姚明独一无二的，但他确实配得上名人堂？
有效发挥和短暂的职业生涯，姚明的组合是其中的一种。凯文 - 佩尔顿反映了简短，但名人堂报道霍尔应征者的伟大，在球场上的发挥。
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“我认为这是我有生以来感觉最小的，”7尺，275磅的洛佩斯说。 “涨了跳球，然后我做我的第一个钩子，他这么容易封锁。这是像什么给他。这是真的一个独特的经验。我不能把它比作其他任何东西。”
洛佩兹一样，我也比不上姚明我第一次记忆犹新，因为他是我以前从未见过。而正是因为他的巨大的7-6，体重310磅的框架没有。
是什么把我吓倒了是看到别人的眼睛，肤色和头发像我一样，不仅在NBA打球，但他抱着自己的。
作为泰国的美国提出了华盛顿之外，我在篮球的黄金时期成长起来的NBA超级粉丝。我看着迈克尔 - 乔丹，拉里 - 伯德和魔术师约翰逊和时代与NBA爱上很多人一样。
而且即使我是一个亚裔美国人，它从来没有跟我的关系没有了亚洲欢呼或观看在NBA。那是，直到姚明在2002年到来。
就像数以百万计的美国和中国，我看到姚明面对奥尼尔首次1月17日，2003年眼看姚明站在沙克比更高，实际的NBA最实际统治力的球员一个块的第一个三枪曾经是我永远不会忘记。
姚<WBR>明<WBR>悬挂<WBR>在<WBR>代<WBR>的<WBR>亚洲<WBR> NBA <WBR> fansTracy麦蒂和姚明取得了休斯敦一个强大的1-2一拳。纳撒尼尔·巴特勒/ NBAE / Getty图像
打破陈规
我永远不会知道它是什么样是身高超过5-8，所以我不能涉及到是??什么感觉是姚明。他出生在中国，我在这里，在美国出生的。但对于第一次，我觉得有一个最终的NBA球员谁是同一种族 - 就像我和我的亲戚 - 在一个精英竞争，全明星级别的。
当然，你可以说他使它因为他的大小。还有其他7-6中心，但没有谁是八次入选全明星，并五次入选NBA最佳阵容（第二队两次，第三队三次）选择与技能所产生的25分每场比赛平均10.8篮板和2.0块。
说实话，姚明之前，它从来没有跟我的关系是否有在NBA的亚洲人。现在，姚明进入名人堂，我知道他是一个全球大使都为游戏和亚洲人。
事实上，姚明在中国篮球在全球的影响，特别是对球迷，是有据可查的。他对沙克第一次会议吸引了在中国报道的2亿观众 - 比超级碗吸引。你今天看到超级巨星往往与该国代言活动，并每年夏天做出去那里。就在上个月，NBA官方公布了休斯顿火箭和新奥尔良鹈鹕将在中国下个赛季两场季前赛面临关闭作为NBA的全球奥运会中国系列的一部分。第一场比赛将在上海举行10月9日。后续发生10月12日在北京举行。
“他们知道关于游戏的一切，”洛佩兹，谁要么与篮网或赞助商访问中国多次说过。 “这是不可思议的。这绝对不是疯了，说他们是更疯狂的篮球比我们在这里。这是惊人的。有这么多不同的媒体出版物，所以很多人下了。他们确实喜欢这个游戏。”
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发起种族敏感性
姚明进行了他宽阔的肩膀中国人民的全民族的希望和梦想。而在这里他的冲击力对亚裔美国人在美国可能没有东西可以在利润或电视收视率量化它仍然是有价值的。
这是第一次，有一个亚洲明星拿起第一顺位在NBA选秀。甚至罕见的是姚明的亚洲在耐克，锐步，百事可乐，可口可乐，麦当劳，苹果和Visa的广告看到的事实。
作为一个在聚光灯下，他所带来的不仅是亚洲人，但亚裔美国人增加的认识和敏感度对于所有其他文化，种族和背景。
还记得什么时候轻松奥尼尔破解，“告诉姚明，'庆重阳华啊，所以'。”这一直是大多数亚洲人在某些时候听到的进攻种族污辱的类型，其住。尽管沙克是想开个玩笑，这增强一些非亚洲人如何似乎对什么是对亚洲人的冒犯毫无章法。
前者湖人中心嘲讽中国语言和亚洲人并在这样做，第一次道歉促使人们关注这个看似平常的种族麻木不仁。
史蒂夫·科尔，那么TNT评论员，学到新的东西，还把认识到另一个历史上长期不敏感东方人，当他有提到姚明的道歉“中国佬”。
“我为我的无知道歉，”科尔说，早在2004年。“我在想这个词法国人和荷兰人，我不知道它被用来作为以任何方式贬低的术语。我觉得很恐怖吧，和我道歉任何人谁是得罪了。“
还有热火队举行了幸运饼干之夜的时间 - 2002年为姚明的第一次去迈阿密没关系，姚明从来没有见过中国幸运饼 - 另一个亚洲刻板印象。
“如果你坐下来谈谈中国人，没有人对别人是那个高个子说话，”穆托姆博，谁拥有了自己的职业生涯中粉碎非洲成见，在他得知姚明的到来，中国文化2003说。 “我觉得我自己，我一直在努力学习，问问题的人哪个中国的一部分，是他从。
“中国并不是每个人都短。这就像我们正在经历的教育过程中，我们发现人越多，我们了解的文化，语言和他们的国家。我认为这更多的是一些姚明做我们所有的人，尤其是NBA球员。“
“你不能凭封面或国籍来判断一本书，你不能做一个毯子声明，如”白人不能跳。“你永远不可能用一个语句来描绘整场比赛。“
帕特里克·尤因
除了无意中帮助教育许多谁没有亚洲诬蔑敏感，姚明还凿去的，今天仍然存在，一个林书豪有战斗的刻板印象 - 亚洲人是不合法的篮球运动员，并在不能使它运动的最高水平。
“姚明是骄傲的中国美国人的一个观点，”布赖恩杨，中国的美国纪录片的演员和制片人说，“林来疯”。 “我记得[杰里米]的第一年，我觉得大家都喜欢，”将这个家伙真的能挂？而当我们看到进步，我们很兴奋，上窜下跳去，“是啊，这是正确的，孩子！”这就是为什么亚裔美国人开始走出去，购买他的球衣。“
杨今年42岁，是一个篮球迷，同时在俄亥俄州和加利福尼亚长大谁长大了76人查尔斯·巴克利风扇。全国各地的，也有休闲亚裔美国篮球联赛和杨应用于几个与在一个点上运行的联盟一起玩。
谁在任何级别打篮球，大多数亚洲人知道别人会自动想想他们是如何好，他们甚至推出了拍摄前。
“有这些少数民族聚居地的想找到一种方法[克服]，他们并没有获得在操场上捡到时，他们开始与非亚洲帅哥打球，”杨说。 “你真的不得不站出来，或注意到得到回升。这是比较容易玩[在亚洲联赛]用谁也不会怀疑你，因为你的肤色的人，那恰好是人谁是像你差不多的身高和运动能力。“
虽然这是肯定地说没有一个亚洲人在这些联赛站在7-6，它们都可能涉及一些这样或那样姚明。
“我的爷爷奶奶，爸爸妈妈，他们都来自中国，”杨说。 “我觉得我是共鸣，通过姚明的生活。我想我可能涉及到这家伙正在经历在里面，因为这是我的父母和祖父母经历，当他们第一次来到这里。我绝对感到自豪超越的事实，他是中国人“。
尤因说，姚明退役，2011年由于伤病的时候，“他比其他任何人更美。”尤因，谁与姚明仍然是朋友，说姚明热爱美国文化，他通过他退休的时候来了一位他的保留壳。
一路上，他打破成见和??亚洲人的成见破灭。
“你不能判断一本书的封面或他的国籍，”尤因，谁了解和经验丰富的种族偏见来自牙买加飞来，在乔治城打了约翰·汤普森说。 “你不能做一个毯子声明，如”白人不能跳。“你永远不可能用一个语句来描绘整场比赛。“
Yao unique, but was he truly HOF worthy?
Yao Ming's combination of effective play and a short career is one of a kind. Kevin Pelton reflects on the brief, but great, on-court play of the reported Hall of Fame inductee.
"I think that was the smallest that I've ever felt," the 7-foot, 275-pound Lopez said. "Going up for the jump ball and then I do my first hook and he blocked it so easily. It was like nothing to him. It was really really a unique experience. I can't compare it to anything else."
Like Lopez, I couldn't compare my first vivid memory of Yao because he was something I had never seen before. And it wasn't because of his enormous 7-6, 310-pound frame.
What blew me away was seeing someone with eyes, skin tone and hair like mine not only playing in the NBA, but holding his own.
As a Thai-American raised outside Washington, D.C., I grew up a huge NBA fan in the golden era of basketball. I watched Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and fell in love with the NBA like so many others during that era.
And even though I am an Asian American, it never mattered to me there wasn't an Asian to cheer for or watch in the NBA. That was, until Yao arrived in 2002.
Like millions in the United States and China, I watched Yao face Shaquille O'Neal for the first time on Jan. 17, 2003. Seeing Yao stand taller than Shaq and actually block the first three shots by one of the NBA's most physically dominant players ever was something I'll never forget.
Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming made a formidable 1-2 punch in Houston.
Breaking stereotypes
I won't ever know what it is like to be taller than 5-8 so I can't relate to what it's like to be Yao. And he was born in China, I was born here in the States. But for the first time, I felt there was finally an NBA player who was of the same race -- like me and my relatives -- and competed at an elite, All-Star level.
Sure, you could say he made it because of his size. There have been other 7-6 centers but none who was an eight-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA (second team twice, third team three times) selection with skill that produced per-game averages of 25 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
Honestly, before Yao, it never mattered to me whether there were Asians in the NBA. Now, as Yao enters the Hall of Fame, I realize he was a global ambassador both for the game and for Asians.
Indeed, Yao's impact on basketball globally, specifically on fans in China, is well documented. His first meeting against Shaq drew a reported 200 million viewers in China -- more than the Super Bowl attracts. You see today how superstars often have endorsement deals with the country and make trips there every summer. Just last month, the NBA announced the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans will face off in two preseason games in China next season as part of the NBA's Global Games China series. The first game will be held Oct. 9 in Shanghai. The follow-up takes place Oct. 12 in Beijing.
"They know everything about the game," said Lopez, who has visited China several times already either with the Nets or sponsors. "It is incredible. It is definitely not crazy to say that they are even crazier about basketball than we are here. It is amazing. There are so many different media publications, so many people following it. They really do love the game."
Initiated racial sensitivity
Yao carried the hopes and dreams of an entire nation of Chinese people on his broad shoulders. While his impact here on Asian Americans in the United States might not be something you can quantify in profits or television ratings it was nonetheless as valuable.
For the first time, there was an Asian star picked first overall in the NBA draft. Perhaps even rarer was the fact Yao was an Asian seen in Nike, Reebok, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Apple and Visa commercials.
Being in the spotlight, he brought an increased awareness and sensitivity about not just Asians but Asian Americans for all other cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds.
Remember when the light-hearted O'Neal cracked, "Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-so.'" This has long been the type of offensive racial slur most Asians have heard at some point in their lives. While Shaq meant it as a joke, it reinforced how some non-Asians seemed clueless on what was offensive to Asians.
The former Lakers center apologized for mocking the Chinese language and Asians and in doing so, for the first time brought attention to this seemingly commonplace racial insensitivity.
Steve Kerr, then a TNT analyst, learned something new and brought awareness to another historically insensitive term to Asians when he had to apologize for referring to Yao as "Chinaman."
"I apologize for my ignorance," Kerr said back in 2004. "I was thinking of the term Frenchman and Dutchman, and I had no idea it was used as a demeaning term in any way. I feel terrible about it, and I apologize to anybody who was offended."
There was also the time the Miami Heat held a Fortune Cookie Night -- another Asian stereotype -- for Yao's first trip to Miami in 2002. Never mind that Yao had never seen a fortune cookie in China.
"If you sit down and talk about Chinese people, nobody talks about someone being that tall," Dikembe Mutombo, who has had to shatter African stereotypes during his career, said in 2003 of what he learned about Chinese culture from Yao's arrival. "I think myself, I have been trying to study and ask people questions about which part of China is he from.
"Not everybody in China is short. It is like an education process that we are going through, the more we discover people, the more we learn about the culture, the language and their countries. And I think that is something Yao Ming is doing to all of us, especially the NBA players."
"You can't judge a book by its cover or by his nationality. You can't make one blanket statement like 'white men can't jump.' You can never use one statement to depict a whole race."
Patrick Ewing
Besides unintentionally helping educate many who weren't sensitive to Asian slurs, Yao also chipped away at a stereotype that still exists today and one that Jeremy Lin has to battle -- that Asians aren't legitimate basketball players and can't make it at the highest level of the sport.
"Yao was a point of pride for Chinese Americans," said Brian Yang, a Chinese-American actor and producer of the documentary "Linsanity." "I remember [Jeremy]'s first year, I think we were all like, 'will this guy really be able to hang?' And when we saw improvement, we got excited, jumping up and down and going, 'Yeah, that's right, boy!' That's why Asian Americans started going out and buying his jersey."
Yang, 42, is a hoops junkie who grew up a Sixers and Charles Barkley fan while growing up in Ohio and California. Around the country, there are recreational Asian American basketball leagues and Yang used to play in several along with running a league at one point.
Most Asians who play basketball at any level know what others automatically might think about how good they are before they even launch a shot.
"There are all these ethnic enclaves that wanted to find a way [to overcome] where they weren't getting picked on the playground when they started playing with the non-Asian dudes," Yang said. "You really would have to stand out or noticed to get picked. It was easier to play [in an Asian league] with people who wouldn't question you because of the color of your skin, and that just happens to be people who are like you with about the same height and athleticism."
While it's safe to say none of the Asians in these leagues stand 7-6, they all could relate some way or another to Yao.
"My grandparents, my parents, they all came from China," Yang said. "I felt like I was vicariously living through Yao. I thought I could relate to what this guy is going through on the inside because this is what my parents and grandparents went through when they first came here. I definitely felt pride beyond the fact that he was Chinese."
Ewing said that by the time Yao retired in 2011 due to injury, "he was more American than anybody else." Ewing, who remains friends with Yao, said Yao loves American culture and that he came a bit out of his reserved shell by the time he retired.
Along the way, he broke stereotypes and shattered preconceptions of Asians.
"You can't judge a book by its cover or by his nationality," said Ewing, who learned about and experienced racial stereotypes coming from Jamaica and playing for John Thompson at Georgetown. "You can't make one blanket statement like 'white men can't jump.' You can never use one statement to depict a whole race."
