Yao Ming will fly to Houston on Oct 21 with his dad

Sorry to be so picky, but Yao Ming is 7'5".

Also, don't expect him to gain 30+ pounds and "dominate" the paint. Yao Ming's game and body have more in common with Kevin Garnett than they do with Shaquille O'Neil.

The larger muscle groups are in the lower torso. You no doubt have noticed that Yao's legs are huge and not likley to get bigger. 30+ pounds of muscle in the chest and arms only may not be a reasonable expectation.

 

To really get technical ... 7'5" in bare feet, 7'6.5" in basketball shoes.

Since we generally expect him to be playing in shoes, we've been using 7'6".

Tim

 

The article at the top really isn't bad in any way shape or form. Yao Ming just says he thinks China loosened up too much in the past minute, but he seems confident China is the better team.

Beyond that, he's applying for his visa Wednesday, "planning" to fly to Shanghai on the 19th... and then says "should" be off to Houston on the 21st. He'll arrive in Houston the same date, as some of you speculated above.

Another similar article:

Ming's early Rocket flight

17oct02

CHINA'S NBA top draft pick Yao Ming said yesterday he could leave the country to join up with the Houston Rockets as early as the start of next week.

"The 21st (of October) would be the soonest I could leave, as long as I get my visa," Yao said as he stood in the visa queue outside the United States consulate in Beijing.

The giant centre -- who at 226cm cut a distinctive figure in the queue -- refused to discuss the issue of his return from the NBA for national team duty, one of the major sticking points of his move.

However, he did jokingly promise to deal personally with Wang Zhizhi, another Chinese NBA player whose refusal to return from the US to play for China almost put Yao's departure in jeopardy.

"I'll beat him to death," he said, laughing, using a common Chinese phrase roughly equivalent to "I'll kick his ass" in American parlance.

Yao declined to say anything more, concentrating instead on signing autographs for Chinese guards outside the consulate.

On Monday, the China Basketball Association said it would give Yao the final release he needed to join the Houston Rockets, as well as allowing fellow Chinese star Menke Batere to play for the San Antonio Spurs.

"Basically, everything is taken care of," said CBA commissioner Xin Lancheng at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

"We just have a few more procedures we have to go through. After those procedures are over, both Batere and Yao Ming can go. It's a question of the release. All we have to do is sign it and fax it to them (the teams)."

In June, the Rockets made Yao, 22, the first player from outside the US selected with the top pick in the NBA draft.

Despite the presence of Yao and Menke in the team, China was beaten to the Asian Games men's gold by South Korea, which pulled off a shock 102-100 overtime defeat on Monday.

Chinese officials have been keen to ensure the guaranteed return of their NBA players for national duty following the dispute with Wang, who has been dismissed from the Chinese squad and branded unpatriotic.

Wang, the NBA's first Chinese player, joined the Dallas Mavericks in April last year and played a full season with them.

But he was waived by the team and became a free agent.

He refused to return to China for last month's world championships or the Asian Games, electing to stay in Los Angeles and perform for NBA scouts, which led him to sign a new deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. - AFP

 

Getting a visa to go from China to the States isn't like driving into Canada. I know a Chinese national who went to China on a short vacation and has an estimated extra week to wait to clear up visa paper work that was supposedly taken care of before she left the States. With the recent tightening of US immigration rules, there may be delays in his getting the paperwork in order. Of course, Yao has some things in his favor that most folks don't have:

1. He's famous
2. He's applying for a work visa (and not a student visa) in an occupation that basically gets a free pass from the States
3. He probably has the best lawyers the Rockets could get a hold of to take care of his paperwork

 

let's hope so bro!

 

Others have already mentioned this sort of thing, but:

My flight to Tokyo from Houston: I left on 28 June, and I arrived 24-ish hours later, even though the flight is "only" 13 hours (of pure hell).

My return flight: I left at noon and arrived at 1 in the afternoon on the same day. Twelve-hour flight that looks like 1 hour on the wristwatch. Funky, but there it is.

Get yer "a" over here, Yao. We're a-waitin'.

 

Alrigth, FYI, there is 13 hr difference between Beijing and LA. So if
Yao leaves Shanghai in 21st afterenoon say 2 pm , it is 1am/21st in LA. I know there is flight drictly fly from Shanghai to LA with no
stop, and there is flight stop in Beijing for a hour or so. The former
one takes around 10hr flying time, the latter one takes 13 hrs. Let's
assumme he take the first flight, so he will arrvies in LA on the 21st
11 AM. Then he make connet flight to Houston, which takes probably
3 hrs. Consider there is two hr difference, Yao should arrive in Houston by 6pm in the evening on the 21st.

 

deleted

 

With both Ming and his father on the plane together, you just know that some idiot will walk up to them on the flight and say "ya know, you two guys should think about playing basketball with your height"

 

It seems he can come to Houston at noon.

Travel flight Oct.21 by Yahoo:
"http://dps1.travelocity.com/airgcobrand.ctl?smls=Y&Service=YHOE&.resform=YahooFlightsO&.intl=us&trip_option=oneway&module=tripsrch&source=YO&adult_pax_cnt=1&chld_pax_cnt=0&senior_pax_cnt=0&dep_arp_cd%281%29=ShangHai&arr_arp_cd%281%29=LAX&dep_arp_range%281%29=100&arr_arp_range%281%29=100&dep_dt_mn_1=Oct&dep_dt_dy_1=21&dep_tm_1=9%3a00am&results=tripsrch&cls_svc=YR&pref_aln=all&aln_cd%281%29=&aln_cd%282%29=&aln_cd%283%29=&num_cnx=1&tm_range=6"

--------------------------------
Mon, Oct 21
11:25am Depart - Shanghai Pu Dong (PVG) United Airlines 858 / 1805
10:27am Arrive - Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 1 Connection - San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Total travel time: 14 hrs 2 min





Mon, Oct 21
11:50am Depart - Shanghai, China (SHA) Asiana Airlines 364 / 202
11:30am Arrive - Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 1 Connection - Incheon Int Seoul, Korea Repub (ICN)
Total travel time: 14 hrs 40 min



Mon, Oct 21
11:00am Depart - Shanghai Pu Dong (PVG) All Nippon Airways 922 /United Airlines 890
10:05am Arrive - Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 1 Connection - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT)
Total travel time: 14 hrs 5 min




Mon, Oct 21
11:00am Depart - Shanghai Pu Dong (PVG) All Nippon Airways 922 / 7018 Operated by United Airlines
10:05am Arrive - Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 1 Connection - Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT)
Total travel time: 14 hrs 5 min
-------------------------

 

If Yao Ming departs Beijing at 2pm in the afternoon of the 21st, it will be 11pm. in Los Angeles of the 20th.(15hrs. difference) and 1am, in Houston of the 21st.(13hrs. difference).Say the flight takes 13hrs. approx.then he would arrive in LA at 12noon of the 21st,( 2pm.in Houston). If it takes 2 hours to get his luggage,port entry surveilance etc. travel to Charter then it would be 4pm. Houston time. Charter is fast say 3 hours then Yao Ming flight would arrive in Houston at 7pm. approx. on the 21st.
***( This is just a second version of previous post by feishen). I hope this way, each one can understand that time works from East to West and that LA is TWO more hours behind Houston.

 

Hey, as long as he gets here.

Ya'll in Houston should find out for sure when he gets there and greet him like a pack of squealing groupies. Make him know how much we've waited for him to get here.

 

According to Chinese media, Yao Ming and his teammates have to attend the "sum up-meeting" of NT and go through "deep self-examination" because of their failure at Busan. That is the reason Ming cannot leave China until 21st.

 

That meeting should take about 5 minutes.

"Coach sucks, see yall next year."

 

Wang Fei, the head coach of China NT, didn't know that his father had passed away ten days ago until he returned Beijing yesterday. His family didn't tell him when he was in Busan because they didn't want to disturb him.

 

LOL. I don't know why, but this quote is making me laugh. Didn't Yao say he was going to teach the team Chinese cuss words?

Good to hear when he gets here. So, had they (China) won, he may have been here sooner?

 

Damn that's pretty cruel.

 

deleted.

W&S posted this already.

 

Yes. Maybe 18th.

 

I hope this report is true. But, I have a gut feeling it's not .