Yao made an appearance last night at Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill‘s charity bowling event in Houston benefitting Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Yao is now off his crutches from his ankle surgery, and is in a walking boot. It’s still a long road for Yao’s comeback attempt, but it’s great to at least see him in good spirits.
Click here for more photos of Yao and Rocket teammates at the event.
In case you missed it in the forum, after practice a couple of days ago where Yao Ming went through simple rehab and shooting exercises, he and his teammates held a party at Toyota Center for more than 100 children from military families to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Here are photos of Yao in action at the meal. Click here for more photos from the event that Raymond has posted in the forum.
Here’s a video of the second game that was played in late July in Taipei, Taiwan (for videos from the Beijing game, click here for part 1 and here for part 2).
In this video, you’ll see the first meeting between Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin. Many of you who read YaoMingMania.com may already know about Lin. He’s a very accomplished college basketball player who just graduated from Harvard, and has signed a partially-guaranteed contract with Golden State. Many Asian-Americans have been following his progress through college, hoping he can ‘represent’ them as the first American player in the NBA to be of ethnic Chinese and Taiwanese descent.
Obviously, Lin is a big deal in Taiwan, too, as you’ll see from the reaction of the crowd whenever he touches the ball. He was a late addition to play in this Taipei game, and had just flown in the day before to play. Several Lin fans had asked me over the years if Yao Ming had ever met Lin, or if a meeting could ever be arranged. Well, that meeting finally happened, and I was able to capture their first meeting ever in this video.
You’ll also see in this video many of the players having fun before the game. Aaron Brooks twirls a pack of napkins on his finger, makes an underhand granny shot from behind the basket on his first attempt, Amir Johnson makes a crazy shot from behind the backboard, and Brandon Jennings tries all kinds of trick shots sitting from the bench and trying to kick the ball into the basket.
Aaron is quite a crack-up. For example, the Taipei crowd was eerily quiet (except for when there was a score, then they cheered). Because of this, they played music during every possession to provide some kind of noise during game action, except during free throws, of course. Before one free throw attempt when the music was off, Aaron had some fun and said out loud, “Hi everybody!” (this isn’t on the video, but thought I’d share with you how funny Aaron is).
You’ll also see on the video the introduction of Yao Ming to the crowd. They cheer him heartily, as you would expect. What I didn’t expect was to hear them play the “Yao Ming” song when he came out onto the court. As you may know, this song was created by a local Houston fan several years ago, and was a song I thought would only get played in Houston. That’s why it was a pleasant surprise to hear a DJ play it in front of thousands of Taiwanese fans, making it a global song now. I’m sure the guy who created that song is happy to hear this news!
The NBA players are announced shortly after Yao is introduced, and I show in the video Chase and Aaron getting introduced. The guy who gets the biggest ovation, though, is Jennings. He received lots of attention for the show he put on during the first Yao Foundation charity game in Beijing a few days earlier. It doesn’t take long for the word to spread among millions of fans if you have a good performance in front of them in their own country.
I included several clips of great plays from the game too numerous to mention, but keep an eye out for great plays from Jennings, Amir Johnson, and Chase. Some of them happen so quickly, or are so spectacular, you might be compelled to rewind some of them to see them all over again.
One of my favorite moments of the video is when Yao Ming urges on the Taipei crowd to get Chase to do an impromptu dunk. First, I have never seen Yao have so much fun with a crowd like this before. Second, it shows how much Yao is impressed with Chase’s athleticism and dunking ability that he would immediately choose him. Chase would later tell me that he was happy that Yao had that much confidence in his abilities to pick him without hesitation.
What’s not shown in the video is how many breaks there were during the game for various contests to be held with Taiwanese celebrities, like free throw shooting or a skills drill. Sometimes these breaks would last for 15 minutes or more! That was definitely something the NBA players weren’t accustomed to experiencing, so they had to continually keep warming up after these long breaks so they didn’t pull a muscle or hurt themselves when they went back on the court to play.
By the end of the game, all of the players were pretty tired of having to warm themselves up mentally and physical over-and-over. Aaron, quite the jokester, wrapped himself up in several towels mummy-style to keep himself warm, and to have some fun on the bench unlike what he could do during an NBA game.
There was so much great footage from the Yao Foundation Charity tour stop in Beijing in late July, I had to split it up in two parts. Here is part 2 of that video. You can check out part 1 here.
Throughout most of the game coverage in this new video, I was amazed at how much Western and U.S. music was played at the game (and everywhere we went). U.S. music was probably played 99% of the time. The days of preventing U.S. popular music from coming into China are long gone.
One of my favorite scenes from this whole video was when a group of boys came out at halftime and performed. The players weren’t worried at all about going into the locker room and preparing for the second half; they were comfortable knowing they were going to win (which they did). Once they saw these boys start to do their thing and impress the crowd, the players sat down along the sidelines to watch it themselves, and even flipped out their cameras to take photos and video record them! This was the essence of what I saw on this trip: these guys trying to get as much out of the culture as the fans were of wanting to see them play basketball at a high level, all while helping Yao’s foundation.
At the end of the game, it got a little crazy when a lot of fans were somehow able to get on the floor near the bench, and as crazy as they are for the NBA, it got a little scary. But security ultimately got things under control, and you’ll see them do something that would be considered very un-macho in the West: hold hands to form a barrier. Amazing how much of a culture difference there is, and how they don’t get hung up on trying to look “cool” among other men. They have a job to do, and they’ll do what they need to do to maintain order.
When you think of the Chinese army, assuming that’s what these guys are since they looked like official uniforms, you think of a very disciplined set that wouldn’t get fazed by NBA players being around them. But there is one scene you’ll see that struck me: some army guys standing back as some of the players were coming through, taking photos of them on their cellphones. What a contrast!
Before that scene, you’ll see Yao Ming in the locker room addressing the NBA players who came over to China to play in his charity game. It was pretty cool to be there as he thanked them, and to have them applaud him back for putting it all together. It’s a rare kind of scene that shows how much of a leader Yao Ming really is, and how respected he is by other NBA players.
At the end of the clip, you’ll see Steve Nash come back to the hotel to a bunch of fans waiting for him — and mainly him. Apparently the last time he came to China for the Yao-Nash charity games left quite an impression on the Chinese.
Nash could have easily blown them off and headed into the hotel, but he isn’t that kind of guy. You’ll see these fans have no hesitation in doing what they need to do to get Nash to sign some of their gear — it’s much more intense than what you’d see in the U.S. But you’ll also see the security guards (in white shirts) are not hesitant to push and shove to maintain order. It’s also interesting how the fans who are pushed don’t get upset about it. If that were to happen in the U.S., a brawl could break out or a lawsuit would be filed. I guess people are used to being shoved around by security in China.
Once they get within earshot of Nash, some of the fans express vociferously how much they “believe” in him and how much they like him. You wouldn’t see that strong of an expression from American guys the same age.
I thought these scenes were worth putting in the clip to show just how different the interaction is between fans and security. What do you think? Do you think American people get a little too uptight when shoved by security guards, and we could learn something from the Chinese?
Below is another video from Yao Ming’s recent trip back to China where several NBA players who are clients of BDA Sports (Yao is affiliated with BDA as well) traveled to Beijing and Taipei to play in two different charity games for Yao’s Foundation.
You’ll see footage of many of the players arriving for their first practice in a nearby training facility. It wasn’t as much of a practice to learn set plays to run against the Chinese as it was a workout to keep them in shape. Throughout the entire trip, I got the feeling that all of the players weren’t worrying about the competition they would be facing. They knew how good they were even if they had never played with each other before. These guys came over here to help Yao with his foundation, get some good workouts in and stay motivated with other NBA players around them, and if they got some exposure in front of tens of millions of Chinese fans along the way, that would be nice, too. I never got the feeling these guys didn’t think they would win. That’s not a slam against Chinese basketball. It’s a testament to how good basketball still is in the U.S.
I loved watching all the drills these guys went through to stay in shape. Even though they’re pros, they were probably going through some of the same drills that high schoolers go through, but doing it much, much better. You’ll see Houston’s own Chase Budinger showing that even though he doesn’t have much of a chance to showcase his dribbling skills in the Rockets’ offense, he can handle the rock. And Baron Davis and Brandon Jennings showed why they are great handling the ball and taking it to the rack: they practice it over and over. I also was impressed with Amir Johnson‘s and Dajuan Summers‘ athleticism. Hasheem Thabeet was even participating in the dribbling drills, which doesn’t seem fair for a 7-footer who never has to dribble in a real game. So don’t be too hard on him since he was trying. But overall, I could have watched these guys practice all day.
Later in the video you’ll see the players in the locker room at the Beijing facility. They were even taking in all the atmosphere of the locker room because it had nowhere near luxury they’re probably accustomed to seeing in the U.S. It was pretty bare bones. After entering, they were taking photos and videotaping for themselves the spartan accommodations. Not that they were complaining. It was just very different.
You’ll see Yao enter the locker room where he greets Aaron Brooks for the first time in China. Aaron arrived in Beijing the night before (after the previous day’s practice) since he had some other commitments in China. Aaron isn’t represented by BDA, but because he was going to be in China anyway, it made sense for him to play in Yao’s charity games and help his big man out. And don’t forget that Yao showed up at Brooks’ basketball camp at Rice University a few weeks earlier.
Near the end of the video, you’ll get a glimpse of the pre-game entertainment featuring Beijing cheerleaders. They are very different from the dancers you’d see in the U.S. (so be kind, guys). But what I thought was cool is that the NBA players wanted to take in the atmosphere of Chinese entertainment at a basketball game just as much as anyone, so they sat on the bench and watched the performances, too. That’s something you would rarely see at an NBA game where they have to be focused on winning and want to demonstrate they aren’t easily distracted. Not in Beijing, which was cool to see. They are fans of another country’s entertainment, too.
Finally, you’ll see Yao get introduced to the crowd, who receives huge applause as he strides onto the court to welcome everyone to his charity game. I always love hearing the reaction among Chinese when Yao is introducted to them, or enters a room. It’s electric and I never get tired of it.
Then the NBA players get introduced, and most of them are asked to walk out on the court holding the hands of a Chinese child, which was cute to see. What I edited from this video was the fact they had to stand there a pretty long time as the pre-game introductions and festivities continued, something they’re not accustomed to going through. But they were troopers doing what the Chinese organizers asked them to do.
That’s where the video ends, but part 2 is coming over the coming days, so stay tuned for that. You’ll see even more entertainment from the game that was one of my favorite memories from the trip.
I went to breakfast this morning at my Shanghai hotel, and wouldn’t you know right when I thought all the Yao “mania” would slow down now that his charity tour is over, I found a China Daily paper that had a huge feature of Yao appearing on the FRONT page (not the sports page). It takes up half the front page of their Sunday edition. Wow. Here’s the link to the video, and a link to the accompanying story.
Of course, this has slowed me down a bit in making more progress in posting videos, stories and photos from the past week, but it’s coming. Luckily the Apple store here in Shanghai (only two stores in all of China!) had that little Firewire adapter I had been trying to find for days in Taipei, with no success. So videos are on their way!
REPORTING FROM BEIJING: It’s been a very busy past few days in Beijing for Yao and the players who came to China for his foundation’s charity gala and game, which was nationally televised in China on CCTV. As you might have seen on Yao’s Facebook page earlier, he posted the following:
Thank you to all the people who came to my foundation’s charity gala and game in Beijing this past weekend! It was a great success in raising funds and building fellowship. We do it again in Taipei in a couple of days.
Yao kept the motor running when early the next morning, he left Beijing for Shanghai for some appearances for the Shanghai Expo (more coverage of that to come). But before we move on from the activities that occurred in Beijing this past weekend, I wanted to share with you some select photos from the charity gala on Friday and the charity game on Saturday (video from these events will ultimately get posted, too!).
Yao Ming competes against a boy during his Charity Gala on who could build a Transformer toy the fastest. The boy ended up winning, even with Yao getting help from other NBA players.
For more photos from the Charity Gala, click here.
The Rockets’ Aaron Brooks flew to China for the Charity Game and gets his ankles taped in the locker room.
Hasheem Thabeet dons one of the official Charity Foundation jerseys in the locker room before the game.
All the NBA players line up during pre-game introductions.
A wall of photographers lines up the size of what you would see at an NBA Finals game.
The players watched the Chinese pre-game festivities like any fan would.
The players huddle during a timeout between quarters. The game was competitive in the first half, but the NBA players prevailed in the second, even after the planned move to put Steve Nash and Aaron Brooks on the other team in exchange for two Chinese players.
Yao’s Rocket teammates Chase and Aaron take a break during the game.
Brandon Jennings takes a jumper in the game, and made the crowd oooh and aahhh like always, as did all the players.
For more photos from the game and post-game news conference, click here and here.
It’s been pretty quiet on the Yao front over the past couple of weeks. He’s obviously been busy tending to his new baby daughter and continuing his rehab and workouts. But yesterday he got out and participated in the opening of a new nature-based playground at the Chinese Community Center in Houston.
This Houston Chronicle article was published tonight quoting Yao about his thoughts on the earthquake in China that has killed 600 and injured 10,000. The Yao Ming Foundation has collaborated with iTalkBB on a free hotline (1-877-482-5522 or www.iTalkBB.com) to help relatives of the victims. Here are some of Yao’s quotes from the article:
“I just wish (they will) get good (treatment) over there. I believe there are a lot of injuries. I hear there is a rescue team already there. I pray for them, and all the people there and all of their families.”
“It’s very important if you have people from there who are visiting somewhere else, maybe in the United States, I understand that they would like to contact their family. I would like to help.
“It just happened now, last night. We still don’t know (how to best help). There are a lot of questions. We need to do some research. Obviously, (rebuilding) the schools, we have some experience now. We can do better than last time.
Obviously, we’re going to search out as many as we can. I heard it last night (there was) an earthquake again. I know there is about 400 people lost in this disaster. I feel hurt, feel sad for them. I wish the rest of the people there, their family get good (treatment) over there, also their families. I believe in the future, we still need a lot of people’s help. Also, in the future, I’m going to find out what I can do to recover that area.”
