I agree that many American's do not know alot about other cultures, and yes, it is wrong to make broad statements about cultures we know nothing of. I however, think you are just as bad as anyone .. Who are YOU to say that American's don't work things out and the Chinese do? I'm sorry, but you act like you are an expert on the subject because you have travelled around when in reality you know nothing of what happens in governments. Stick to what you know, not what you assume .. just as I think American's who have never spent time in China should not make generalizations about the Chinese.
Yes, this is dependent on other teams offering more or less. He can be the Herschel Walker of the Rockets.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/special/yao/1683653 Read the article. He's going to play for the Golden State Warriors whether Les Alexander likes it or not. It's too bad for Les since he won't be getting those Chinese beer endorsement dollars anymore too. I'm pretty sure there is a clause in the contract to immediately cancel everything if Yao leaves the Rockets. I'm also thinking Toyota has something to say too. Yao Ming is a person. He's not just dollars and cents. He's going to want to play for Golden State just because of the comforts of China are closer to him.
Yao is not the only 23-year old Chinese in US. For instance, there are tens of thousands of Chinese graduate students at different univeristies in US. Just check Texas-Austin or TAMU, you'll find many of them: leave China to another country for the first time at the age of 21-23, study and work hard, not able to see their parents even once per year, feel homesick and lonely often. And I'm one of them. So what do we do when feeling down? Make a long-distance call to china, talk to parents and friends? Maybe. But people in China don't know what's going on in US and how tough to survive here, just like people in Yaoming.net have no clue about basketball and the NBA. Yes, we could get plenty of comforting and encouragement from our people. But you suck if you suck, no matter what they say. The only way to get over it is to work harder and improve yourself. Yao is smart. I used to think he'd understand this. But reading his recent post in his bbs made me really sad: what the hell is the point to tell thousands of fans that you feel homesick after having a few bad games? what do you expect to get from them? That crappy bbs has been there for quite a few months and Yao knows what type of replies he would get there. Yao: talk to your parents and close friends to seek comforting. Don't expose your weakness to 1/5 of the population in the world. That's just....sissy.
"I'd like to play for the Golden State Warriors because there is a large population of Chinese there," he said. "If I do play in the States, the Chinese friends to me are very important. Anyone staying out of his country feels a strong attachment to his own country and people." http://www.examiner.com/sports/default.jsp?story=sp.yao.0305 This was a quote before the draft, so it might have been just press talk. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/10/14/story3.html Read this article. It shows why Golden State wants him badly. It's about money. Golden State really doesn't have a marquee player.
On a maturity level, Yao is just a young man not much removed from teenage years. And because Yao is in a foreign country make it that much harder. I would say that most men don't really reach a good maturity level until their late 20's (26-27). Sure, some mature faster. But just generally. He'll be fine.
You forget that your way of doing things is yours and not his. Yao is Yao and not you. He has his own personality and own way of reasoning. If you want to judge him as sissy then that is fine because that is your own opinion. However, other people (me included) may not see it that way. I feel for him. Now he canot even have his own personality because fans will suggest and tell him what to do even in his free time or private life or telling him not to have homesick.
I didn't know houston had so many psychologists. These trivial comments are being blown way out of proportion. Note to anyone feeling homesick: don't let anyone know cause you aren't allowed to have that feeling and will be called a sissy. Wow if someone so trivial as that can make YOU sad......then that's just SAD. It sounds like you don't have a very tough makeup and aren't handling your situation too well. Maybe you should think about returning home? Seems like you are jealous of Yao too tearing down his bbs and site. Is it because there's no site about you cause nobody gives a damn?
Homesickness is not a problem as long as Yao doesn’t let it affect his play on the court. I just hope he isn’t trying to use homesickness as some type of excuse for his lackadaisical play lately. Continually using excuses as a crutch for Eddie Griffin is what contributed to his failure and to some degree the inability of turning Steve into a superstar. If the Rockets try to pamper Yao and continually allow him to make excuses for poor play, I’m afraid he may end up like those two. A player that never ends up realizing his potential.
I’m not saying that Yao is going to use it as an excuse. I'm saying I don't want the Rockets to continually use it as an excuse. I’m pretty sure Yao is never going to go into their office and tell them he’s homesick. I don’t want the Rockets to let Yao get away with playing lazy or soft because he’s homesick. They’re not going to be doing him any favors by pampering him. They’ve already made the mistake of being too easy on players in the past. I don’t want them to do it again.
in that case he shoud really join the raptors since toronto has the most chinese population in north america and i'm sure they wouldn't mind to have a 7'6'', 23 yo, potentially one of the best centers on board. just kidding
I am not the one who says Americans donot talk things out, our history as a nation does. I would not consider myself an expert on Chinese culture, but the fact that I have been in touch with many Chinese people, not Chinese American, would probably make me more of an expert than you are. And no, I am not assuming they are better than us, just trying to make a distinction between the two cultures, and hoping some would see the possibility of a multicultural world, instead of a world where the only way is the American way. I am a Political Scientist, So yes I would consider myself an expert in governments, because that was my field of specialty when I acquired my master's degree. And to the poster who assumes that a peoples of a nation under undemocratic regimes means they are not "good" peoples, that is the exact tactic governments of the West, not just America, uses to villify the "other" side, so it is easier to hate them and, eventually, easier to fight them if required. Now that I said what I think, lets stay on topic of Yao being homesick!
I'm not trying to tell Yao what to do or what to feel. As I said in my previous post: i feel for him, as much as you do. You are right. Yao does not need fans in his private life. That's why i think he should stop posting and reading in that corny BBS. Did you read those replies?
Before this I only read. To write my English is too bad. But what Yao'd written is just very smiple in Chinese culture. He just wanna have a rest in his own BBS. And of couse, he can't bring his girlfriend to America. She is a Center in Chinese Women's Basketball Team.
and you have to jump out to make tigermission1's point that many american believe that "the only way is the American way".
Weird, actually I am not a leftist, and I would ask you to define "leftist" as you put it, but let's save it for another time. I actually did not bring the cultural difference issue up in the thread, but some others did and I just felt compelled to throw in my two-senses. I am also not so sure that it is off-topic since we ARE talking about Yao's different approach in admitting his feelings compared to what we consider to be the "norm". But again, it might be just a bit off-topic in that we are generalizing here for the most part, instead of talking about Yao specifically. So I will quit this exchange now.
