My Sportsman Choice: Yao Ming

By Albert Chen

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He is the most inconspicuous athlete on the planet, and yet it is easy to overlook the enormity of Yao Ming.

Forget that Yao, in his second season in the NBA, rather quietly asserted himself as the league's best center this side of Shaq. In 2004, the 7-foot-6, 310-pound giant who possesses the humility of a monk emerged as one of the world's most important symbols of worldwide change, a figure with unmatched global appeal. He is a bridge between two continents, perhaps the most important ambassador between two countries that share a strained political relationship. Yao arrived in America in 2002 bearing the hopes of the world's most populous country, and he has successfully carried this enormous burden with the nonchalance with which he sinks a 6-foot jump hook. When asked last season how he deals with pressure, the young center for the Houston Rockets quipped, "The best way is sleeping."

Here's why, at this moment, no athlete stands taller than Yao: the future of sports revolves around globalization, and there is no bigger catalyst for this widespread change than the 24 year-old from Shanghai who grew up idolizing Arvydas Sabonis and plays video games in his spare time. When Yao's Rockets played this year, broadcast of the games reached an audience of 400 million in China. When Yao played in his first pro game for the Rockets in October 2002, 300 million households viewed the telecast in China. When Yao's Rockets played the Sacramento Kings in two games in Beijing last month, two NBA teams played each other in Mainland China for the first time. Never has the sports world felt smaller.

This year in the U.S., Yao has giggled on live TV with Regis and Kelly, shilled for McDonald's, Pepsi, Visa, and Reebok, and published his own memoir. In Houston, revenues from sponsors has risen 300 percent since Yao's arrival, and companies partnering with the Rockets has doubled in number. At last, the Asian community in America has a true sports hero to call its own.

Yao's game is an exciting collision of East and West, past and future. In the age of overstatement, Yao, appropriately, conducts himself on the court with the dignity of a political diplomat; he doesn't whine. He doesn't showboat. Yao is a throwback; when he's on the court, the game harkens back to a different -- and better -- time. At the same time, what this exemplary sportsman represents best of all is an exhilarating future.

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2004 Sportsman of the Year winner on FOX on November 28. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.