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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Yao Ming: The Next Asian Superstar?
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:38:56 AM)
he sweetest moment for Asian men in American sports came on June 26, 2002 at Madison Square Garden. The Houston Rockets had just spent their number one overall draft pick on 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming over 6-2 Duke guard Jay Williams. The largely black crowd of draft prospects and their contingents booed. They had reason to be displeased. For the past quarter century black athletes had dominated pro basketball and they saw Yao as a subversive force, an alien threat. Even Charles Barkley -- Yao's basketball idol -- sniped at Houston's choice and hinted at bad consequences.
David or Goliath?
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What's wrong with this picture?
In the global sports scene blacks have come to represent all-around athletic prowess. Asian athletes, on the other hand, have been painted as disciplined and skilled but lacking power and size, able to excel only in sports no one cares about. For an Asian to get the top pick in a black-dominated sport was heresy.
To appreciate what Yao represents to Asian American men requires a quick trip down memory lane. And we do mean quick. The lane is short and sparsely populated.
In the beginning there was Sammy Lee, the first Asian American to win Olympic gold. He did it with 10-meter platform diving at the 1948 London games and again in 1952 at the Helsinki games. Not exactly a marquee sport, but inspiring nevertheless at a time when Asian Americans hardly knew what to call themselves.
Then came Michael Chang whose 1989 French Open championship has passed into tennis legend. Cramping and down two sets to Ivan Lendl in the round of 16, the 17-year-old phenom dared to discombobulate the Ice Man with moonballs and an underhanded serve. The ploy worked. The proof that Chang's nerves and speed were real came in the classic 5-set finals victory against Stefan Edberg. But Chang's recent ignomious descent into tennis twilight raises the suspicion that he simply lacks the size and power to stay in the power game.
It wasn't until Hideo Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995 that an Asian athlete was able to inspire sustained frenzy in one of the big-three sports. Nomo's martian windup and delivery proved so effective that he set Dodgers strikeout records, made the All-Stars and inspired Nomomania.
By 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki joined the Mariners, Asian imports taking Rookie of the Year honors had practically become a Major League tradition. But none had done it with Ichiro's flair or sunglasses. It wasn't enough that he led the game in hitting and basestealing, he seemed determined to make it look easy. Sex appeal had finally come to the image of the Asian male athlete.
But the image still lacked something in many AA minds. Sure, for a leadoff hitter Ichiro hit his share of home runs, but he was known for speed and finesse, not power. Having chafed so long under stereotypes denying them size and strength, AA men longed for a star who could knock those assumptions back into the last millennium.
Eyes turned longingly to football as the obvious arena for the ultimate stereotype smasher -- and saw only Dat Nguyen of the Dallas Cowboys. As a promising linebacker, Nguyen doesn't enjoy the cache of a star offensive back. And at 5-11 and 240 pounds, Nguyen isn't exactly in the 99th percentile in terms of size and power among football players.
Asian American eyes were drawn to basketball by a trio of giants known collectively as "The Great Wall". They were very big for the Chinese national team. First to make his NBA debut was Wang Zhizhi (7-1, 220 pounds) in April 2001. As a center for the Dallas Mavericks he has averaged 5.5 points per 10.6 minutes of playing time per game. A respectable stat for any rookie but disappointing for those who had hoped for an instant Asian star. Then came Mengke Bateer (6-11, 290 pounds) in February of 2002. Despite 15.1 minutes of play per game as a center for the Denver Nuggets, he too disappointed some with an average 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Enter the Dragon. At a height variously described as 7-5 or 7-6, Yao Ming, 22, is at once the tallest and youngest of the trio. In the past two years his weight shot up from 255 to 295 pound -- and he's still growing. His gifts extend beyond size, however. He moves a foot shorter. Born to a pair of former stars for the Chinese national teams, his court instincts and skills are practically dyed-in-the-wool.
And yet Yao isn't a lock to defy the darker prognostications of his prospects as a Rocket. He was regularly outplayed by Wang Zhizhi when both were playing in China. Even with Yao, Wang and Mengke, the Chinese national team routinely lost to second-tier powers like France and Lithuania. Yao has never gone up against the likes of Shaquille O'Neal. The adjustment to life in the U.S. will be long and difficult. In short, Yao Ming is ideally positioned to become the biggest disappointment in the history of Asians in American sports.
Is Yao Ming the next Asian superstar? Or is he more likely to reinforce the image of Asian men as also-rans in power sports?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Ray,
You are so right.
Just look at what happened to the Lakers vs. the Kings this year.
The Kings were for the most part dominated by white players (2 Yugoslavians and 1 Turkish). These 3 were what made the Sacramento Kings a reality this year and they nearly (some say they should have) beat the L.A. Lakers who are for the most part dominated by black players who play the slash type and live by dunking.
Chris
Thursday, August 15, 2002 at 01:08:50 (PDT)
Ray,
With close to 4 actual NBA starters, the Warriors still got whooped badly and were a lousy 2-4 in the summer leagues. Wang was part of that group, and he played a lot of garbage minutes. Im from the bay area, and 've been to a few games, and my impression of Wang is that he forces too many things to happen instead of playing a fluid game. The same can be said to the rest of the Warriors squad. Man, they really suck! Anyway, no way, I don't think Wang's going to be that good even if coaches gave him the minutes. 25 points a game is a bit silly. 10-12 is a more reasonable goal on a pretty weak squad like Memphis, Denver, or Warriors.
But hey, I have to agree with the other dude. The NBA is not really ready to accept a lot of short foreigners. For every 10 foreigners in the NBA, probably 8 or 9 of them are pretty tall, so he's right about that. Plus, filipinos can't ball!!! hell no. They're freaking weaker than canadians. Have you ever been to a ball court in canada? you're not missing much. (well, of course there's steve nash, but he's one in a million. plus, he played in Santa Clara.)
Jung Wu aka D handlez
Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 22:02:42 (PDT)
hey fool.
I mean ray. you write the most junk here, but you don't even know what you're talking about, man!
Let me offer your slow ass a REALITY CHECK.
I've seen the filipino pro league, and dammmmmn, i'm not even exaggerating, but they SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK big #@$*$.
I remember the competition level of the game that I saw was just like.... a notch or FIVE below a recreational YMCA. To say that they were terrible would be a generous compliment. What the hell are you really talking about?? Perhaps your game is so lousy that you're easily impressed by no-talented players. Or maybe I'm wrong and you don't have any game at all. So if you don't know, then let me school you.
That filipino pro league stinks. And aren't philipines always dead last or close to last in all asian baksetball competitions? There goes your weak supporting arguments down the draaaaain.
So damn... where do you pull these stupid things out of your @ss saying there's going to be a 5'10" filipino league player in the NBA soon????????????? Yea, and I'm going to run for president.
If you're going to continue to show us that you're an idiot that does not know what competitive basketball is, then please don't bother writing anymore and save some bandwidth for someone who actually knows something.
*yaaaaaaaaawn*
Kerry
Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 13:59:47 (PDT)
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