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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.]
yo one bad grape spoils the bunch...what the heeeeeel are u talking about...this is the point...shaq dissed my language and yao ming and nobody is talking about it because its OK for a black person to say it..you wont find anything on it because no one cares...man this is just like rush hour 2...Its ok for a black guy to diss a chinese man...no its not ok...
phil the thrill
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 11:50:52 (PDT)
[169.226.236.30]
THis is one of the few forums I haven't bitched in yet.
I was just pointing out what I perceive as the reason why Shaq (or whoever it was originally) said something that was taken as offensive.
If you feel threatened, you'll lash out, not rollover and die.
Honestly, who resorts to yelling racism the most?
huu76
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 10:49:53 (PDT)
[207.164.88.163]
To: Some of you are so sad
Can you please pick a handle instead of just changing it from phrase to phrase. If you read my post correctly, I didn't say anything about Shaq being racist or that his comments was a harmful racist remark. I stated that people shouldn't tell others how they should react. Pay attention please.
Slab
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 06:49:48 (PDT)
[162.66.50.1]
what Pero Cameron of New Zealand who is of Maori/Niuean/Samoan heritage. He was included in the World Basketball Championship All Star 5. Man I know for sure that those Polynesians on average are the best athletes in the world. For such a small population they are very dominant. Forget sissy football where protection gear is needed, they create havoc on the rugby fields which is a real man's sport.
Azn in Hawaii
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 04:28:42 (PDT)
[202.27.176.157]
huu 76
with all this ranting going on in this forum, it seem that blacks arent the only ones who are 'sensitive'!
so who's bitching now?
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 03:00:06 (PDT)
[194.72.136.10]
philthethrill
You said, "...see this is the difference between blacks and chinese...blacks make ignorant jokes that hurt other people's feelings and chinese people make smart jokes that dont offend anyone..."
I see this board slowly but surely deteriorating into a "bash the blacks" board so I thought I'd interject. I don't honestly even know what Shaq said b/c I hadn't even heard about this interview until I began reading some of these comments. Anyway, I just hope everyone remembers (especially philthethrill) that I'm sure not all blacks found this amusing or agreed with it. While I'm not Asian or black (I'm mixed actually), I can understand why many Asians would be upset. While joking amongst your friends is one thing, I don't agree w/Shaq making a joke about another race on a public show, if that's what happened. I'd actually like to see what he said so I guess I'll go out on MSN and see if I can find it!!
PS...Personally I think it'd be great if Yao hooked up w/a BF!! :-)
1 Bad Apple Spoils Bunch!
Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 22:48:09 (PDT)
[63.233.90.222]
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