Yao vs. Ron Artest

Well...not really, but there was definitely an interesting back and forth between the two, and were both said remarks that I thought were poorly said, and came off in a way that opens themselves up to a hot topic of debate. I'm not sure how race and/or driven you can make these comments out to be, or if these two are showing exactly how opposite they are, or if I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Either way, I wanna share this excerpt from and ESPN article, and I'm interested to hear what people have to say.



The potential trade of Ron Artest to the Houston Rockets may have gotten off on the wrong foot over comments made by Artest's potential teammate, Yao Ming, about Artest's stormy past.

A day after the Rockets and Sacramento Kings agreed in principle to a deal sending Artest to Houston for Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene and a first-round draft pick, Yao expressed concerns about team chemistry to the Houston Chronicle and referenced Artest's involvement in the 2004 brawl with Pistons fans.

"Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands," Yao said, according to the Chronicle.

When asked about those comments, Artest said Yao had bought into "all the propaganda" about him, according to The Sacramento Bee.

"I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto," Artest said, according to the report. "That's not going to change. I'm never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don't think he's ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture. Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he'll understand what I'm about.

If you go back to the brawl, that's a culture issue right there. Somebody was disrespecting me, so he's got to understand where I'm coming from. People that know me know that Ron Artest never changed."