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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.]
7'5" Ming got dunked on by 6'3" German.
Ugleeeeeeeee. simply ugggggggggggleee.
Ming also had a whopping 5 rebounds. There's your hero.
That was just nasty in Ming's face.
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 21:29:43 (PDT)
[66.107.44.253]
[What's really ugly are lots of ALL-CAPS phrases. Next time your entire post will be lowercased, or worse. --Ed]
Let's be realistic here. Yao has the potential to be a great center. He is not Shaq because he does not have the brute force or the post moves; but he has alot of things that Shaq does not. He's taller, got great mid-range shooting, good solid base and shot blocking abilities (naturally from his size). If he keeps on improving then he could be the best center in the league in a couple of years. Please keep in mind that Shaq, Alonzo are getting older and injuries are creeping up. Of course all we are arguing about is the future, the kids got great potential but whether or not we see any results depends on his competitiveness, attitude and a little luck. So take it easy, relax and watch/enjoy his development. If not anything, then the market for Chinese Big men is now open.
Madagascar
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 11:30:45 (PDT)
phil the dill,
"if you know alot about sports u dont need to watch espn"
you're an idiot. what do you look at? a crystal ball? don't hate on george karl because he was only stating the obvious. he's the coach of the usa team that kicked china's ass by 30 points. he knows more than you will ever comprehend. what do you know? nothing but that ming is chinee. big deal. you're just looking at a fellow native mainlainder and assuming he will succeed because you're just another blind chinese national and buying into all the propoganda. that's not only irrational, but also sad. really sad.
You just got smacked.
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 11:00:59 (PDT)
Of course they're going to talk smack about how awful Yao is going to be. They're just jealous of all the attention. Just how many people knew that Shaq was a number 1 pick. Not many.
On the other hand, Yao was the center of the world. JEALOUSY.
One guy is right though when stating that blacks in America are given more opportunity, therefore, they dominate football and Basketball. Just when did an African nation last won gold or finished at least 5th place in the Olympics or world competition in basketball? Never! Many African-American children dream of making it in the NFL and NBA, therefore, they take that mentality with them in their adulthood. Millions and millions of them get heart broken when they find out that it is not that easy making it. How many African-American kids grow up dreaming of becoming a soccer All star or to be Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time? Close to none. There is one black Hockey player, but he is not that good.
Asian-Americans only consist of 4-6% compared to 17% of African-Americans. This includes Mullatos (Half black and Half white) and half black and half Asian breeds for blacks because they are not considered to be white nor Asian by the white community and Asian community. This is angering, but it is true. Hispanics consist of 25%. There are not many Asians here in the first place to even give a fair comparison.
Asians are indeed on average more stressed than others. Family pressure and expectations play huge parts of the equation in Asian-Americans; they expect you to be smart. Constant hunger in third world Asian countries play a tremendous effect on the kids also.
Although African-Americans are taller on average because of the food supply, not the same could be said with Native Africans. Native-Africans are short. I know because I have befriended many of them from Somalia, Ethiopia, South Africa, and other African nations and I towered through most of them. And I'm only 5 foot 8. One of my closest friends named Danny, an African native is only 5 foot 1 along with his close friend who stands at 5 foot 9. Sure there are some Africans who grow tall, but they are most related to the tribes who grow taller than most other Africans. Take Manute Bol for example: He stands at 7 foot 7, but came out from the tallest tribe in Africa. Even he is much taller than the average tall people. It is the same way that Northern Chinese and Northern Koreans grow taller than any other Asian group. Have you even seen the U.S. team play against an African team? The African team looks very small compared to the U.S who always beats them by 40 to 50 or even more points.
If China truly wants to compete against the world, they have got to get a coach, training coach, and assistant coaches from a foreign land like the U.S. or Europe who knows more about the game. It has to be done because Chinese coaches coach differently from them. Look at Korean team. The first year this foreign coach came in, they got into the semis for the first time.
It does not take a genius to figure out that the coach for the Chinese national team did not really know what to do in certain situations. He had bad player rotations and vividly focuses only in the offensive part of the game.
Say what you want, but stop being ignorant.
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 10:47:19 (PDT)
o yeah also if you think you're so smart why dont you look deeper than the stat sheet and see he's just a rookie and with training he will be the best center in the league...hahaha yeah you think you know so much about sports but you just watch ESPN and read the daily newspaper sports section...if you know alot about sports u dont need to watch espn
phil the thrill
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 05:56:49 (PDT)
I dont care what George Karl says...I dont care what Antonio Davis says...hes a washout anyway...I can see with my own 2 eyes...13 pts, 11 rbs, 6 blocks, 3 assists, 2 steals...do you know how many fantasy points i can get if he was on my fantasy basketball team...hahaha...so please dont think you are so smart trying to think deeper than the quote...this isnt AP english class or something hahah...so stop farting around on this goldsea message board
phil the thrill
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 at 18:25:49 (PDT)
Just had an Einstein moment. How about we stop the insults and wait until the season starts.
Until then, maybe it'd be a good idea to bottle all the anger, jeaslousy, envy. After all, whichever way he goes (up I hope), it'll make the other side look reeeeal stupid.
huu76
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 at 16:52:19 (PDT)
In the most recent segment of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption", they had an interview with George Karl, coach of the USA basketball team. In that interview, Karl said he would NOT have picked Yao if he had the pick, and he said that there were just too many question marks and uncertainties.
Didn't Karl just compare ming to Chamberlain a few days ago??
Hmmmm... see how different quotes come out of the same person/coach when he's out of the local area!
Just acknowledge it. Of course, George Karl gave kinder words to ming when he was still in Oakland because evidently, more than half the audience in Oakland came out to see ming. By giving ming small meaningless complements through the media, Karl was just being a classy guy, but he wasn't really stating the truth. the US team already blew yao and china out of the water by 30 points, there was no need in telling everyone that he thinks ming sucks.
And it's just so funny that Karl would not pick the guy that he compared to Chamberlain. George Karl's a smart and respectable coach. When asked if he would pick ming in the draft, he didn't even pause for a microsecond to announce a big resounding NO. That's how much he really thinks of the tall chinese guy. Even Antonio Davis thinks ming isn't that good in the most recent quote/ he just thought ming wasn't even going to be the level of Rik Smits because ming doesn't know how to put the ball on the floor. in Oakland, Davis only implied he was surprised by ming's performance because he came in to the game with such low expectations. it's easy to surpass expectations if you set them really low.
And just because ming exceeded those extremely low expectations, it does not put him anywhere near the elite. Most of the NBA players, including ben wallace, only think ming could play in the NBA, but they NEVER actually said that they think he's awesome or that he belongs on the top elite level. Those two ideas are completely different. ming is really no better than Bradley.
If you're biased fan and have a lot of wishful thinking, you might try to totally manipulate and twist interpretations to benefit your personal agenda. But most of us are wiser and gifted to see beyond the favorable but unfair garbage analyses. And as we've witnessed in all these lame posts in these recent pages, the majority of the blind and delusional crowd in here really do nothing to help their cause other than presenting misused quotes and inaccurate date.
The ignorance exposed in most of your nearsighted writings is not impressive one bit. Where are the bright and rational people? I am going to puke if I read another stupid post from some biased and hopelessly lost ming fan.
Can people tell what quotes are real and not real? Evidently not!
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 18:09:38 (PDT)
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