Yao Ming fans, China, and the NBA despair over hero's injury
| Beijing
Yao Ming's severe foot injury, announced yesterday, drew an almost audible groan that went up Friday from the growing legions of Chinese basketball fans, worried that their greatest hero may have to end his career.
鈥淣o Yao Ming any more. I am so sad,鈥� read one blog post on Sina.com, China鈥檚 most popular web portal. 鈥淚 started watching the NBA when he joined the league, but now he is leaving鈥︹��
The ungainly but personable 7鈥�6鈥� center for the Houston Rockets has a stress fracture in his left ankle that is expected to keep him off the court for the rest of the season and perhaps for ever, though at least one player has within six weeks. Yao had played only five games this season, making a tentative comeback after missing all last year鈥檚 games with a broken foot.
鈥淲e should bless Yao Ming and hope that he recovers soon,鈥� intoned the presenter of Friday morning鈥檚 news show on state-run China Central TV. Mr. Yao is a national icon here, and was chosen to carry the Chinese flag at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Yao is also a commercial phenomenon, his face plastered on billboards and TV screens around the world advertising Nike, Reebok, Apple, Visa, McDonalds, and both Pepsi and Coca Cola 鈥� global brands that have paid him tens of millions of dollars over the past 10 years.
Those millions have not endeared him to some Chinese fans. Comments on Sina.com were mixed, and included criticism that 鈥渉is skills and strength are only average. He is just a businessman who represents clothes brands and opens restaurants鈥� as one post put it.
Yao has been a highly successful ambassador for basketball 鈥� and for the NBA 鈥� in his homeland. Largely on the strength of Yao鈥檚 popularity the NBA launched NBA China in 2008 and made the Middle Kingdom its second largest market.
In the preliminary NBA All Star vote announced yesterday, Yao is the top ranked Western Conference center 鈥渂ecause countless Chinese people voted for him鈥� says Song Danfeng, a popular basketball blogger here.
But 鈥渢he depth of China's affinity for the NBA would be greatly tested by the absence of the favorite son, just as China's progress in the world basketball arena would be stunted without Yao鈥� worries an article on the NBA official website by veteran commentator Fran Blinebury.
