O'Neal Tries a Novel Approach: Big Respect
By Greg Sandoval
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 20, 2005; Page E07
DENVER, Feb. 19 -- Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said today that he uses trash-talk to gain a psychological edge over the league's other big men. But there is one player O'Neal doesn't badger: the Houston Rockets' Yao Ming, who is from China.
"I found out that he was a respectful young man," said O'Neal before he and the other members of the Eastern Conference all-star team began practice. "I realized that Asian people are different than us Americans. . . . The Asian people have always been about honor and respect, so I respect and honor him."
O'Neal and Yao go head-to-head in Sunday's NBA All-Star Game. Two years ago, when O'Neal was still with the Lakers, he ignited a firestorm of protest for making what many Asian groups considered racist comments during an interview.
"Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,' " O'Neal told an interviewer in the summer of 2002.
O'Neal apologized and called himself an "idiot prankster." Nonetheless, he continued to slam Yao's game in the media. Last season, O'Neal often said that he was the only dominating center in the Western Conference, an apparent slight of the 7-foot-5 Yao.
What changed O'Neal's attitude?
In an interview last November with The Washington Post, O'Neal said: "One day my father came to Houston before a game we were supposed to play against the Rockets and he said, 'Cut that stuff out.' I said, 'What?' My father said, 'You talkin' all that mess to that man. Do you know that man sent you a Christmas card?'
"He handed me the Christmas card. It said, 'Shaq, you're my favorite big man. I want to be like you in a couple of years. I love you.' And after that, I'm like . . . I'm acting like an [expletive] to this dude, trying to break him, trying to punk him before I play him, but it didn't work. You got to respect a man you can't break.
"All those other cats, I could break 'em. I could say something in the paper and get them to respond. Once they respond, I got 'em. I used to do that to [Alonzo] Mourning, [Patrick] Ewing. Couldn't do it to Yao. I apologized to him.
"So now whenever we play, it's like two warriors going at it."
Link (Registration required)
PS. I posted this one here as it speaks about Yao's nature more than about Shaq. Some people need to be loud to get respect, others just get it being themselves.
By Greg Sandoval
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 20, 2005; Page E07
DENVER, Feb. 19 -- Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said today that he uses trash-talk to gain a psychological edge over the league's other big men. But there is one player O'Neal doesn't badger: the Houston Rockets' Yao Ming, who is from China.
"I found out that he was a respectful young man," said O'Neal before he and the other members of the Eastern Conference all-star team began practice. "I realized that Asian people are different than us Americans. . . . The Asian people have always been about honor and respect, so I respect and honor him."
O'Neal and Yao go head-to-head in Sunday's NBA All-Star Game. Two years ago, when O'Neal was still with the Lakers, he ignited a firestorm of protest for making what many Asian groups considered racist comments during an interview.
"Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,' " O'Neal told an interviewer in the summer of 2002.
O'Neal apologized and called himself an "idiot prankster." Nonetheless, he continued to slam Yao's game in the media. Last season, O'Neal often said that he was the only dominating center in the Western Conference, an apparent slight of the 7-foot-5 Yao.
What changed O'Neal's attitude?
In an interview last November with The Washington Post, O'Neal said: "One day my father came to Houston before a game we were supposed to play against the Rockets and he said, 'Cut that stuff out.' I said, 'What?' My father said, 'You talkin' all that mess to that man. Do you know that man sent you a Christmas card?'
"He handed me the Christmas card. It said, 'Shaq, you're my favorite big man. I want to be like you in a couple of years. I love you.' And after that, I'm like . . . I'm acting like an [expletive] to this dude, trying to break him, trying to punk him before I play him, but it didn't work. You got to respect a man you can't break.
"All those other cats, I could break 'em. I could say something in the paper and get them to respond. Once they respond, I got 'em. I used to do that to [Alonzo] Mourning, [Patrick] Ewing. Couldn't do it to Yao. I apologized to him.
"So now whenever we play, it's like two warriors going at it."
Link (Registration required)
PS. I posted this one here as it speaks about Yao's nature more than about Shaq. Some people need to be loud to get respect, others just get it being themselves.
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