Danny ChaiDave has already written exactly this, and maybe even referenced Yao’s book while doing this, but something Yao writes about why second generation Asian-Americans root against U.S. teams I think hits it on the head.
When I talk with ABCs, they always mix English words with Chinese words, always. I believe they’re not sure what they are or what they want to be more–American or Chinese. I sometimes think they cheered for me when I came to the NBA not just because I was Chinese, but because they waanted me to be better than the American players. I was as if they wanted me to punish U.S. players for something some other Americans had done to them. Maybe that was supposed to make them feel good, as though I was getting back something for them.
That’s what it is, isn’t it? Deep down, we don’t feel like we’re completely accepted as “Americans”, that Americans still marginalize us in some way, and we want revenge. I dunno, interesting.
I’ve always been a Yao fan, but I like him even more now. I kind of feel like we could be friends. Like, he quotes Spider-Man. His favorite game growing up was Street Fighter. And I love that he’s friends with Teyo Johnson.
Some other quotes from the book I liked:
On big men:
The Beijing Ducks… had a center named Shan Tao. (Mengke Bateer joined the Ducks a few years later, and the two of them were known as the Twin Towers. This was before San Antonio’s Twin Towers, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, but after the Houston Rockets’ Twin Towers, Hakeen Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. We need some new nicknames for teams with two big men.)
On Bill Walton:
I met Bill Walton for the first time as I left the hotel for the workout. Walton was wearing a very funny T-shirt–all green and red and yellow–and he had on a tie but his shirt had no collar. He gave me one of those T-shirts. I thought, “What is he doing?” We just talked for a minute or two. He’s always been nice to me and helped me, but from that day I’ve thought of him as a crazy, crazy guy. That was my first impression, and it hasn’t changed.
…
Bill Walton talked to me about girls too. Walton is a funny guy. We talked more than once, and every time Colin [Yao’s translator] would say to me, “I don’t know how to translate for him. I’m not sure what he’s saying.”
On Chinese food:
A few places in California had Chinese food close to what I’m used to eating; there was almost no difference. But it’s difficult to make Chinese food here taste the same as at home, even for my mom. If there’s just a little bit of difference in the soy sauce or the beef or pork or chicken, it changes the flavor. They also cook many things in China that you would never eat here–mice and birds and snakes. Some people believe if it has four legs and it isn’t a table or chair, you can eat it. They basically will eat anything that walks or flies that they can catch. Cat, rat, scorpion–if you can think of it, they probably will eat it.
On trash-talking
I want my English to get better so I can talk better trash, too. In the Asian Championships against South Korea, I blocked a 3-point attempt right in front of their bench and yelled in English, “Get out of my way!” I know that’s not very good trash-talking, but I’m not sure if the South Korean players understood me, anyway.
Also has interesting tidbits, like the morning he shot that Apple commercial with Mini-Me, he took vitamins with what he thought was a glass of water but was actually gin. So he was wasted during the shoot.
OK, I’d do more but this is boring enough for you. Fun read for me though.