I remember being at Yao's first game at the UC... I believe it was in the 02 season, and there were throngs upon throngs of Chinese people there with signs, reporters were combing the upper deck interviewing everyone, it was a hell of a distraction.

I was again at a Rockets/Bulls game in early December, and in the first row of the 300 level to our immediate right were ~4-5 Chinese people clearly there to see their hero Yao. I remember them playing with cellphones, portable video games, slurping sodas and talking to each other for the whole game, not even remotely in interested in what was going on.

With that kind of push to make the NBA relevant in China, Yao will be "starting" every ASG until he hangs it up... or Yi gets that much better.

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