An Interview with Yao's Translator - p. 3
| Colin becomes famous
As the season wore on, Pine himself was getting interview requests from print and television media. As a result, he started getting recognized when he would venture out. He is recognized frequently at the arena and occasionally when he goes out, and has received about 20 autograph requests total. People who recognize him are never obnoxious about it, so he is not uncomfortable going out. The funniest episode Pine recollects on his newfound fame occurred a few hours before a game at Denver's Pepsi Arena. With genuine enthusiasm, an overzealous teenage boy yelled excitedly from the top of his lungs, "WHOOHOOOO! IT'S YAO MING'S TRANSLATOR!!!" His friends from back home were respectful by not asking for special favors, like game tickets or introductions to players. However, he did receive an email from a former high school acquaintance, who he had not heard from in 10 years, asking for tickets. He also gets requests from strangers who want him to get Yao's autograph, but he makes it clear he cannot grant those types of requests. Being normal (when he can) Although the lifestyle was hectic, Pine found enough time to play some pickup basketball with some friends he had made who were members of the Houston sports media. Showing a class gesture to the new guy in town, they were cool enough to invite him to their get-togethers. While on the road, he found solace and kept himself grounded amidst all the hoopla by continuously keeping in touch with his friends and family through email and his cellphone. He also partook in his favorite activity--reading--which makes sense considering Pine was an English major at James Madison. Interestingly, Pine does not read much about basketball or sports, but prefers fiction instead. "I love entering someone else's mind." One of his favorite authors is Murakami Haruki, a well-renown Japanese fiction writer. Pine's interest in reading and writing is an indicator of his passion for school and learning. "At heart, I'm an academic." He also loves studying philosophy. But don't think that Pine is out of touch with reality. He came across as being very laid-back and affable without a hint of arrogance. He's the kind of guy with whom you wouldn't mind drinking a few beers with, and who expresses his opinions freely. For someone who had just lived through a fantasy NBA lifestyle the past few months, Pine has kept his perspective. He realizes the NBA way of life is fleeting and that it would be easy to get caught up in the material things so prevalent when working around millionaires. "I wouldn't want to have this life forever." Passion for travel Although he enjoys the NBA experience, he realizes more fulfilling experiences await him. He loves to travel, but not necessarily the kind you do with an NBA team. "That's more like business travel," Pine says, where you are hopping from one city to another without getting the chance to enjoy it. He would rather spend time getting to know the people and experience the local customs and flavors. One of the reasons he got this job was because of the three years he spent living in Taiwan learning the language. Several cities stuck out to Pine as he recollected the 28 other quick stops from his NBA regimen. One of his favorite cities is San Francisco. "What a beautiful city.' The most pleasantly surprising city was Minneapolis, mainly because the residents were so friendly. He was also surprised about Salt Lake City. Thinking it would be a somewhat relaxed crowd with its Mormon influence, the Jazz fans were some of the most rabid he had encountered the entire season. Pine's favorite city is New York. "I'm so 'East Coast.'" Although he has never lived in New York, he has visited several times. Pine's girlfriend also lives there. In New York, one of Pine's most humorous moments with Yao occurred when they were playing the Knicks. Pine had plans to meet up with his girlfriend after the game, and Pine jokingly told Yao that he did not want the game to go into overtime. Yao wittingly responded, "Maybe we'll play two or three." Later on near the end of the game, the Rockets closed a deficit to pull within striking distance. After a timeout was called, Yao came over to the sidelines and, in the heat of the battle, said to Pine, "I'm sorry, I think we'll have to play overtime." In this one statement to Pine, Yao exhibited the type of confidence, consideration, and humor that endears him to fans around the world. Pine had other favorite moments during the season, which included the road game in Boston where the Rockets trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter but mounted a furious comeback for the victory. The Miami road game was one of his most memorable games when Steve Francis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the win. We were surprised Pine picked these games as his favorites since Yao's performance was not the highlight of the game. Like most NBA players think, wins stand out much more to Pine than any of Yao's individual performances in a loss, even if your job is to support one of those players. When we asked him about his favorite Yao plays, immediately he thought of a pass, not a play where Yao scored a basket. The game against Sacramento on December 10th when Yao threw the no-look pass over his head to Moochie Norris stood out. Pine could not believe his eyes, especially since it's not a set play in the playbook, nor had Pine ever seen it before in practice. His second-most favorite Yao play occurred in Atlanta on January 10th. In that game, Theo Ratliff had dunked over Yao in the first quarter. Later on in the third quarter Ratliff racked up another dunk (Yao was not in the vicinity). On the ensuing play, Yao shows his competitiveness by backing Ratliff down, and in one of his strongest moves of the season, thundered down a two-handed dunk over him! He then uncharacteristically belted out a yell in Ratliff's face. Everyone of Yao's teammates and coaches excitedly rose from their seats laughing and applauding after Yao's dunk and lion-like roar. The referees called a technical foul on Yao for the taunt, but it didn't matter to all of his teammates, who all gave Yao high-fives as he returned to the bench. Pine's other favorite game moment involving Yao occurred in Golden State on March 21st when he hit his first NBA three-pointer. It wasn't a fluke shot at all. It came in the flow of the game with perfect shooting form. Pine points out that all three of these plays represent how multi-dimensional and unique Yao is since they involve three different facets of the game: passing, power, and scoring. There were many depressing moments for Pine in a Rockets season full of disappointments. The buzzer-beating loss in Los Angeles against the Clippers when the Rockets blew a sure victory stands out. He also remembers Yao being very disappointed after the Rockets' third game against the Lakers on February 18th. In overtime of that game, Mark Madsen flopped on Yao, thus fouling Yao out of the game, which allowed the Lakers to tie the game and win it. When you've got one of the NBA's most popular players at your side, you're certain to meet some famous people. The people he encountered were as diverse from Jiang Zemin at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University to Christina Aguilera. One of the most concentrated gathering of stars occurred during the NBA All-Star weekend when he met all of the game's greats inside and outside of the locker room, a treat for a basketball aficionado like Pine. But he never got caught up in how famous they were or sought them out. If he ended up talking to them, great. If not, so be it. What lies ahead Now with the season over, Pine has moved to New York for the summer to enjoy the East Coast lifestyle, and to do the simple things he missed out on during the grind of the NBA season: spending more time with his girlfriend, visiting and watching movies with friends, and playing some pickup basketball. It just so happens as we "go to press" with this article on May 10th, Pine also is scheduled to provide commentary on NBA TV's coverage of a May 11th SARS telethon in China that Yao will be hosting. Conveniently placed, NBA TV's studios are right across the river from Pine's Manhattan residence. Because it's one of his passions, Pine also plans to do more contract translation work. He prefers not to have the typical 9-to-5 work life, neither during the summer nor for the rest of his career. Before his job at the State Department, he worked in a typical corporate job for a commercial real estate firm. After getting a taste of the very unique work life of the NBA, it will be hard to imagine Colin going back to the corporate routine again. He'll have one more year to enjoy life in the NBA, though, since his contract with the Rockets is in the process of being renewed. After next season is over, he will always stay in contact with his good friend Yao. But he'll be just fine on his own doing translation work, the thing that makes him one of the most interesting individuals in the NBA. |