It is with reason #3 that Yi, his American agent (the appropriately named Dan Fegan {pronounced FAG-an}) and the Chinese government are pissing me off so much is because now it seems that not only are other Americans stereotyping Milwaukee as a hickish, blue-collar town; the entire Chinese government is getting in on the action. If it was up to me Yi would never be allowed back into the league and there would be a ban on all Chinese players (besides those already in the league) for a year or two. It is not fair that someone who has proven nothing the NBA, a douche of an agent (although being a douche is a prerequisite for the job), and an entire Communist nation's government can simply shit on a team, a city, the NBA and to an extent the entire nation; and then expect that we will say nothing and simply allow Yi back in the NBA next year. David Stern needs to step up and tell the Chinese that this is not standard protocol and that if Yi wants to play in the NBA maybe he should suck it up, play for 3-4 years and then opt out of his contract and go play in a larger, "better" US city. Without getting into an argument about urban planning; Milwaukee (besides obviously horrible racial and poverty issues) is a city that has a lot to offer to someone making a shit ton of money. It would probably turn out that Yi would love Milwaukee because a great deal of the downtown area is catered toward rich young people who love modern art, technology, coffee bars, more modern art, over-priced mixed drinks, expensive clothing, being snooty, etc; all of which would probably appeal to a douche like Yi who acts as if he is entitled to do anything even though he has proven nothing. Seriously though, Milwaukee is a great city with an ever-growing skyline, burgeoning technology sector, two large universities (Marquette & UW-Milwaukee), two major professional franchises, a great nightlife, wonderful festivals and plenty more that would take an entire blog to list. Yi should give us a chance and stop bitching about coming to a smaller, less media important city and just play basketball.
I am not trying to say that this doesn't happen with Americans as well, look at Eli Manning's bitch ass requesting not to get drafted by the Chargers, but this isn't just some punk kid resisting going to a crappy team; it is a nation looking at another nation and saying "one of your major (well semi-major, but still top 25-30) cities is simply not good enough for one of our players to even grace with his presence." As a nation on whole (not only the "sports nation") we can't allow China to act like this because even though it is only basketball, it reflects their belief that they walk all over us and expect us not to fight back.
On a lighter note here is the first installment of video clips and pictures that make me laugh:
- Braves Minor League Manager Loses It--The grenade toss is the best part
- Fruity Cubs--God this reminds me of Brady Quinn's incident
- Spoiling Harry Potter--Too Soon, just too soon. But yeah this guy is kind of an ass
- Trapped in the Drive Thru--Weird Al's version of R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet
- Prince Fielder Nearly Dies--The Prince nearly keels over as he hits an inside the parker. Lew Ford's face is hilarious.
Until next time, which will probably be in like 2 hours
-BB
2 comments:
As a comment or perhaps a future reference in a blog, how does this relate to the economic factor. Obviously the NBA would love to tap into the Chineese market and i know this isnt the discussion in the post. I think Yi should but booted from the league as well, i mean even Yao said he should play in Milwaukee. The Chineese obviously have low morals regaurding their player's involvement and image. They just dont seem to be bolstering their players image or trying to make their players seem important in the states. After all they forced Yao to practice with their international team and told him he couldnt voulenteer for the special olympics. I dont think that they want to make a statement about their international power by haveing their players dominate in the states. They want to make a statement to their own people in that they want them to see people comeing to the states and playing basketball and to fake the image of freedom as any communist regime is determined to do. This demonstrates a fundamental flaw in communism in that it must mimic a free society such as democracy in order to exist. At the same time the NBA would love to include the Chineese nation with its millions of citizens in their market. Thus the discussion seems to turn to how much the NBA is willing to compromise its tradition and rules for the sake of more money.
That has nothing really to do with what I posted at all but yeah I see where you are coming from. I am looking at it solely as a fan of sports, not of "sports politics." That said, of course the NBA would love to make more money, but I do not think that it will wholely abandon its fans in America just to go over to China. The NBA is doing fine as it is and so I think that it will pretty much just stand relatively pat until more quality players come from China.
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