If you're a Liverpool fan, you're probably pretty angry right now. You've won one game since September (albeit a pretty important one, against Manchester United), qualification to the knockout stage of the Champions League seems extremely improbable right now and you're sixth in the English Premier League, after finishing second last year.
For years, doctors and patients have been using DNA analysis to diagnose anything from paternity to predisposition to inherited disease. Now, Chinese scientists say genetic testing can identify inherent "talents" as well.
In basketball, the intrigue with the physical has always been devoted to the extremes of height -- the very tall and the very short: say, Yao Ming at 7-foot-6 or Nate Robinson at 5-9. That makes the fascination with LeBron James' body all the more unusual.
Grading the West players from Sunday's NBA All-Star Game:
Longtime sports writer Dan Washburn does not hide his disappointment that his favorite game has failed to make the cut for an appearance at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
5. The making of new friends. "The hospital was going to cost $14 million,'' the 42-year-old Dikembe Mutombo says.
There was no bigger story for a month or so in 1999 than Steve Francis' refusal to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies, the team that drafted him, and the maneuvers required to send him to Houston. "Stevie Franchise,'' as he came to be known, had a stylish run of five seasons -- largely lacking in substance -- with the Rockets, before bouncing through Orlando, New York, Portland and back to Houston. Ultimately, Francis was the centerpiece in trades and personnel moves affecting nearly 30 players' lives, if you count the draft picks involved.
You don't have to be a basketball fan to look up to Yao Ming, who at 7-feet-6-inches (2.29 meters) is now the tallest active player in NBA basketball.
At certain times in history, great nations find themselves shaping the future of the world. For many of our most endangered wildlife species, China finds itself in that role today.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 2. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. For more essays, click here.
If you're a Liverpool fan, you're probably pretty angry right now. You've won one game since September (albeit a pretty important one, against Manchester United), qualification to the knockout stage of the Champions League seems extremely improbable right now and you're sixth in the English Premier League, after finishing second last year.
For years, doctors and patients have been using DNA analysis to diagnose anything from paternity to predisposition to inherited disease. Now, Chinese scientists say genetic testing can identify inherent "talents" as well.
In basketball, the intrigue with the physical has always been devoted to the extremes of height -- the very tall and the very short: say, Yao Ming at 7-foot-6 or Nate Robinson at 5-9. That makes the fascination with LeBron James' body all the more unusual.
Grading the West players from Sunday's NBA All-Star Game:
Longtime sports writer Dan Washburn does not hide his disappointment that his favorite game has failed to make the cut for an appearance at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
5. The making of new friends. "The hospital was going to cost $14 million,'' the 42-year-old Dikembe Mutombo says.
There was no bigger story for a month or so in 1999 than Steve Francis' refusal to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies, the team that drafted him, and the maneuvers required to send him to Houston. "Stevie Franchise,'' as he came to be known, had a stylish run of five seasons -- largely lacking in substance -- with the Rockets, before bouncing through Orlando, New York, Portland and back to Houston. Ultimately, Francis was the centerpiece in trades and personnel moves affecting nearly 30 players' lives, if you count the draft picks involved.
You don't have to be a basketball fan to look up to Yao Ming, who at 7-feet-6-inches (2.29 meters) is now the tallest active player in NBA basketball.
At certain times in history, great nations find themselves shaping the future of the world. For many of our most endangered wildlife species, China finds itself in that role today.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 2. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. For more essays, click here.
Friday's dazzling kick-off (with Yao Ming and 14,000 others) is marred by the killing of an American Saturday
US men's basketball team passes huge test, but the much-anticipated game gave all sides something to cheer
For NBA fans, this year's Olympic basketball tournament will be about more than just watching the likes of Kobe Bryant (United States), Yao Ming (China), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Pau Gasol (Spain) lead their respective national teams on a quest to win the gold medal.
For the first time since Barcelona, there's real buzz surrounding Olympic men's basketball.
Yao Ming has clarified his comments about new Rockets acquisition Ron Artest, now saying he was always thrilled that Houston traded for the enigmatic forward.
He stood 86 floors above the earth, staring down at lower Manhattan from a corner of the observation deck at the Empire State Building. Liu Xiang, the reigning gold medalist and world-record holder (12.88) in the 110-meter hurdles, had just completed a half hour of interviews with the broadcast press and had a minute to himself before a small army of print reporters met him. He turned his lanky body toward the fence, stretched his arms, and looked at the skyline below him.
How many times have we seen it; an athlete offering a rueful shake of the head and shrug of the shoulders, and the only explanation for not winning: "It just wasn't my day." But would knowing if it was their day help?
It's one of the great mysteries of the NBA this season, right up there with the Rockets continuing to soar without Yao Ming, the Bulls' misplaced mojo and Isiah Thomas keeping his job.
OK, this Rockets thing is getting ridiculous. Nineteen straight wins!? The last seven without Yao Ming? For a team that features Rafer Alston at point guard? C'mon. Are the Rockets for real?
Maybe the Houston Rockets didn't get the memo, the one that said their success was supposed to end when Yao Ming could no longer be a part of it. Maybe they forgot that you can't compete in the Western Conference without a dominant center and that their 7' 6" model was lost for the season on Feb. 26 with a stress fracture in his left foot. Maybe they weren't told that their 12-game winning streak was supposed to disappear with Yao; instead they capped off a perfect February and, with a 103-89 home victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, matched a franchise record with 15 straight wins, vaulting them into fifth place in the West.
On the eve of the big Texas presidential primary, it's only fitting that two teams from the Lone Star State would be battling it out atop these Power Rankings. Yes, the Rockets and Spurs are this week's choice to head up this ticket. They get the edge over the similarly high-flying Lakers for now, though the race is tighter than the delegate count between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
(Editor's note: These rankings were compiled before the Rockets announced that Yao Ming would miss the rest of the season.)
After sputtering to a 13-15 start, an opening to the season that earned "Most Disappointing" honors from nearly every corner of the sports media universe, the Rockets have spun off seven wins in their last 11 games. A modest profit, to be sure, but one more befitting a team expected to contend in the Western Conference after winning 52 games last season.
Kobe Bryant didn't get traded. The league's new Big Three shined in its debut. And one city welcomed NBA basketball back to town (New Orleans) while another moved a step closer to losing its team (Seattle).
Remember when high-impact NBA rookies were all peach-fuzzed kids right out of college? Those days are long gone. As the 2007-08 season gets set to tip-off, the top rookie is just as likely to be a world-weary European free agent sporting full facial hair and maybe a championship trophy or two from some international competition.
When I first visited the Galapagos Islands Marine Reserve, I expected to see an untouched paradise. While it is still beautiful to the naked eye, behind the scenes, all is not well. While there, I learned that the famous sharks of the Galapagos were under siege for their fins.
Houston Rockets' star center Yao Ming married longtime girlfriend - and basketball player for the Chinese national women's team - Ye Li at a posh hotel in his hometown of Shanghai on Monday, reports the Associated Press.
Basketball star Yao Ming, the 7' 6" center for the Houston Rockets, will marry his girlfriend after eight years of dating, Chinese state press reported Monday.
In Spain, they're gonzo over Fernando Alonso, the cool-as-a jewel thief Formula One driver who two years ago, became the series' youngest champion when he ended the five-year reign of Michael Schumacher. When Alonso repeated the feat last year, he added youngest two-time champion to an already glittering resume.
Pointing to a team's mettle, its ability to rise above pressure and execute with everything seeming ready to fall apart, seems like a cop-out. Most of the time, it's a fanciful notion used to hide an observer's inability or unwillingness to point out the real reasons (rebounds, free throws, turnovers) one team won and one team lost.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- The signs were everywhere, like a series of mirages. Perhaps they were not visible to the outsider, but for Jazz fans they were as clear to see as the Wasatch Mountains.
As we did last season, and the previous year, it's time for our third annual trip through some of my favorite stories from the previous NBA season.
The birth certificate from the Democratic Republic of Congo makes him out to be 40-years-old. But his NBA colleagues have long joked that the document must be forged because Dikembe Mutombo is years older than that. The punch line? That comes when Mutombo laughs along: Eyes squinting, cheeks bursting, his laughter fills the room like music in a jazz club, and he looks young enough to be a student at Georgetown all over again.
Injuries to big-name players come up every season, but this year has been especially brutal. Shaquille O'Neal. Yao Ming. Lamar Odom. Paul Pierce. Chris Paul. Michael Redd. Those are just a handful of the big names currently out of commission.
The NBA's injury bug is starting to frustrate. Not only has it taken its toll on some of the league's best teams, but it's also starting to shake the infrastructure of these vaunted and venerated Player Rankings. No Yao Ming, no Pau Gasol, no Shaquille O'Neal, no Carmelo Anthony (he pulled a hamstring running from Jared Jeffries), no Paul Pierce, no Chauncey Billups, no Chris Paul, no Chris Bosh, no Rashard Lewis -- we're too close to having to throw in Devin Brown at No. 20 just to round out the list, and nobody wants that. Devin Brown doesn't even want that.
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, entrepreneur
With his pop star looks, Jiang Tengyi could be an extra in a boy band. But this 21-year old is racing for the pride of China.
Few doubt that the 2008 Summer Games to be held in Beijing will be the most spectacular and extravagant sporting event in the Olympic movement's history.
The NBA has committed its share of fouls in recent years -- it's never a good thing for a player to go after a fan in the stands -- but franchise values keep rising and corporate sponsors are jostling to get into business with the league. A big reason why is China.
Airdate July 2nd, 2005
Yao Ming has a lot to be proud of.
On the crowded basketball courts of Beijing's vast urban sprawl, Ma Jian still carries himself like the basketball lion that he once was.
On the eve of the Athens Olympics, the most pressing issue has nothing to do with security, last-minute ticket sales, or whether the concrete will dry on all those down-to-the-wire construction projects.
In less than two years, Yao Ming has gone from being a cult sports hero in his native China to one of the world's most-recognized athletes. And he's only 23.
I'm worried about Michael. In fact, all I can think about is Michael Jordan and his deeply bruised right thigh. I wonder if the trainer is taking good care of him. I wonder if he's been stretching ...
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