When Yao Ming Was the Center of the World

In the late nineties, before low-grade video clips of obscure basketball leagues circulated the Internet with ease, I remember hearing about Yao Ming, a Chinese basketball prospect who was exceptionally tall, even by the standards of the National Basketball Association. His parents, people said, were giants as well, and the Chinese government had apparently marshalled their resources to insure his development as an agile, skillful, all-world center. For some reason, I was immediately overcome with a desire for Yao, whom I had never seen play or heard speak, to end up seeming like more than a novelty.

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