Last Friday,
200 million people in China watched an NBA game when two NBA Chinese
natives – Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian -- were against each other when the
Houston Rockets played the Milwaukee Bucks.
I know what you’re saying: Wow! 200 million people
in China watching a basketball game? Wow, that’s almost the number of
Chinese who attend UCLA and Stanford combined! Wow! That’s twice the
number of Chinese it took to build that wall! Wow! That’s more bones
than Jackie Chan breaks in a movie.
The Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 104 to
88. Both Chinese players played well. Put another way, of all the
Chinese products in the US, Yi and Yao have gone the longest without a
recall.
But that’s not the cool part. The cool
part is Yi, claiming to be 20, seven-foot-tall power forward who may be
the fastest player on his team, may have lied about his age. Many think
his birth certificate was falsified so he could play in junior
tournaments. So he may be 3 to 5 years older than claimed. Here’s the
quandary. If Yi is 20, he has much more upside than at 25. If he’s 25
then the accomplishments he achieved against younger opponents may be
suspect. If he’s 25 and it’s perceived he has weaknesses such as
rebounding then it’s also assumed it’s too late to correct them. Yi’s
age will also affect his work Visa. He is here on an “O-1 visa”
designed for a person of extraordinary ability in his field. If he lies
about his age, he could face deportment. If he works (plays basketball)
in some states with new tough anti-immigration rules he could not only
face deportment, his employers could face felonies for letting him play
basketball.
The Chinese Basketball Association is reluctant
discuss the age issue. But they have admitted that at times they
included overage players in international junior tournaments. If they
falsified ages, in the case of Yi, Milwaukee may be getting a player
with less upside than expected. But also, the Association may have
abided a lie, making Yi, if his age were a lie, subject to recall. For
that matter, we might discover these giant Chinese basketball players
may be coated in lead. Okay, that’s a joke. Not every Chinese product
is covered with lead. Only those sold at Wal-Mart.
Here’s another cool thing. If the United States
challenges the authenticity of his passport, an official document of
China, Yi’s boss could be in a bit of hot water. China could also be in
hot water, but hey, they’d just make tea. Let’s just say, if
there is a passport challenge, the Milwaukee Bucks would not be pleased
about it. Jianlian has been scoring almost 17 points per game, shooting
at a high percentage rate and in addition you’ve got these millions of
Chinese television viewers who have been more excited about watching Yi
since he is a more all around and better shooting player than Yao. And
if you have 200 million people watching, there is a vested interest in
not having him deported. More than that as we said, this puts the
owner, Herb Kohl, of the Milwaukee Bucks in a difficult spot. You see,
the owner is also Senator Kohl, the guy with the department stores, the
same senator who voted “Yes” on the comprehensive immigration reform
bill. The bill that puts up a fence, monitors workplace enforcement,
doubles the border patrols and disallows food stamps for children of
illegal immigrants. But Herb Kohl will also say that same bill allows
visas for skilled workers and if you are a pro in basketball, that’s a
high skill. However, the same bill says the visas MUST be truthful and
state the correct age.
Yi’s visa lists his birth date as Oct 27, 1987 and
claims he was born in Heshan City yet Jianlian’s father says he moved
away from that town in 1983 and his mother moved in 1985. There is much
more evidence to pin his birth year at 1984 or earlier. There is even
more evidence to indicate that David Stern and Herb Kohl would prefer I
stopped writing about…
