So I finally got around to watching the documentary "The Year of the Yao" last night. I heard about it a while back, but didn't seek it out because it sounded a little boring. Anyway, a friend lent it to me, and I was pleasantly surprised. It details Yao Ming's first year in the NBA, and his cultural and personal adjustments to the 82-game season and life in Houston. Yao had an American-born live-in translator, who narrates the flick. Despite some unnecessary cameos by Bill Walton and the always annoying Steve Francis (formerly Stevie Franchise), it was an enjoyably interesting movie.
Unsurprisingly, the most entertaining scenes seemed to include Charles Barkley: cultural insensitivity involving him, and loud (and usually wrong) proclamations coming from his mouth. This reminded me of a recurring topic of conversation during the Olympic basketball tournament. While watching the wholly Chinese language broadcasts during 2 of the games, several different people randomly mentioned how awesome it would be if Charles was thrown in with the Chinese broadcasters with no translator. Just Sir Charles disagreeing with whatever he heard, loudly, and confused Chinese hosts. I can't imagine better television. It would be comedy at its best.
Oh, and good riddance to Jay Mariotti, internationally reviled (I'm in a different country) as one of the worst writers in sports. Not that I've ever touched a Sun-Times, but one of his crappy anti-Chicago columns seemed to make it in front of my eyes every couple months; and nothing was worse than accidentally watching a bit of Around the Horn after class the last few years. I hope he finds a plum assignment in Karachi or somewhere else a long long way from Chicago.
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