RealGM

canman1971 wrote:Having Yi in the all-star game would be as big of a joke as the actual game. One more reason not to pay any attention to the NBA for a few days.

Sports of The Times; Fans in Shanghai Are Voting in the Mainstream

By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: January 12, 2003

IT was only a few years ago that Chinese leaders fretted about what might happen if their citizens gained access to the Internet.

Now we know. Here comes Chairman Stern's own cultural revolution: the new wave of electronic voters in China is helping to elect Yao over Shaq as the starting center in the National Basketball Association's All-Star Game.

This is not, however, a case of China's one billion citizens stuffing the electronic ballot box for Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 star with the Houston Rockets. For one thing, the league's Web site, nba.com, is jiggered to allow only one vote a day for each e-mail address.

The league made it easier for international voters this year by offering ballots in three languages -- English, Spanish and Chinese -- as well as instructions in Japanese, Russian, French, Italian, Serbo-Croatian, Portuguese, German and traditional Chinese characters.

''We realized when we put up a ballot in Mandarin that it would make it easier for Chinese voters,'' said Brian McIntyre, the league's senior vice president for communications.

The Chinese vote has not overwhelmed the trend. About 15 percent of all traffic to the Web site comes from Asia, and 11 to 12 percent of the ballots come back in Chinese. Yao leads Shaq in Asian voting, but he also leads him in North America by roughly the same proportion. Through Thursday, Yao was leading Shaq, 1,015,018 to 784,920, in the last published count until the starters are announced Jan. 23.

There is absolutely no controversy in any of this because Yao is having a better season than Shaq, impressing everybody with his agility, passing, competitiveness and discipline.

Shaq has also been gracious in his reaction to the voting for Yao. ''It happens to the best of us,'' O'Neal was quoted as saying in The Houston Chronicle. ''When I came in, I beat out Patrick Ewing.

''He is making history for his people,'' Shaq said of Yao. ''His people are proud of him. They should be. One billion people -- that's tough to beat.''

On Friday, there was a report that Shaq had recently used a mock Chinese accent in joking about Yao, but Shaq insisted that was merely his brand of locker-room humor and that he meant no offense. Yao quickly said: ''The world is getting smaller, and I think it's important to have a greater understanding of other cultures. I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking, but I think that a lot of Asian people don't understand that kind of joke.''

League officials expect Shaq to suit up as a substitute in the All-Star Game.

Athanacropolis wrote:

canman1971 wrote:Having Yi in the all-star game would be as big of a joke as the actual game. One more reason not to pay any attention to the NBA for a few days.

Agreed. Fan voting is the worst.

canman1971 wrote:Having Yi in the all-star game would be as big of a joke as the actual game. One more reason not to pay any attention to the NBA for a few days.

Kefa461 wrote:Garnett overheard that Yi was on his heels from a conversation Pierce was having. "It's not about skill so I'm not worried about it," said the 11-time All-Star. "If that's who the fans want to see . . . I've served my time and had my fun at All-Star. If they want to see Yi or whoever the competition is, Paul told me it was Yi or somebody, it's what it is. I'm enjoying this 21-2 [record]. It ain't about skill. I ain't hating. It's all good."