were both tall, lanky, and seemingly uncoordinated. They also were similar personality-wise: quiet and kind of clean cut. It didn't seem to be a stretch to say that Yao would follow Bradley's lead and turn out to be a waste of a top pick.

I think that first impression, however wrong, stayed with many for a while. While I'm sure that it didn't help that he was Chinese, I think it helped less that he seemed so much like Shawn Bradley and that both of them were so physically different than the majority of NBA players.

 

There is something to the race bias for sure, not sure you can call it racism but there is a bias on the part of Kenny and CB that you cite that is reflective of Afro-Americans view of Yao. Saw Kenny broadcasting the Knicks game and he cut Eddy Curry a lot of slack on his underperforming career so far, something like he's only 22 or 23 (he's really 24 this month). No mention of his 50% FT shooting as he did with Yao (85% so what it's just repetition), should have been 50%,Curry's been in the league 5 years, he's shot enough FTs, he should be better.

 

I just realized that kahnhdom wrote pretty much what I did four posts ahead of me. Never mind.

 

That applies to every draft though as a draft is a risk. Len Bias in 1987 was a consensus the #2 pick and never played a game in the NBA.

Except that there were many media experts who also thought highly of Yao. Ric Bucher wrote a fairly complimentary report on him which I posted and some big men who are commentators like Walton were impressed. The nature of sports media is very similar to political media where the loudest voices get the most attention and Bakley is a very loud voice and so is Dick Vittale but they don't make up the whole of sports media anymore than Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage make up the whole of political media.

There was some talk about playing Vince Young at other positions but most of the talk was whether he had the smarts and arm to be an NFL quarterback but in the Yao debate it was a given that barring some disaster he could play in the NBA it was whether he was going to be a second stringer who could only play limited minutes or a starter who could make major contributions.

But Shaq, Zo and Dream all were very well known quantities who had played their whole basketball careers, in the US. Yao had never played a college or even a highschool game in the US most Americans got their first look at Yao at the practice in Chicago. The fact that an almost completely unknown foreign player was taken as almost a consensus #1 over several well known college players is a HUGE testament to how many positive views there were about him.

I agree that scouts and GM's have different views than many people in the media but at the same time NBA basketball is a consumer driven business. So scouts and GM's have to pay attention to conventional wisdom. If conventional wisdom was universally against Yao he wouldn't have been number one as season ticket holders would've revolted. So Yao was a gamble, every draft is but Yao a bit more than others, but not a complete gamble. There were loudmouths who hated Yao but there were many in the media who saw the potential back in 2002.

I'm not a moderator and don't want to be and you're free to refer to him anyway you want. That said yes this is a Rockets forum but Barkley is no longer an active player and even so he played most of his career away from the Rockets also their are other Rockets with the same initials. Barkley is now an announcer and its my opinion (not dogma) that its better to refer to non-players by name than number.

 

First of all, I'm aware he is called Yao Ming in Chinese. Not Yao or Ming. Second, I was referring to the whole family name system and the specific fact that you pointed out "Gundy" in your analogy. As for your All american players statement...I already pointed out that MOST are referred to by their last names. The only ones that arent, are the ones that have a more unique first name. Kobe, Shaq, Lebron, etc. Those with common first and last name are usually referred to by both. As I pointed out earlier, I am not arguing what Yao Ming is to be referred as. I agree with you that he should be called Yao or Yao Ming. I am merely pointing out the flaw of the analogy you made to "Gundy". Don't know what more I need to say to spell that out for you.

 

The charge of racism in regard to the criticism of Yao had been thrown around a lot here which I find troubling. I've started a thread with a poll in D & D to discuss that.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=121295

 

Good point, and it probably summed up my thoughts more efficiently. In Yao's case and the black quarterback case, I don't believe there's any outright racism. I thnk it's moreso that SOME critics are letting their racial stereotypes (knowingly or not) effect their judgement.

 

Agreed...

 

I have never had a problem with Yao's Race
[I 1st saw him on a Magazine at age 17 and though . . MAN if the rockets could get that guy!]

His Agression bothered me . . I wanted him MEANER
Folx attributed it to Culture. . so I conceded to that . .since I really didn't know
enough about it to argue

I think their is some pride about it
heck . . i know folx that still say . . Larry Bird was a Great WHITE Player
racism exists
no Doubt

As for the Announcers Call him MING . . that is not a good Example
T-mac . . is referred to as Tracy, as McGrady , ad T-Mac, as The Sleepy eyed bandit .. . ok . . maybe not the last one
but
Announcers user Names and Surnames interchangibly.

reason Why Yao does not get his 'Props' [in no particular order]
1. His Game
2. His Demeanor
3. His Race
4. His team [ROCKETS NEVER GET ENOUGH RESPECT!]



Rocket River

 

that black dude charley rosen is always on yao. and remember how that black dude bill simmons ripped yao and wanted jay williams. stupid black media establisment.


actually, I agree with solid's post earlier, just like tiger had to go through some initiation in golf, just like black hockey players, yao is going to have to do something extra to prove his worth, to his fellow athletes. believe, most black rockets fans have accepted yao and yao is a really likeable person so that always helps.