<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In my son's school this morning, a teacher decided it would be a good educational experience for the class to watch ESPN and SportsCenter. I'm not sure what he thought would be gained by this, but you can probably already guess where this is going. The class got to see dozens of views of Nate Robinson blocking Yao Ming's shot Monday in New York. I can understand ESPN's love of a remarkable highlight. Robinson is a sensational athlete and the block was pretty phenomenal, even if he could not do it without swinging through the ball and bopping Yao in the face, a fact largely ignored. It was a rare sight, making it newsworthy in a small way. But before long, my son's buddies, knowing him to be a Rockets nut, were all over him, mocking Yao Ming. You can fill in the blanks of the 15-year-old idea of taunting, sort of a more sophisticated version of a typical cable pregame show. There were the well-considered comments along the lines of 'He stinks.' This is not to debate the abilities of Yao Ming, which by now are pretty clear to anyone willing to watch. Rather, Jeff Van Gundy said on Monday that 'Rocket hate" is in vogue and the bulk of that hate seems to be directed at Yao Ming. While Yao certainly also has his supporters, even devoted fans or those that see enough to appreciate what he has accomplished and he player he has become, others prefer to cut him down to size. While I never understood the enjoyment some seem to derive from hating, focusing it on Yao seems to make even less sense. He's a good guy, humble, hard working, pretty funny. He is what fans and media say they value. Yet, since he's been here he seems to inspire derision with only the terminology changing. Van Gundy said last week that he believes the denigration of Yao among the media is from the "experts" that said he would be a bust and don't have the guts or integrity to say now that they were wrong. No doubt there is something to that, but it seems more than that. Wilt Chamberlain's theory -- nobody loves Goliath -- likely plays heavily into this. No matter what Yao does some will say it is solely because he is 7 1/2 feet tall, others will say because he is so tall, he should do more. Maybe there is some bit of racism or xenophobia in all of it. But no matter what he has become, he has been criticized for what the detractors say he is not. The leading scorer among centers this season and last, most admit he is good, but often add that they believe he should be better. If he's good, he's not great. If he's great, he's not dominant. If he's dominant, he's not a champion. Yao would seem a pretty non-controversial figure. Yet, when you tower over the crowd, you wear a target. For whatever reason, there are many that cannot resist taking shots at a target that large. It just doesn't seem that enjoyable to me.</div> Source
He makes a lot of good points. A lot of people think that just because Yao is very tall, that should translate to physical domination on the court like what Shaq or Wilt did. These people are generally not very smart.
Yes, Yao did get the crap swatted out of him, but everyone and ESPN is making a real big deal out of it. Yao really needs to play more physical if he wants to be one of the greats at center.
<div class="quote_poster">Carter Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, Yao did get the crap swatted out of him, but everyone and ESPN is making a real big deal out of it. Yao really needs to play more physical if he wants to be one of the greats at center.</div> That's what ESPN does. They take one play, and blow it out of proportion. Nevermind that Yao had 26 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks in the game and the Rockets won. They act as if great centers never get their shot blocked by guards. It happens. "But Nate is only 5'9 and Yao is 7'5!" Again, only idiots would look exclusively at their height while ignoring their other physical attributes (Yao is a slow leaper with a short vertical, and Nate Robinson is arguably the most athletic player in the whole league).
Yea, I think the article does bring up some good points. Anyway, I like the fact Yao Ming doesn't trash talk, or cut down other players, and he has steadily worked hard to become a better player. And although the Nate block on Yao was a very nice play. It was only one possession out of 100 or whatever and Yao's presence probably had a good direct or indirect impact on 60 to 80 of those possessions and ended up with the win.
I don't see why people are making such a big deal out of this one play? Sure it's amazing but at the end of the day it's all flash and won't earn the knicks a playoff spot. Remember Swift who dunked on Yao? Looked great on ESPN but he's a washup that can't do anything else.
I agree with you all. Yao will be the all star and Nate wont be doin' nothing, but it was still a great block! Its what the fans want to see. Here ENJOY! <div align="center"> </div>
It's pretty sad how he got blocked by a 5'3 guy before... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"Is that who did it?" Yao coyly said, insisting it was impossible to tell that a 5-foot-9 Robinson had blocked him. Well, Yao would say, "I've been blocked by a 5-foot-3 guy before, so that's not a record."</div> Link
Yao is humble, nice, charismatic, and funny. He's what the face of the NBA SHOULD be, it's sad that people still try to attack the guy for whateer reason.
It really isn't hard for someone to block Yao especially if they can get a vertical like that. Players get blocked all the time. It is the same thing when Yao got that steal sitting on the ground. You don't see it commonly so they replay it over and over until it dies out.
I don't get why people hate on Yao so much. He's a great player, and and he seems to be an ever greater person. Honestly, if he was white or black, I don't think he would get as much hate. He's marketed so much, and he's big all over the world, including his home country, China. I guess since he's a big phenomenon he should be averaging 30 and 15.
<div class="quote_poster">P.A.P. Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't get why people hate on Yao so much. He's a great player, and and he seems to be an ever greater person. Honestly, if he was white or black, I don't think he would get as much hate. He's marketed so much, and he's big all over the world, including his home country, China. I guess since he's a big phenomenon he should be averaging 30 and 15.</div> Yeah, thats true. I hated Yao when he first came into the league, and I thought he would never be a big time player, but he proved me wrong and look him today. Averaging 26 points a game and 10 rebounds a game, and an incredible 86 percent from the free throw line. It pisses me of when everyone makes such a big deal that Nate Robinson blocked him, and it wasn't even a clean block. (He poked him in the eye)
