To hell with the Chinese Government -- Pass on Yao!

What's with all this b****ing about the Chinese government?

Yeah, they're totalitarians. Yeah, that's bad. But they're not the people jerking us around. The people jerking us around are the Shanghai Sharks.

 

Exactly. A better example for people would be baseball that sends players to Japan. It would be like the Japanese wanting a player from the Astros, a player who wants to be there. But then the Astros being tough to negotiate with, and a Japanese fan saying "Typical American Government", when it's actually the Astros being tough to work with.

 

There's a difference though Rocks...Ming's people have said point blank that the gov't will, in fact, need to give their stamp of approval on the deal. Along with several other agencies. Wasn't there an article about how we need to get 8 or 9 sigs on the contract in order to close the deal? I just cant wait until this whole storm passes.

 

Axeman,

China is corrupt. The owner of the Sharks probably has a lot of $$$ . What do people with power and $$$ usually also have? The backing of government officials.

If the owners of the Shanghai Sharks tells Yao to sign, the government will too as long as its demands are met (to play in international competition and make china look good).

China wants:
1.) Yao to be on a good team. If Yao looks good, China looks good.
2.) Promise to allow Yao to play international competition
3.) 1/2 of Yao's salary. In other words, bribery. But the government doesn;t give a crap where that money's coming from as long as 1 and 2 are met.

Shanghai Sharks:
1.) They don;t give a crap
2.) They don;t give a crap
3.) Aha. Since China wants 1/2 his salary, they want their $$$ too. This is where the roadblocks are.

The Shanghai Sharks are the real issue.

 

Rudy and CD have to laughing amongst themselves that the Shanghai Sharks!? are putting out threats instead of the welcome mat. We would'nt take this nonsense from Toronto much less the some junior college level team from China - The Sharks please that name is almost as bad as the Texans- Ming is a waste of time and energy - unless your part of the Rockets entourage that scored free tickets to China. This all sounds like a job for Nadar.

 

Not really. Take this Web site, for example. In the end, Clutch owns it all. Sure, you may be called "Axeman" and may be a "Member," but the bottom line is that we could ban you in two seconds if we wanted to. And we haven't yet.

And yet, somehow, we have nothing to do with your tired rants and ignorant oversimplifications of Chinese politics. Get it?

 

Axeman,

Once Yao is in the U.S., the Chinese government will have a lot less control. Hell, they can't even find Wang.

You have to remember, the Chinese government has a lot more to lose than the Sharks. The SHarks lose their "franchise player". For them, losing Yao is losing big $$$ which they can't easily replace.

China is in a different situation. Yao to the NBA means potential big mega $$$ for China. For them saving face (a good team) is just as important as the $$$. The Sharks just want to get paid.

Putting Yao in the NBA means that in the future, the Chinese government can demand 1/2 of every Chinese player's contract regardless what team they play for, whether its the SHarks, the Red Army team, or whatever. If they start exerting control over the NBA, the NBA teams are going to say, screw this, which could cost China a buttload of $$$. For every team that's put off by China's tactics means one less team to market towards, one less potential employer and millions of lost dollars.

The SHarks just want to get as much as they can while they still control Yao. Theyre like the agent who has one good client and tries to get every red penny they can.

To assume that the government and the SHanghai Sharks are one and the same is a little naive.

 

Dude, I don't know what I was thinking, expecting subtlety from you. You're talking to the most anti-ban member of the "Crew." My point was that just because some higher authority can shut you up doesn't mean they approve of everything you say, much less that you're their mouthpiece. You know full well that this applies to you, but somehow you can't grasp that the same is true of the management of the Shanghai Sharks.

The basic problem here is that you're too obsessed with the totalitarianism of the Chinese government (which nobody here is disputing) to realize how little it explains the plain old stubborn and selfish behavior of the Shanghai Sharks.

 

Oh, axeman, I didn't take it as a threat. Give Will the benefit of the doubt. He *is* the most anti-ban crew member. He was just making an illustration, imo.

back to your topic:

Do you realize Wang signed his contract with the Mavs two days after the Chinese jet crashed into our spy plane. Wang was on a plane to the US to play his first NBA game at the very same time China was holding our pilots hostage.

The Chinese govt doesn't really care about ruling over pro athletes and holding them hostage as much as you are exaggerating. It is merely a typical trade negotiation with China. Afterall, China has a long history of trade with the West, no??

Look at it this way. Last year an Army General from China made veiled threats of nuclear weapons in the same breath as Los Angeles. Some took that as a veiled threat during the Taiwan Sea military manuevers when they sailed a rocket over Taiwan, right? (i'm remembering that correctly, no?)

If we land Ming, they won't bomb Houston!!!

 

I see what you are saying HeyP but its my understanding (and maybe am missing something) that the Chinese poweres that be think a LOT more highly of Yao than thay did of Wang. True?

I just dont remember it being such a big deal when Wang was being courted

 

I agree with you here, and the funny thing is, in a sick way, I think this is our ace in the hole. If the Sharks guy keeps mouthing off and throwing up roadblocks to the point that he endangers Yao going #1, he might very well get a phone call from somebody in a position to squash his nuts. Then we can all feel lousy about the communist government that delivered our franchise player -- right after we rack up a few championships.

 

Then we merely need to remind them that the NBA will pull all its advertising in Oriental TV (owners of Sharks) and Shanghai TV (govt owned largest TV station in China) if they pull Ming.

They are not going to shoot themselves in the foot on lucrative TV deals just to make a political point. Ming in the NBA is too lucrative for them and the head of the CBA is on record saying that their league as to learn how to make money.

<a href="http://www.time.com/time/asia/biz/daily/0,9754,203602,00.html">read this on their money-making beliefs in basketball</a>

Don't worry...be happy.

The Sharks just want some money up front somehow, and the league knows he'll make them more money in advertising playing here than there. Think Pepsi, Coke, Motorola and Sony deals with Shanghai TV airing copywritten NBA games of Ming.

There are much more important and influential people wanting Ming in the NBA than some squat ex-journalist turned asst to the GM of a $133K budget basketball team--Li Yaoming is nothing.

These Teams in the CBA are not big business,,,their employees subsist on a small budget. Only their owners are worth dealing with. You just dismiss their Li Yaomin spokesmen.