Rockets to Yao: “Where Are Your Priorities, Charity-boy?”

Back in July the All-China Sports Federation publicly declared that Yao Ming was spending too much time caring for the less fortunate in society:

No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can’t be allowed to take first place in a player’s life. No matter how sweet personal life is, it can’t be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one’s nation.

What set off this tirade? Apparently, Yao had missed a few days of national team training so that he could help out with the 2007 Special Olympics. That, and he had a wedding to plan. Like many other bloggers, these comments struck me as being rather outside the boundaries of the Olympic – and Special Olympic – spirit.

But now, several months later, they come off as downright warm-hearted compared to the nasty US$20,000+ smack-down that Yao’s NBA team has levied against their star for – of all things – missing practice to attend the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics. Here, in unvarnished glory, is how Rockets GM Daryl “Scrooge” Morley, explained the team’s feelings about Yao’s participation in the Special Olympics to the Houston Chronicle:

He’s [Yao] basically taking an extremely prominent role in the Special Olympics in his hometown. It is a setback. We’ve been trying to avoid it.

Nice. Real nice.

In response, Yao – ever the class-act – had this to say:

As a Global Ambassador of Special Olympics, I was requested to participate and play a role in the opening ceremony of 2007 Special Olympics World Games in my hometown of Shanghai … I feel it is an obligation that I must meet. I realize that missing the first few days of camp will put me behind my teammates in learning our new coach’s system, but I will work very hard to make sure that I do not hurt our team’s progress as we prepare for the start of the new season.

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