Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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The beginning of 2003 certainly wasn't good for the NBA teams.

Grant Hill was injured again, suffering from pain in his foot with unknown causes; the Magic Team couldn't find the reason for his illness.

The Kings Team, who were just one step away from early dismantling the dominance of the OK Lakers last season, unexpectedly played well despite Webber's absence at the start of the season.

When Webber came back, the Kings had to reintegrate, which was the real test for them.

The Trail Blazers were transforming from the league's highest salary to "the league's highest salary but with a bunch of criminals."

The most optimistic thing for them was that Rasheed Wallace, from a single season high of 41 Ts, hadn't reached half that number yet, and you have to admit that's progress.

Compared to his teammates' cases of carrying unique goods and assaulting nannies, these Ts, which cost real gold and silver, seemed so fresh and unsullied.

At least it was a mistake on the court, not a legal issue.

Then, on the Lakers' side, even with Shaquille O'Neal's return, Kobe's dark soul had awakened; so far this season, he still maintained an average of 25 shots per game. O'Neal could only watch as Kobe went berserk and then, with the All-Star votes closing, he angrily found his starting spot taken by a rookie center from across the ocean.

At times of extreme anger, one can either unleash their potential or show their worst side.

January 10th

O'Neal couldn't tolerate Yao Ming taking his All-Star starting position, and told the media, "Tell Yao Ming, ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh."

The four incomprehensible words that follow can be ignored; "ching-chong" was enough to convey O'Neal's meaning.

The first to fire at O'Neal was ESPN columnist Bill Walton: "I'm so disappointed in Shaquille. He should know. He is a leader in the NBA, and his every word and deed symbolize the league's image. Can you imagine Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Hakeem, or Tim Duncan saying something like that?"

"We often hear people like Shaquille say they want to be respected. Well, to get respect, you have to give respect. We live in a world and society that needs to encourage diversity, not hinder it. If Shaquille were your 10-year-old child and he said something like that, what would you do to him?"

It has to be said, the good impression Yao Ming has left since joining the NBA has made many sports reporters, who seem like arrogant Americans, speak up for him.

However, the energy of the reporters alone wasn't enough to escalate the issue.

When Yu Fei heard about this, some of his unbearable memories were triggered.

He recalled J.J. Redick using a racial slur impulsively in a video wishing Chinese basketball fans a happy new year.

What was Redick's explanation? His tongue was twisted.

"If that's not racism, I don't know what is! Why could you allow that sentence to be published? Why didn't anyone tell him it was degrading after he said it? Where the hell are the human rights experts on this? Motherfucking Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Johnnie Cochran, where are you?" Yu Fei fired directly through the media at O'Neal, "I don't want to hear any excuses, I don't want to listen, Shaquille O'Neal must apologize to Yao Ming and to all Chinese Americans including myself!"

As mentioned by Yu Fei, all three are well-known human rights activists.

As a hot superstar and an important figure in the eyes of Asian Americans, when Yu Fei attacked O'Neal, it wasn't something that could be glossed over with a simple "sorry."

The situation blew up.

O'Neal felt the public outrage and had to come forward to clean up the mess before the League took further action.

January 11th

Just a day later, O'Neal called up his media friends for a press conference.

At the press conference, O'Neal, with his trademark goofy smile, said, "I was speaking in a joking way at that time, but you media just want to cause trouble. In fact, I didn't mean it at all, and he (meaning unclear) is a person without a sense of humor. I don't want to talk much about the accusations of racism; people who know me understand that I'm not that type of person."

A reporter said, "But you should know that indeed some people are hurt by your joke."

O'Neal smoothly countered, "If anyone is hurt by this, I apologize."

Then he continued to defend himself.

"I just made a joke that I thought was very funny; it's a 70-30 joke. 70% of the people think it's funny, and then there are 30% who feel offended."

"Sometimes I'm just trying to create some comic effect, say some funny jokes, sometimes my jokes are terrible, but you know, even Eddie Murphy has bad comedy movies. If my joke has offended anyone, I apologize."

It was a typical whitewashing performance.

After watching the press conference, Yu Fei's anger was not the slightest bit alleviated.

January 12th, Yu Fei went to the home court with anger, where they would face the Clippers.

Before the start of the game, a reporter mentioned O'Neal's apology to Yu Fei.

He wanted to know Yu Fei's opinion.

"Let's make something clear, if a white politician made a racist comment publicly, his political career would be over," Yu Fei questioned, "Now I want to know why a globally known black man only needs an apology to smooth over after using a notorious racially offensive word to insult a foreigner?"

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