Ok, after viewing this thing repeatedly on the Tivo after I got home, some observations: First, Yao is NOT talking to Battier. Battier actually passes BEHIND Yao and is on the other side of him when Yao is talking - Yao is in fact facing away from Shane. Second, Yao's eyes are staring down the court at some unknown person, up until the last second or so before he says his comment. His eyes shift attention to someone else, it is this person to whom he is speaking directly, then immediately follows his comment with a 'high-five' to this person, indicating that he is actually speaking to a teammate, and not Kaveman. All other Rockets on the floor at that time were either behind him or beside him; the only one left was Howard. Conclusion: Yao was eyeballing the Clips who double-teamed him for the shot (Kaveman and [Brand?]), smirking in their direction, when he sees his own teammate approaching him, most likely with a fist or hand out for a congratulatory bump, when Yao says, I believe, 'They can't f**king stop me.', does the high-five, and turns toward the bench, where Deke and others await with more praise. I do not believe Yao was speaking to an opponent in this instance. In any case, most of what was said was quite clearly what it was, and the only mystery is who he was talking to. Pretty sure it was Juwan, and not Kaman. Take that for what it's worth.
I don't care who he's talking to, as long as he believes in the bull**** that's coming out of his mouth (to quote Mike James), it's a good thing.
yes.I think you are right .this behavior is not appropriate.Yao should keep his humble and nice image in our mind.
Queen song: Dont stop me now Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time I feel alive and the world I'll turn it inside out - yeah And floating around in ecstasy So don't stop me now don't stop me 'Cause I'm having a good time having a good time I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva I'm gonna go go go There's no stopping me I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic man out of you Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball Don't stop me now If you wanna have a good time just give me a call Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time) Don't stop me now (Yes I'm havin' a good time) I don't want to stop at all Yeah, I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars On a collision course I am a satellite I'm out of control I am a sex machine ready to reload Like an atom bomb about to Oh oh oh oh oh explode I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic woman of you Don't stop me don't stop me Don't stop me hey hey hey Don't stop me don't stop me Ooh ooh ooh, I like it Don't stop me don't stop me Have a good time good time Don't stop me don't stop me ah Oh yeah Alright Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic man out of you Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball Don't stop me now If you wanna have a good time (wooh) Just give me a call (alright) Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time - yeah yeah) Don't stop me now (Yes I'm havin' a good time) I don't want to stop at all La da da da daah Da da da haa Ha da da ha ha haaa Ha da daa ha da da aaa Ooh ooh ooh
no. he was def. talking to the clips.. of course he knew they couldn't hear him... but he was directing it towards the clips...
Get it over, man ( or girl ). This is not ping pong, not a fashion show. NBA is an in-your-face competition, you got to pump up yourselve's and your team's spirit from time to time, with rule-permit ways. Yao's the man. Remember one time in Asian game 2 years ago, he was fouled hard before dunking heavily on two guys' heads, with a scream of 'woh kao' (roughly means 'f**k'). The microphone on the basket sent this clearly out. Later on at the interview when reporter mentioned that, he kind of smiled and said 'holy cow, then the whole country heard that?' But that was one moment we enjoyed for a long time. And his team and audience went nuts at that time.
Good post and you're right the about the amount of expletives used in B-Ball and NBA speak. Not knowing Yao personally I have no way of knowing what Yao's character really is but an image of Yao when he first got here was as a nice guy who didn't swear or show up his opponents. I have no way of knowing whether Yao is like that, if this is an image he has deliberately cultivated or his managers have cultivated. Whether Yao is Yao whether he swears or not what I find more interesting, and perhaps more distressing, is the reaction he is getting here. The feeling I get about his is that many are either treating this like a bunch of grade schoolers would when someone says "boobies" (heh heh that guy said "boobies" heh heh) or considering this as a step up in maturity and leadership. Its great that Yao is showing emotion but is swearing at an opponent a step up in maturity and leadership? Call me old school but I remember as a kid when swearing on the field or court would earn running extra laps from the coach, pushups or running stairs after the game. Maturity and leadership on the court I was always taught was playing focussed, getting your teammates involved, hustling and respecting your opponents. Somehow that has been turned upside down. I don't blame Yao, he's just adapting to the culture that he's in, but this is more of a commentary on modern American sports culture.
Well, it has long become history. They (the Chinese) stopped intentionally conceding matches and thus (gold) medals to lesser players from other countries for the sake of "Friendship First" decades ago in international table tennis tournaments.
Why I should get over it kid? I won't. Cursing doesn't make any player domination. Otherwise go cursing yourself 1000 times a day I gurantee you get some big contract in this league.
Excellent post. Swearing doesn't show your leadership, doesn't show your maturity, doesn't show your domination, doesn't show your class. You have numerous ways to show these, but not via cursing.
I think players do need to play with a little anger, a little arrogance to be truly "dominating". Best example of balancing that competitiveness and self-confidence with dignified respect for the opponents was Hakeem Olajuwon. That's the attitude I'd like Yao to emulate; he doesn't need to be a screamer or trash talker.
Oh, role model. That reminds me. That's what Yao supposed to do in Rockets -- be a good boy, keep a clean vanilla image, a role model, a 'nice guy' who always appear in wrong end of highlights and being called 'soft' ... so maybe mamas and papas adore him so much that they'll vote him to MVP. Oh, btw, if he can lead the team to the NBA final, that'll also be nice.
