Shaq O' Neal Under Fire for Bashing Houston Rockets NBA Player Yao Ming with Racial Slurs

The ESPN Insider and Asian Week Magazine ^ | January 10, 2003 | Chad Ford

[ewing]

Shaq O'Neal may be one of the most well liked figures in the National Basketball Association, but his recent verbal attacks on Houston Rockets 7 foot 6 inch big man Yao Ming from China are starting to raise troubling questions-is Shaq indeed racist?

Some feel Shaq's comments in his escalating war of words with Yao have crossed the line from trash talk to racial slurs.

Asian Week columnist Irwin Tang recently 'called out' O' Neal in public for several racially derogatory comments thrown in Yao's direction.

Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,' O Neal said to a reporter recently in a mock Chinese accent.

When asked this summer how he would greet Yao Ming to the NBA, [who is a rookie this year from the Republic of China] Shaq said he would let his elbows do the talking.

'Street ball,' O'Neal commented on what would be awaiting Yao Ming in the National Basketball Association.

'Playing in the gym, shooting jumpers and all that...that's fine-But I am street.

It is about how to take a blow to the nose and make you think about what I am going to do next time down the court.'

[dfwgator]

I was referring to over 7 feet tall. Over time the heart has to work harder and harder to supply blood to such a large area (see Wilt Chamberlain).

[big gray tabby]

Yeah, that's what would happen if they actually made them dribble in the NBA.

[Rad_J]

Shaq O'Neal may be one of the most well liked figures in the National Basketball Association

Yeah right. Fans of other teams love it when Shaq plows over three players and dunks the ball and gets to go to the foul line to attempt a three point play.

ESPN and Lakers fans love Shaq. The rest of the league doesn't like him.

[geaux]

That's funny and it's a great comeback for Ming: "Oh yeah? Well, I heard that Shaq-a "lack-a-ding-dong." You ought to email it to Ming's publicity guy.

[ewing]

The New York Post had an article today that said Shaq's agent was trying to keep his friendship with Farrakhan under wraps and the fact that O'Neal recently converted to the Nation of Islam hatemongers

[isthisnickcool]

Over time the heart has to work harder and harder to supply blood to such a large area (see Wilt Chamberlain).

I know you did not mean it to be but THAT'S FUNNY!

[evolved_rage]

Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,' O Neal said to a reporter recently in a mock Chinese accent.

Little does Shaq know, but he just proposed that he would love to be Yao Ming's girl. Shaq is such a limp dole.

[danneskjold]

Nahhh. Have you ever met him? The guy is a pussycat. Ask the folks who know him.

Actually, I have. I went to LSU at the same time as he did, and we had some common friends.

[Macklew]

Who cares!!! Baseball and bowling are the only real sports left anyway.

[dfwgator]

I know you did not mean it to be but THAT'S FUNNY!

Well I suppose that didn't help matters did it? But at least he died happy, right?

[IvanT]

Isn't it racist to call a black person racist?

[Enterprise]

Well, let me put it this way then. Shaq is making fun of Yao Ming because his English isn't too good. My bet is that given time, Yao will end speaking better English than Shaq does and he will end up speaking better English than many of the black children in their failing schools.

[B-Chan]

Yao Ming might be a Chinese citizen, but now he's a Texan. And that makes all the difference in the World. When you attack a Texan, you just took on the whole state of Texas.

You got that right. Yellow, black, brown, red, or white doesn't matter when Stant Ana comes over the hill. Being Texan matters. Real Texans may fight among themselves, but we stick together against Yankees, people who think chili has beans in it, and other unfriendly outsiders.

Shaq can shove his "street" where the sun don't shine. On the parquet, all the "street" in the world doesn't matter; putting balls through hoops and numbers in the "W" column do.

[lormand]

From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2002/01/30/life_of_reilly/ "In his book Shaq Talks Back, Shaquille O'Neal wrote, "If you get dunked on by a white boy, you got to come home to your friends and hear it.""

and....

"We know we're supposed to giggle when Charles Barkley says, "See? This is what I hate about white people.""

Oh the blatantly flaming double standards that Black Americans "enjoy" today. This White Boy will tell it like it is as long as I live or until a true Civil Rights movement sweeps the nation and finally rids America of institutionalized racism, not just for one race of people, but for all. The Civil Rights movement is forever a joke because of the displaced racism that it resulted in.

My 2 cents!

[Dog Gone]

Well, if Yao Now Brown Cow Ming had said something like that, I would have fallen down laughing.

This whole country needs to lighten up.

[dfwgator]

Isn't Shaq from San Antonio?

[Charlie OK]

Perhaps even more troubling, [Bonzi] Wells has been accused by NBA players of making racial taunts toward white players.

Ferry told writers Wells called him a "[blanking] honkie" during games dating to last season.

In an exhibition game this season, Golden State's Troy Murphy said Wells called him a "cracker" - a derogatory term for whites.

Last April, Dallas guard Nick Van Excel, a black, said Wells referred to the Mavericks as "a bunch of soft-assed white boys."

Link

How often did we hear about John Rocker? Now, how many of you had heard about this?

[Dog Gone]

I'm not quite ready to bestow the honorary title of Texan to someone who is a citizen of China and not even trying to immigrate.

Even illegal aliens want to live in Texas, but Yao Ming just wanted to make big American bucks from whatever team drafted him.

[Enterprise]

'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,"

I checked with a chinese friend who burst out laughing. He said that it has another meaning. It also means "I humbly request to clean your toe jam and add it to my afternoon tea, master."

[KSCITYBOY]

Do the same with black street slang and see what you get called...