National Crisis!

No it's not the economy, the CCP, or Taiwan . . .

Yao Ming is injured. China's most well-known, most-beloved 7 foot 6 inch NBA star has an ankle injury. This season with the Houston Rockets is over for Yao. This alone would be sad news but the real crisis centers around the question, "Will Yao Ming be able to be in the Olympics?"

I'm blogging about this today because of two things that I read.

First, this quote from one of the articles I read about Yao's injury: "I'd rather part with my girlfriend, lose my job and have China's national football team never make the World Cup than see Yao out of the Olympics!" (from a Web surfer in Anhui province)

Please tell me this is an extreme form of hyperbole!!

The second thing that made me decide to blog about this was this news article title:
China called to prayer over Yao's left foot

An injured Yao is what calls China to prayer??!!

Yao seems to be a nice enough guy despite his slightly Neanderthal looks (no offence, Yao). Here in China he's revered as the model sports star. I have no reason not to like Yao, except for the fact that he's everywhere. Reebok, Coca-cola, Visa . . . he has endorsements from all the major companies. If you hear any sports report, you will always here a report about Yao, whether he played or not, whether he scored or not, whether the Rockets are even still in the running in the play-offs or not. While Yao is injured, the camera will probably still focus on him on the sideline the majority of the time if the Rockets' games are televised here in China.

Let's hope, since the stability of China seems to be at stake, that Yao recovers before 8-8-08.

For my fellow Chinese learners . . . if I wrote an article about this crisis, here's what the title would be. (This is my attempt at a Chinese pun)
"China Basketball Medal in '08, Yao bu Yao?"

Here's one more article about Yao Ming and some of China's other star Olympic hopefuls.