WHILE CHINESE BASKETBALL fans might have seen this coming?the end of the road for Yao Ming?they weren't ready for it just yet.
Chinese fans had high expectations for the 7-foot-6 star, hoping that he would at least take home an NBA championship before he retires, but he did none of that.
Maybe if he hadn't had missed significant time due to injury in each of the past six seasons, if he had decided to continue his career despite risk of future injuries, or if his former Houston Rockets teammate Tracy McGrady were also healthy, and the two could have gone deep into the playoffs and possibly won a championship, things would be different.
But it is what it is. With the widely popular Yao quitting at age 30, a portion of Chinese fans might have given up on NBA altogether.
World of a Wolf's Eye said on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter:
Yao Ming's retirement is a hard hit on the NBA. China will have a large number of NBA fans feeling lost! Who will be able to replace Yao's position?
An online poll on Weibo shows that 61 percent of the 828 respondents said that they won't follow the Rockets anymore after Yao's retirement, while 22 percent said they will wait and see.
- Another Weibo poll has nine choices for what the respondent wants to say in response to Yao's retirement. Thirty-three percent of the 472 respondents said Yao's retirement marks "the end of an era" and 10 percent chose "Following Yao's retirement, I no longer believe in love."
- ?
- And it's no tall tale that Chinese people's sentiment toward Yao is like a love story.
Fruit Flavor vc08 commented:
Yao Ming is retiring; I am deeply saddened. I remember the first NBA game I watched was one of the Houston Rockets. It was because of Yao Ming and [his draft to the Rockets] in 2002 that I began paying attention to the NBA.
Dance Tiger commented:
Yao had carried our NBA dreams, and we had gotten used to the days that we had him. Yao is now resigning. Many years from now, how will I be able to tell the exuberant young people of the future about the giant of my childhood and his irreplaceable places in our hearts. His career so short, his honor so lacking, his ankle so fragile, yet our sentiments so deep.
Qibuchenx commented:
Yao Ming is retiring. I am deeply dismayed by his leaving. It is because of him that NBA is exciting.
Yao is expected to announce the end of his career at a news conference on July 20.
(Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
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