Author: Ming Yao

Brand: ALL

Features:

• Yao Ming
• Year of the Yao
• Yao Ming Documentary

Format: NTSC

Release Date: 2006-03-14

Details: Product Description Despite facing the odds against cultural and language barriers, the pressure of representing a nation of 1.2 billion, facing the NBA's most dominant player Shaquille O'Neal, 7ft 6in Chinese basketball phenom Yao Ming succeeds in his first year in the NBA by finding friendship and support in his American translator, strength in the wisdom of his traditional Chinese values, and confidence in his own abilities. Through it all, Yao Ming became the most recognizable figure from China since Mao Tse Tung and a hero to millions around the globe. Amazon.ca Hoosiers and Glory Road are rousing underdog sports films based on inspiring true stories. The Year of the Yao is the real thing, a satisfying chronicle of the international superstar's tumultuous rookie year. It is doubtful that any NBA player had to withstand the type of scrutiny that the 22-year-old Ming endured. The first-overall draft pick in 2002, the NBA's first Chinese player was expected to make the Houston Rockets an instant playoff team, though he was unaccustomed to the speed and aggressiveness of American-style basketball. He was also seen as "a walking advertisement" and ambassador for expanding China's place on the world stage. Yao carried all the pressure on his seven-foot, six-inch frame with aplomb, aided immeasurably by Colin Pine, who put off law school to become his interpreter. Yao's story plays like the stuff of Hollywood fiction, from his disastrous debut that inspired TV commentator Charles Barkley to promise to kiss his co-anchor's backside if Yao ever scored 19 points in a game to his emergence as a bona-fide superstar of Shaq proportions . Historical snapshots of China put Yao's story into cultural context, making The Year of the Yao compelling viewing even to those for whom basketball is foreign. --Donald Liebenson

UPC: 065935221616

EAN: 0065935221616

Languages: English

Binding: DVD

Item Condition: New