The Houston Rockets star was faulted for taking too much time off to recover from his last NBA season. The governments All-China Sports Federation also said he spent too much time planning his wedding and making appearances for the Special Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Wow! I’m not sure what purpose it serves for this critique. As far as I have followed Yao Ming in the NBA, he has been a model player, dutifully complying with both his NBA responsibilities as well as his Chinese duties. Can’t they cut him a bit of slack for his own wedding or showing up to promote the Special Olympics? Moreover, between this and the ongoing tiff with Yi Jianlian, Chinese sports teams/organizations are revealing themselves to be bullies with little marketing acumen that who use their own players as high-priced pawns to earn a buck for themselves.

Chinas sports federation sharply critical of Yao