This is the latest from the Chronicle: "Yao had generally praised Artest and the trade, but had said he was concerned about “chemistry” and made a joking reference to the incident when Artest went into the stands after a fan, inspiring Artest to say he would be happy to come to Houston only if Yao and the Rockets demonstrated their commitment to the move." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl...kn/5918602.html Yao was merely JOKING! It was intended to be nothing more than one of those witty little jokes Yao often makes during interviews. Yet our buddy Fran Blinebury over at the Chronicle still tried to create some friction less than a day after the trade. What a miserable fool! Now this crap is all over the news. It will blow over but it never should have started in the first place. Thanks, Fran. Thanks for nothing.
That's why I hate it when I read printed quotes. You never know the question that was asked, the context it was said in, or the inflection of the speaker that could give it some entirely different meaning. All media = douchebags. Except for Tim Cowlishaw. I like him.
This wasn't a great thread topic but I really wanted to get it out there ASAP for those that were bothered by all this crap as much as me.
In the words of a wise man named Scarface -"I wus oly kiddin" Still, Blindburblacerr whatever his name is better not start ish in the locker room or I will insult him in every one of his future Blog posts.
I agree 100%. I could definitely see Yao making that joke.I hate the media so much,damn them all,except of course Tim Cowlishaw.I like him too.
I totally agree with you, Brooksball. "I hope he doesn't go into the stands," Yao joked. "I hope he doesn't go into the stands," Yao bristled. One word is all it takes. Blinebury could have easily said, "You're joking, right, Yao?" How hard is it to do that? Irresponsible journalism.
I'd love it if someone with photoshop skills could put Blinebury's fat head on the dude with the gun.
it may be a joke, but like artest said, you don't bring up an incident like that that caused artest a whole season. just the insinuation of the incident disappointed artest. the chemistry thing that yao mentioned is fair game and anyone would have that opinion. but like artest said, jokingly or not, the mention of the incident really triggered a nerve with artest. it's like jokingly saying to kobe bryant hopefully he doesn't rape a girl again. you may joke when you say that, but kobe will def. not take that as a joke.
Fran "Blind"bury strikes again. That guy really hates his job, I've never seen anyone more sour about covering sports in the media than he is. He should try a real job and see what it feels like.
the SacBee should take much of the blame as well. two wannabe powerhouse sports rags battling it out for the big scoop
PS - from that article, it seems like artest and alston will make this team a very intimidating team on the court as they're both tough NY kids. and artest seems to admire tracy A LOT (no homo). but yao and artest are cool now. just hope yao improves during the olympics and get back and the team starts training camp. chemistry won't be a problem. this team has too many good guys.
That's a good argument. I hear what you are saying and agree to an extent. At the same time, Blinebury should have either left that part of the comments out of his piece or, at the least, added that Yao was joking around. Part of what bothered Ron was that he thought Yao was SERIOUSLY concerned. As it turns out, Yao was totally JOKING. That would have at least lessened the impact of the comments if not totally avoiding this whole drama.
You are absolutely right. He lets his misery infect his writing and we often have to pay for it. This is a classic example. I really hope he leaves the Chronicle sooner than later.
Fran was the leaker. Once it was out, it was open game. I don't blame a guy from a city that just got robbed of its best player for running with that. Plus Sam Amick didn't do the interview so he couldn't have known that Yao was completely JOKING like we all know now.
the lesson here is to not freak out over everything the Chronicle reports. on the same notion, just because the article suggests Yao's comment was a "joking reference" does not absolve everything either. we all understand that alot of what Yao said (in his second language) was poorly misconstrued and out of context.
well yea but which one sounds worst. Phil Jackson-"haha,yea I hope Kobe doesnt rape another girl.haha"(in a joking matter) Yao-"haha,This trade is totally awesome,like seriously,as long as he doesnt go in to the stands again.haha."(in a joking matter)
