Well, it worked for Kobe Bryant. You just have to make sure to add "And don't you even f(cking think about calling a technical!"
This thread has turned into border-line hillarity.... NBA players shouldn't curse?!?!? I got news for you.... Magic, Larry, and Michael (the venerable "holy trinity") were as FOUL mouthed, overly-competitive, wanted to "rip your guts out, and serve them to you"... as it gets. Then, add guys like Isaiah Thomas (who apparently is still getting his kicks in), Charles Barkley, Shaq, Reggie Miller, Clyde Drexler, and even the "humble" Hakeem Olajuwon as further evidence of guys who didn't refrain from having emotional outbursts, or out-trash-talking your opponent. I only think this is a good thing... because Yao's biggest problem the last 2-3 years is maintaining AGRESSIVENESS from game to game. If Yao develops that sort of killer instinct mentality, that allows him to exert himself above and beyond the limitations of his physical short-comings (ie - adrenaline starts to carry him more and more late in games... he starts getting into a "zone" that is normally based on pure confidence/emotion)... it can only make him that much more unstoppable.
Jesus, I definitely think people who dislike the use of word are over-reacting. We Chinese people curse regularly to the point that 操and我靠 aren't even necessarily considered cursing any more, at least not without examining the circumstances. We all have emotions; I mean, when I watched World Cup 24/7 this summer, the words "sh*t" and "我靠" were popping up quite often. Personally, I love it. Yao is already at a superstar level by his stats alone, but he has the confidence to tell the opposing player to "bring it on and I'll show you I'm still the best."
clearly there are a lot of people here (ones not happy with the cussing) that have not participated in competition such as this. yao was pissed about the fouling and non-calls and he is incredibaly pumped with adrenaline. not many in the world could hold back in that situation. and the greatest players never do. and don't even bring up how someone like dwayne wade doesn't do it. he gets all the calls his way.
Actually, the problem many of us see is not the cussing. It's the trash-talking attitude. If Yao was tired of all the cheat shots and gave Kaman some attitude, I am all for it. But if Yao has become cocky and becomes disrespectful of the opponent, then I think it is bad. I'd rather have a humble and hungry Yao who is aggressive in his play rather than a loud-mouth trash-talking Yao. Maybe it's just me. I never respect trash talkers. Rather than getting discouraged, a trash talking opponent would only make me more pumped up to beat him. I respect those who do the talking with their games, not with their mouth.
It's not just you. I second that. Don't think trash talking will bring Yao any good for his image. Yao could easily be the face of NBA due to his skill and unique personality. Why should he turn to a trash talking guy? This league is not short of trash talkers. I hope team Yao and even the Rox coaching staff/front office give him some good suggestions. There are lots of things Yao could and should learn in this league, but trash talking is not one of them.
Was that even close to mean-spirited taunting? It's just a smile and a statement about he can't be stopped.
I was at the Clippers game, and you all are taking that clip of Yao totally out of context. Immediately before that event, Yao and Chris Kaman were arguing who was better at Super Smash Brothers. Kaman claimed he could own Yao with Fox, where a clearly offended Yao responded "You can't f.cking stop me [with Link]!" This conversation happened to take place near the end of the game when Yao hit that fade-away. ------------------------------------ No, but seriously, you Clutchfan posters could b**** about anything! There is a reason you haven't seen any Yao videos like this before. Kaman was talking trash to him, and therefore, Yao was provoked. Kaman probably said something like, I'm going to stop you on this play (with added curse words), so after Yao swished that fade-away, he felt compelled to say that. I also heard that before the game, the Clippers made a Yao cardboard figure that they told Kaman to talk smack to? Can anyone confirm that? Regardless, Yao is still one of the most classiest individuals in the game. Notice how he still respects Shaq despite Shaq mocking his language when Yao was a rookie, along with using Yao's height as an excuse for why Yao dominated him earlier this season. After the Wizards game when Yao dominated in the 4th quarter, Yao called the injured Wizard centers, Etan Thomas and Brenden Haywood "great players". Not only is Yao being classy and respectful, he's overrating his opponents! Besides, Yao was telling the truth. You can't f.cking stop his fade-away!
On a completely unrelated note, if the playoffs started today, we'd be the #6 seed. We would play #3 Utah Jazz. If we won that series, we could play #2 Phoenix Suns. If we won that series, we could play #1 San Antonio Spurs. Sound familiar anyone? Can you say 1994-95? It's a long shot IMO, but we could also play the current #2 seed Orlando Magic in the finals. If that happened, we would get to see Yao dominate Dwight Howard.
perfect pronunciation <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2OAT0rSmWr4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2OAT0rSmWr4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
you dont care about the team and effort if you dont talk trash back... would it be nice to see a half-deaf and mute superstar walking on and off the court everynight putting up 30+ ppg and 10+ prg??? just dont overreact it like those dumbass in Nuggets.... such punks... so....keep it up!! Yao!!!
Well I've never played basketball at the NBA level and call me presumptious I doubt you have either. That said I've played plenty of basketball and I know all about swearing and trash talking. I'm no saint and even swear myself both on and off the court. Usually at myself for blowing an easy shot. As I said I understand Yao or any other player getting emotional and swearing. What bothers me isn't that NBA players swear its that fans feel that is a sign of maturity and a way to get respect. Again maybe I'm just old school because when I played team ball as a kid if you swore on the court or field the coach was going to make you run laps or pushups. Apparently now its cheered on that you swear and act like an @ss. A rather juvenile sentiment but again being an old school kind of guy my coaches told me that hustling for rebounds and loose balls, looking for open teammates, being willing to make an extra pass, hustling back on D, setting picks and taking charges was the way you show you care about team and effort. Boy did coach have things backward, perhaps he should've made players run stairs who didn't talke trash. I can't help feeling that this thread is just another part of the decline of civility and maturity in sports. While pro-sports has always been about toughness and machismo with players fighting and swearing it seems now that fans expect and celebrate that. People are condeming Isiah Thomas for having his players act thuggish while celebrating Yao. Yao isn't becoming a brawler, although I get the feeling that many here would like him to be, but to me these are symptoms of the same problem. I agree with Barkley that athletes aren't role models but like it or not athletes have a profound influence on culture and vice versa. On any playground court you see little kids swearing and talking trash to each other largely because they see pro-athletes doing the same thing that's our sports culture and its so saturated to the point that we believe that an athlete can't get respect or be considered mature unless they do the same thing. For me I don't think that's a good thing.
I think Kobe Bryant being hyped by the media, scoring a lot, winning three rings, having Phil Jackson as a coach had more to do with it. If dropping F-bombs was the way to get more calls your way you would see everyone including Steve Novak swearing at refs constantly.
Even though this is an article about the Nuggets/Knicks fight, it mentions Yao and his play against Chris Kaman... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=bucherfightview "You know what bothers me most? That I'm writing about this, rather than what I saw Sunday at Staples Center. I'd rather be mulling over the wondrously transformed Yao Ming, pounding his chest emphatically after a dunk and staring down Chris Kaman after a foul, finding that one extra stellar play to knock off the Clippers, the play that had eluded him in the two previous games in a last-second loss to Golden State and double-overtime loss to the Lakers."
This is exactly what I sensed too. It's like you were blocked once by Mutumbo and his wagging finger, so you returned the favor with a facial and dropped a F-bomb to ice it.
Doesn't matter who is playing against Yao in that hypothetical situation; he'll dominate whoever is there.
i noticed in today's chronicle an article on youtube and on the right hand column they had a list of local Youtube favorite's. this vid was number 3 "3 Read Yao Ming's lips. Block That Clippers!" i think the newpaper edited what he said a bit....
