h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember watching Chiyonofuji fight when C4 started televising Sumo ages ago. Brilliant - always a treat to watch, he really made it clear that Sumo is not just two fat blokes pushing each other.

" ... two fat blokes pushing each other." That sounds more like pro basketball in the USA.

I don't know how many H2G2ers know the name Shaquille O'Neal, center for the NBA Los Angeles Lakers, but his main claim to fame is being enormous (7'1", 338 lbs.), being allowed by the referees to push defenders out of his way, and being able to set the ball in the basket ("shooting" seems like an overstatement). But shooting a freethrow from way out at about 15 feet, well, that's a lot to ask for only a million dollars A GAME (or whatever).

(Ok, sorry, but I feel better, now).

Hey basketball players aren't fat! The guy is 7'1" and weighs 330 pounds (remember we don't the metric system)an average guy who was 6" tall would weigh at least 200 and fat weighs more than muscle!

Sorry feel better now!

Fair enough, but I recall when the emphasis of this "non-contact" sport was on skills like quickness, shooting (from more than 2" from the basket), etc. Watching Shaquille Oneal pushing defenders around resembles nothing as much as a Sumo wrestling match. But as with all the "stars" who put paying people in the seats, the refs turn a blind eye.

Hey Shaq might not be that fast but have you seen some of the others play like ming?

Yup, Yao Ming has some learning to do, but he's smart, he'll get there. Shaq is smart, too, but he relies too much on his bulk.

I prefer players like Steve Francis, NBA AllStar at 6'2", ~200 lb. And quick as as a cat. No, quicker.

Now, you should bring up Charles Barkley, another NBA AllStar with a little "bulk". One of his teammates, talking about his butt, said "There's a lot of acreage back there." But he was one of the smartest players who ever played, right up there with Larry Bird. At 6'9", the shortest player ever to win the rebounding championship. I still love his old game replays. He relied more on thinking and position than bulk, and it worked.

I don't like Barkley he was such an ass when he played for the Rockets.

I think Yao Ming is going to be a great basketball player. Hell he has already beat Shaq once, plus he seems like a nice guy, Unlike Barkley!

Do you know how I really use to like Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets haven't been the same since he left.

Yup, Barkley certainly didn't worry about what people thought about him, just said whatever came to mind. I remember after an AllStar game loss, the announcer asked David Robinson what went wrong, and he said, "Well, we had Charles Barkley on our team ...", laughing the whole time. The guy could play the game, though.

Yao will be good, I agree. I just hope all the attention doesn't change his outlook.

Olajuwon was one of the greats, but like all the stars, the refs gave him an "extra", in his case an extra step on the way to the basket. Remember the parody song, "Walk Like a Nigerian"? I think it detracts from the game when different players have different rules, but the league puts ticket sales first, and that means star power, just like the movies.