Countless athletes' Olympic dreams are drifting away, and behind their expectations is a folded world. A grand event should not only have a gorgeous opening, gorgeous fireworks. The most important thing is people and the folded past behind them.
Basketball was invented by Dr. naismith 130 years ago, and it didn't land in Tianjin until three years later. China became one of the earliest countries to play basketball in the world. Our basketball history is almost in sync with the world basketball history. But in the past century, almost all the world-famous athletes in China came from our sports strength.
Basketball is a western sport, and we have never been good at it. Until a man appeared-Yao Ming, the giant we are most familiar with. For young people, he is the ancestor of Yan Wen. For the old fans, he made a place for China in the world arena.
Even though Yao Ming's name is a household name in China and even the world, his history is full of unknowns and thought-provoking. Why did he become the first China person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? Why did he change the history of basketball?
How does he bear the expectations of hundreds of millions of fans? What can an athlete bring to the world? Let's go back to 19 years ago and unveil the curtain of that special season step by step.
At the beginning of 2002, the whole country was calm and SARS had not yet broken out. 22-year-old Yao Ming is about to usher in the most important day of his life, NBA draft day. He is likely to be selected as the No.1 pick by the Houston Rockets.
The NBA is the largest basketball league at present, consisting of 30 teams in North America, among which the Houston Rockets are the most familiar. However, the rockets before and after the Morey incident are very different for fans.
Morey is the eternal stain of Houston Rockets, and it has also changed the taste of NBA in China. So what we are about to enter is not the history of NBA or Rockets, but the history of Yao Ming.
In 2002, the population of China was1300 million, and there were nearly 300 million basketball fans. The number is equivalent to the total population of the United States. Signing Yao Ming is of great significance in terms of historical significance, commercial value and the long-term development of basketball. The Houston Rockets chose the first No.1 pick in China in league history.
This tall and thin Shanghai boy became an NBA star overnight, and also shouldered two mountains overnight. He shoulders the doubts of Americans and the expectations of 654.38+03 billion people.
Yao Ming packed his bags, left his small room, boarded a plane to the United States, and began an unknown journey. Young and naive shyness is vividly displayed in this 22-year-old boy.
The first topic that was provoked when entering the league was the comparison with O 'Neill. Yao Ming's father covered up his worries with a smile on his face. Because of his outstanding height since childhood and his parents' professional status, Yao Ming went to play in a sports school at the age of 9, and 14 was already a player of the Shanghai Sharks.
When he first came into contact with basketball, he didn't think about N-BA at all, but he always dreamed of joining the national team because Li Ning was the first celebrity he knew. Li Ning shocked the world by winning three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal in the gymnastics competition of 1984 Olympic Games. The real honor of athletes in those days was to make great contributions to the country. Although China has huge wealth and a large population, its achievements in the world sports arena are far from enough. So success abroad is a great achievement.
200 1, Wang went to the NBA. This year, Yao Ming did not participate in the draft, but played the last season of CBA career with a dominant performance. He won the rebounding champion, scoring champion, blocking champion and MVP in the regular season and finals, which gave Yao Ming and fans great confidence. Although winning the NBA championship is a surprise, it is not unexpected. But when I first arrived in America, my confidence fell to the bottom. The training, life, diet and language here are so different.
Yao Ming missed two weeks of team training and looked a bit out of place. The regular season is about to begin, and he needs a short time to get used to it. However, no one abroad has seen Yao Ming's real level, the game between the season opener and the Pacers, because Yao Ming's popularity has attracted much attention.
He told himself that he must play well in the first game. At the end of the first quarter, the coach patted Yao Ming, and he got up and sat on the bench. At the end of the game, Yao Ming didn't score. Play 1 1 min, 1 shot 0 times and grabbed two rebounds. This is all the data of Yao Ming's debut.
A top scholar, however, scored 0 in a big exam, and all the ridicule and ridicule poured in with the bleak data. All the magnificent achievements before were destroyed by one mistake after another. Buckley bet on the show that if Yao got 19, he would kiss Kenny's ass on the spot. People expect to see the giant from China crushed by the pressure. Athletes need not only physical strength, but also psychological strength.
Yao Ming said that in the face of serious problems, he always tells a joke first, which his father taught him. Humor is often more elegant and effective than indifference. Yao Ming overcame his acclimatization step by step with his cleverness and restraint.
However, humor sometimes leads to misunderstanding. Yao Ming once told the camera that he didn't like dunks because China compatriots would think it was impolite. It was actually just a joke, but everyone took it seriously. The fact is that in China, people would rather let Yao Ming make a free throw than let him dunk at the basket. After all, the slam dunk percentage is 1.000%, and Yao Ming's free throw percentage is only 83.3%.
In CBA, Yao Ming scored with projection and hook, which is more efficient than dunk and won't hurt, but in NBA, the blocking height and defensive strength of players have been greatly improved.
In the second week of training, he began to practice his steps frequently, turning around and dunking. Good personality, good mentality and good strategy are the keys to winning against the wind.
The Lakers were the favourites to win the championship in 2002. But with O 'Neill out due to injury, Yao Ming's chance came. The same bench, the same expectation, ushered in a different Yao Ming, this time he is ready.
That night, Yao Ming made nine of nine shots, plus two free throws, and scored 20 points, with a shooting percentage of 1.000%. Yao Ming won, which was a great victory. Buckley didn't break his word. He lost the bet, kissed the ass of the donkey, and made a story.
Yao Ming, who found the state, swept wildly, and defeated his opponent and Blackie one by one with his own cleverness and skills. A few nights later, Yao Ming's fans soared, and everyone began to buy his handicrafts, even learning Chinese, and compiled a brainwashing divine comedy-Song of Yao Ming.
What can an athlete bring to the world? Looking back at the emergence of Yao Ming, we have achieved an unprecedented cultural counter-export. That season, there were dragon and lion dances in the NBA, Chinese characters were erected in the audience and five-star red flags were hung.
What surprises Americans even more is Yao Ming's spare time. Unlike other stars, he doesn't like parties. World of Warcraft is the true meaning of otaku. Playing in the United States, not many girls ask Yao Ming out because he always lets everyone know that he has a girlfriend. He proudly wrote in his autobiography that from the age of 17, I only fell in love with one girl, and she was Ye Li. Yao Ming said that the Rockets chose 1 1 because these two 1 look like Y, representing Ye and Yao respectively, while Ye Li's numbers in the women's basketball teams in China and Shanghai are both 1 1.
Yao Ming's modesty, humor and impeccable off-court life are simply models of high-quality idols and are deeply loved by Americans. As long as Yao Ming's advertisement is extremely popular, everyone in China and the United States is crazy to vote for Yao Ming on the All-Star weekend. In popularity, he successfully defeated O 'Neill and was selected as the starting center of the All-Star.
However, no one is on Yao Ming's side in strength. Such is O 'Neill's physical terror. He is called the strongest center overlord in the league since 12. Yao Ming is taller than O 'Neill 10 cm, and O 'Neill is 50 kg heavier than Yao Ming. The media promoted the upcoming Yao Shark War to the century-long confrontation of the traditional center. People like to watch the headwind turn over, but they prefer to watch Yao Ming, who is full of stars, being pulled down from the altar.
On this side of the ocean, China fans are holding a sweat in their hands. In addition to the fans, many people in China who don't watch the game also turn on the TV and regard this duel as history.
The eyes of the whole country are fixed on one person. At the beginning of the game, O 'Neill grabbed the jump ball, Yao Ming blocked it, hooked it and blocked it again, which made the fans inside and outside the stadium boil. Soon, O 'Neill hit back with strength. The score was anxious, four whistles sounded and the game was dragged into overtime.
At the last moment, Yao Ming dunked and the Rockets narrowly beat the Lakers by four points. That night, Yao Ming scored 10 points, 10 boards and blocked six times. O 'Neill scored 3 1 points and grabbed 16 boards. For basketball, for sports, maybe victory is everything.
Yao Ming told the media that he had been underwater for a long time and seemed to have just breathed a sigh of relief. Greater expectations mean greater pressure.
Immediately after the All-Star weekend, Yao Ming was surrounded by fans and the media, and one interview after another exhausted him. Before the game started that weekend, Kobe held the rookie on the shoulder and told him to relax. Looking back on that season, I was filled with emotion.
That night was the last all-star game of Michael Jordan, the god of basketball, before he retired. Yao Ming began to say goodbye to Jordan. The end of one generation ushered in the next generation to stand on the historical stage. Everyone will get hurt, everyone will get old, and there will never be winners on the court.
That year, the Rockets didn't make the playoffs. Tom Janovich was diagnosed with cancer and bid farewell to the team. In addition, in the second half of the season, Yao Ming didn't perform well because he was exhausted when he first entered the league. After the offseason, he returned to China and began to play a more important role for him.
Although Yao Ming's rookie season is not the peak, looking back on this season is like the epitome of his whole career. From the ignorance and madness of his rookie season, to Yao Mai's brief glory, and then to the third light of the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games, Yao Ming has always been a bridge, even though the result of his injury is so sad.
20 1 1 On July 20th, Yao Ming officially announced his retirement. The retirement of an athlete means the end of his career, but the retirement of Yao Ming means the opening of another identity. 2065438+On February 23rd, 2007, Yao Ming was elected president of the Basketball Association, and now he continues his unfinished honor as President Yao. Maybe this road is more difficult than his career.
Standing at 202 1, looking back at that era and those folded past events, people seem to have forgotten what an idol should bear. They always feel that our youth and dreams end with the departure of a superstar, and the blood behind the sportsmanship is drowned in the noise of the times.
On the afternoon before 19, Yao Ming was introducing his new home in Houston to the camera. Everything is still uncertain, and he will take part in queue training soon. Everyone compares him with O 'Neal, the first center in the league.
Many years later, this tall and thin Shanghai boy, with the expectation of his family and people, became an NBA superstar and a vivid symbol of a country with a population of 65.438+0.4 billion.
His appearance, growth and influence on the world are the shoulders of a rising giant. When we stand on our shoulders, the world becomes wider than ever before.