Farewell to Yao Ming

After nine injury plagued seasons, Yao Ming has called it quits. It's sad to see such a nice human being who was not only a good NBA player when healthy but an ambassador to the game of basketball. He was literally larger than life at 7 feet and 6 inches tall and put up decent stats. Unfortunately, genetics due to his massive height proved to be his undoing.

Much like giants like Ralph Sampson, Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis, their height and the punishment they received over the years broke them down. It's a shame because if healthy he would have been not just an ambassador but someone who would have given Dwight Howard a run for his money for the best center of the game.

He will be sorely missed but he gave some good memories early on especially when he stood tall against Shaq in their first encounter. It was a big thing heading into the 2002-03 season. The first meeting was further hyped by Shaq's insensitive comments towards Yao in the Summer before. As you can see in this video below:



Yao was instrumental in opening the game to over a billion people from the Middle Kingdom. It allowed the game of basketball to be seen and played in what many businesses have been trying to tap for over 30 years. In fact, if you go to China, you'll see a lot of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James or even Kevin Durant jerseys. Amazing, considering that this was not the case ten or even twenty years ago when a certain player named MJ ruled the NBA. He even starred in some very funny commercials as evidenced below:



In addition, this commercial that was also hysterically funny when you consider the recent events of the last few years.



In addition, Yao was a symbol for the Chinese Gov't to show to the world every single night. His popularity in China alone helped him get voted to the All Star Game. For example, the 2011 NBA All Star Game in Los Angeles. He was out for the season because of a hairline fracture from his ankle that came from an old injury despite the Rockets best efforts to save his career going forward. Alas, the damage had been done.

At the very least, he left on his own terms rather than playing for a couple more years that would have aggravated his injuries even further. For that, I respect him for leaving before it would have debilitated him for life much like it has done for others.