A Letter to Yao Ming

Dear Yao,

I'm going to be up front with you: I'm a San Antonio Spurs fan. I do not like your Houston Rockets, and I've found your collective playoff disappointments quite enjoyable over the years. It's nothing personal; you just happen to be the rival (along with the more hateable Dallas Mavericks) of my favorite team.

But I'm going to tell you something else: I like you. A lot, actually. As a player, you are remarkably gifted and someone whose box scores I check every night to see how you performed; and it's usually very well. As a person, you've handled the media circus and pressure of a nation (a huge, giant, vast, pressuring nation at that) with grace and politeness that could only be hoped for in your rookie season, but certainly not expected. Upon being selected with the first pick in 2002 by the Houston Rockets, the basketball hopes and dreams of everyone in your native China were thrown on your massive shoulders, and the media surrounding you ever since then has been staggering. Considering there were a hundred reasons that you could have failed in the NBA, it's impressive that not only have you not failed, but you've flourished in your NBA career.

Yesterday, when I heard that your current foot injury may be career-threatening, I was disappointed. How could this happen to someone such as yourself? A larger-than-life superstar, who behaves in the exact opposite manner? It just doesn't seem fair. Many are wondering how the Rockets will replace the robust production you've given them over the years. I'm wondering how the NBA is going to replace someone of your charisma. In addition to keeping tabs on you on the court, I've found myself reading articles about your charitable works and watching you welcome the world to your native China for the 2008 Olympic Games, almost acting as a personal host for all of us Westerners. Watching you walk into the Bird's Nest, carrying China's flag, with the young survivor of the Sichuan earthquake is something I'll never forget as long as I live.

So, Yao, please get better. Please will your foot to health the same way you did to be ready in time to play for China in the 2008 Olympics. People said there was a chance you might miss those games due to an injury similar to the one you have now; but you wouldn't allow it. Now, those same people are saying you might never play again because of your foot problems; please don't let it be true. Basketball needs you. The fans need you, the NBA needs you, and your country needs you. We're all better for having witnessed your abilities against the best competition in the world. It'd be a shame if it all ended too soon. You can do this, Yao; you can overcome this injury again, just like you did before. Besides, it's not like you haven't done the improbable already.

You made a Spurs fan hopeful that hated Houston's best player will be on the floor at the start of this season.

Sincerely,

Tyler A. Long
#1 Spurs Fan

~~ Lank