Yao Ming Retires
NBA July 8th. 2011, 2:45pm
Yao Ming has decided to retire from the NBA according to Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Yao informed the league in the last couple days.Yao is just 30 years old, but only played in 486 of a possible 656 games in his 8-year NBA career. (He played in 244 of 246 games in his first three years. It’s all downhill from there.) He finished with career averages of 19 points, 9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
It seems like just yesterday when Yao looked like the big man that would help Houston return to the NBA Finals. In his first season, the Rockets went from 28 wins to 47-wins and contended for a first-round playoff exit most of the years he played in Houston.
In the end, Yao will be remembered as an immensely popular (A lock to be voted starting center for the West thanks to overseas ballots), oft-injured, gentle giant.
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July 8th, 2011 at 2:47 PM
Are we going to get a story today about how Josh Hamilton killed a guy?
July 8th, 2011 at 2:47 PM
Hey don’t be taking away credit from TMAC.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:48 PM
You should have just linked to the post from this morning.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:48 PM
Are we going to get a story today about how Josh Hamilton killed a guy?
1. that’s just a dumb comment
2. There was a post this morning
July 8th, 2011 at 2:50 PM
You are a dick. Also have you not seen the giant banner picture saying tragedy in texas?
July 8th, 2011 at 2:51 PM
I’ll always remember where I was.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:52 PM
I guess Cassino was too busy fucking a bunch of super models to read posts in the morning.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Hey don’t be taking away credit from TMAC.
He should though, as Yao helped them get to the first round with Steve Francis too. Stevie Franchise wasn’t quite the player that McGrady was, but both took the Rockets to the same ceiling.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Whoops. West coast, I rarely look at anything before the roundup.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:52 PM
I guess Cassino was too busy fucking a bunch of super models to read posts in the morning.
+1
July 8th, 2011 at 2:53 PM
In the end, Yao will be remembered as an immensely popular
In China? Sure. To common basketball fans… meh. I don’t see a ton of Yao jerseys around. That could just be an effect of the Rockets having terrible uniforms though.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:54 PM
MS – I meant that the reason they never got past that level was because of Tmac. Yao should not be blamed for that.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:54 PM
I guess Cassino was too busy fucking a bunch of super models to read posts in the morning.
Supermodels are for losers, Cassino likes his women more attractive
July 8th, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Any Yao Ming post deserves this Mad TV clip.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:55 PM
Whoops. West coast, I rarely look at anything before the roundup.
Living on the West coast doesn’t explain the stupidity of insinuating Josh Hamilton “killed a guy” though.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:56 PM
Yo!
July 8th, 2011 at 2:56 PM
Always been a huge fan of Yao. Class act. We’ll always have Afro Yao, big fella.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:56 PM
MS – I meant that the reason they never got past that level was because of Tmac. Yao should not be blamed for that.
Gotcha. And I agree.
I remember in Yao’s first two years, the focus was on the fact that he was a great passer. On a team dominated by Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley for a few years, this was a foreign concept to Rockets fans and announcers.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:57 PM
Well, I mean, if you want to get technical, he did. If he doesn’t throw the ball, the guy never leans over the railing…
July 8th, 2011 at 2:57 PM
There’s this bigass thing called Texas where I’m guessing you havent spent much time.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
I don’t even own A jersey, let alone many jerseys that would necessitate an entire rack.
The point is…I think a lot of people liked the guy, but not everyone buys a jersey.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Yes, huge in China and incredibly well-liked by players and coaches. Despite the language barrier, he’s deceivingly funny, similar to Hideki Matsui.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Not that I believe he killed the guy, it was just an extremely unfortunate accident.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
yao was pretty damn good. wished he could have stayed healthy more, the team from a few years ago would have been solid with a healthy yao.
at least he has his restaurant.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Well, I mean, if you want to get technical, he did. If he doesn’t throw the ball, the guy never leans over the railing…
Maybe living on the West coast does make you stupid.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Always liked Yao. Also whoever thought those old Rockets uniforms were cool needs to be killed by Josh Hamilton.
/Cassino
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Might want to have that rod removed from your rectum.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
but only played in 486 of a possible 656 games in his 8-year NBA career.
Wow. I’d have put it closer to half. Yao was a good guy. I hope enjoys the rest of his life in a Northern Chinese coal pit.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
You are incorrect.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
I bet he still makes the all star team next year.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
yao is hugely popular here too.
sad to see him retire. i was always a huge fan of the chinese sabonis.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
You’re in Atlanta, I’m sure you don’t see a ton of ANY nba jerseys around.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
There’s this bigass thing called Texas where I’m guessing you havent spent much time.
And boyyy do they love their Houston Rockets basketball down in Texas. hee haw!
July 8th, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Hey I resemble that remark.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Well, I mean, if you want to get technical, he did. If he doesn’t throw the ball, the guy never leans over the railing…
And if the ticket agent doesn’t give the guy seats in that location, he’s never there to catch the ball. So the ticket agent killed him.
/that’s why I’m no longer catholic
July 8th, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Cause…effect…tongue…cheek…
You really are quite grumpy.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Always liked Yao. Also whoever thought those old Rockets uniforms were cool needs to be killed by Josh Hamilton.
/Cassino
I laughed.
For you lurkers, this is how quickly you can turn into a meme.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:01 PM
Although for the life of me I can’t remember any Yao highlight besides being rejected by Nate Robinson.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:01 PM
Hey I resemble that remark.
Aren’t you in PHX? You’re only on Pacific Time half the year, right? That makes you exempt.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:02 PM
YYSA, how are you fairing in this Haboob (spelling? I don’t care) that CNN keeps reporting is swallowing the city of Phoenix and possibly the entire state of Arizona?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:02 PM
And boyyy do they love their Houston Rockets basketball down in Texas. hee haw!
actually, we do.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:02 PM
I blame Doubleday.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:02 PM
But who bought the tickets?? Or who had the idea to go to that particular game?? OMG, his kid could have killed him by wanting to go to a game!
GASP! Do you see how you misinterpreted my comment just to engage?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM
/nobody reads the comments
July 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Isn’t “sand storm” in Arabic like “snow” for Eskimos, where they have 4,000 different ways to say it? I forget where I read that.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM
We are on Arizona Time. We ain’t changing our clocks for shit. Also you missed the whole joke.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:03 PM
He already is one meme, now he’s getting another?
Yogi was funnier in that commercial than Yao.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:04 PM
If he wouldn’t have made the game so fucking boring people wouldn’t care so much about catching a ball between innings.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:04 PM
actually, we do.
Yes we do. The Rockets are quite a draw when they are halfway decent.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:04 PM
Do you guys still hate MLK Jr too?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Yogi was funnier in that commercial than Yao.
i refered to yao as “kirisheck?” because of that commercial.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:06 PM
We are on Arizona Time. We ain’t changing our clocks for shit. Also you missed the whole joke.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
/buys coke
//lining the pockets of a drug dealer
///who sells coke to Josh Hamilton 5 years from now
////I killed Josh Hamilton
July 8th, 2011 at 3:07 PM
now Wang Zhi Zhi can rightfully ascend to the throne of Greatest Chinaman in the NBA
/Chinamen is not the preferred nomenclature
//You’re killing your father, Larry
July 8th, 2011 at 3:07 PM
Do you guys still hate MLK Jr too?
Such an odd state to take a stance on MLK day being a national holiday.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Its as dusty as cassinos vagina. I had never heard the word Haboob until this week. Its called a dust storm and it was awesome to see coming at my house. Not awesome is how it left my car
July 8th, 2011 at 3:08 PM
I wish we could still say Chinamen. Our grandparents had it, man.
/ignores millions of other shit that went on back then
July 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Have people seen this? Because, wow, this is fucking awesome.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Its as dusty as cassinos vagina. I had never heard the word Haboob until this week. Its called a dust storm and it was awesome to see coming at my house. Not awesome is how it left my car
The pictures of that were awesome. CNN made it sound like PHX was getting wiped off the map though. Also, Haboob is a much better name than dust storm.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM
So have the dust storms been blamed on global warming yet?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM
He already is one meme, now he’s getting another?
That’s a good point. Can we get a ruling from people on here on whether an individual can be known for multiple memes?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:09 PM
No. We chose the superbowl over being racists. Well at least thats what we told everyone.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Somebody’s going to get sent to racial sensitivity training for that comment.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:11 PM
uh, SVP is crying on the radio.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:11 PM
About what, Miz?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:11 PM
Yes, huge in China and incredibly well-liked by players and coaches. Despite the language barrier, he’s deceivingly funny, similar to Hideki Matsui
Isn’t Ichiro supposed to be really funny too? Interesting.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Its as dusty as cassinos vagina. I had never heard the word Haboob until this week. Its called a dust storm and it was awesome to see coming at my house. Not awesome is how it left my car
That’s the MO for national media outlets. They find out somewhere that they can refer to a person or event or concept by a term that most people are unfamiliar with and so they use it over and over again.
It’s sort of like when a 5 year old learns the words ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’ and then tries to slip them into casual conversation constantly for the next week*.
*Note: this may have just been me.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Leave it to the Yankees to get the only Asian that’s neither funny, good at baseball or knows karate.
/the way this thread is going
July 8th, 2011 at 3:12 PM
I choose to drop all racist comments in the alternate post universe. Apparently no one cares or reads that.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:12 PM
How long has Hef been allowed to comment again?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:13 PM
does SC get a special exemption, because I thought he had about a dozen attributed to him.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:13 PM
Only since he and Taguchi have been hanging out at the library together
July 8th, 2011 at 3:14 PM
About what, Miz?
TBL sent him another email
July 8th, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Can we get a ruling from people on here on whether an individual can be known for multiple memes
Who’s getting multiple meme’s and what are they?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:14 PM
You know who’s surprisingly unfunny? Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Braun, and Ike Davis. It’s like MLB is bizarro land for humor expectations among races.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM
The original Cassino meme has been around forever, so I vote that he can have two.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Sc has a meme for liking 12,000 teams, owning two hats for each team, being hairy, having awful taste in everything and being a dick to women. All of those are true, except maybe the hat thing.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Greek people are supposed to be funny?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Braun, and Ike Davis
I don’t know about the other two guys but I’ve yet to hear Ryan Braun say something funny. The only thing funny about him are the T-Shirts he designs.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Shatner: you forgot the thing about him liking fatties
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
@CJ: Oops, thought you were dead serious. I know this doesn’t completely make up for my rant, but I’ll send you a picture of my hair, it looks thrilling today.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Not sure if this was posted earlier since I am one of those Pacific timezone fools, but this is really cool.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
wow.. totally misread hef’s comment
/shows self out
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
talking about his dad catching a foul ball for him when he was a kid.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Anti semite.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
SC is also known for being an asshole interviewer and shitting in the shower
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
I bet they are good with money though
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Love it.
Miz, what’s SVP crying about dammit?!
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Crap. Knew I forgot something.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
/refreshes
Oh, that is breathtaking.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
I love looking through old NBA drafts. Here is the 2002 one when Yao was #1 overall. I had forgotten that Dunleavy Jr. went third overall six spots ahead of Amar’e.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:17 PM
I thought the guys liked Matsui not because he was funny but rather the pristine porn collection
July 8th, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Oh good lord.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Doesn’t Coop have two as well: defending White Mamba and kissing another dude?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Hell, one of them was in a movie with ‘money’ in the title!
July 8th, 2011 at 3:18 PM
SC’s leg hair makes Chewbacca look bald.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:19 PM
I think it was more due to the fact that his dad died when he was young, and he was relating to that kid.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:20 PM
I didn’t know Youk was jewish.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
I know this doesn’t completely make up for my rant
Can somebody point me to where Tim Ryan (TheFatBaldingHipster) was lecturing CJ? That sounds hilarious
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
I thought the guys liked Matsui not because he was funny but rather the pristine porn collection
That is still one of the most bizarre things an interviewer has ever found out and then casually mentioned in the context of a cover story on an athlete.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Warriors fans have not
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
yes, and that’s what got him going on that story. it was touching*.
*figuratively
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Of course he’s Jewish. This is the link to his bbref page:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youklke01.shtml
July 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Impressive. That’s a lot of buttons and screens to keep track of.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:22 PM
OK, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you for clarifying.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:22 PM
You never saw this?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:22 PM
That’s awesome
July 8th, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Another major difference is that Chewbacca didn’t “support” the Empire while fighting for the Rebels.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:23 PM
I thought the guys liked Matsui not because he was funny but rather the pristine porn collection
That is still one of the most bizarre things an interviewer has ever found out and then casually mentioned in the context of a cover story on an athlete
Who collects porn? Why take up so much space when you can get it all on your computer?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:23 PM
Impressive. That’s a lot of buttons and screens to keep track of.
Well, it is a Space Shuttle.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Hef’s out of practice. Here’s the link:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youklke01.shtml
July 8th, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Who collects porn? Why take up so much space when you can get it all on your computer?
Not everybody grew up addicted to Internet porn. Those were different times, young’n
July 8th, 2011 at 3:24 PM
I never heard about this so I apologize if it was explained in the original article, but how does one, exactly, keep a porn collection “pristine?” Does it mean the porns are all in their original, mint condition cases? Or does it mean they’re highly organized?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Who collects porn? Why take up so much space when you can get it all on your computer?
Hideki Matsui is apparently a huge porn collector/connoisseur. This knowledge came to the world’s attention a few years ago in an interview. The interviewer was apparently trying to make it sound like Matsui had a human side to him and that he wasn’t all business.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:25 PM
I just can’t watch that video, too disturbing to see the kid right there.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:25 PM
Ha!
July 8th, 2011 at 3:25 PM
I was actually trying to highlight a specific portion of the url. The part with the racial slur.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:25 PM
Matsui had a human side to him and that he wasn’t all business.
I’m sure he was all business when he was putting that porn collection to good use.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:26 PM
Have people seen this? Because, wow, this is fucking awesome.
Fantastic. Matt Cassel really is the K-Swiss of NFL quarterbacks.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:26 PM
I was actually trying to highlight a specific portion of the url. The part with the racial slur
I got it, hef.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:26 PM
Valid point – I thought those things flew themselves.
/not really
July 8th, 2011 at 3:26 PM
Eat your heart out Mel Gibson!
July 8th, 2011 at 3:27 PM
July 8th, 2011 at 3:28 PM
and I have my first quote fail. It was quite the ride while it lasted.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:33 PM
Story Time:
A week after that draft Amare came into the bestbuy I worked at and was going to buy like 30 k worth of stuff. He was getting basically the top of the line of every department in the store.
I convince him to get a best buy credit card opened up because hey you save 10 percent on that shit. Thats 3 grand. So then he goes and grabs like 3 grand worth of movies, dvds and video games. I guess he had a spending limit and was going to use all of it. Anyways so I process his credit app and he is denied. I try to tell the lady on the phone that he was just drafted by the Suns. He is good for it but she does not have any of it. So I got to tell Amare and his boys that he was denied. He waited around for like 30 minutes for his agent or someone to come in and slap down an amex black.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:34 PM
I convince him to get a best buy credit card opened up because hey you save 10 percent on that shit. Thats 3 grand. So then he goes and grabs like 3 grand worth of movies, dvds and video games. I guess he had a spending limit and was going to use all of it. Anyways so I process his credit app and he is denied. I try to tell the lady on the phone that he was just drafted by the Suns. He is good for it but she does not have any of it. So I got to tell Amare and his boys that he was denied. He waited around for like 30 minutes for his agent or someone to come in and slap down an amex black.
Wow. Good stuff.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:40 PM
Did you get any commission on that?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:43 PM
Sadly no. Best buy went off commission probably a year before I got that job.