Yao Ming Vows to Play for China’s National Team – Fantasy Impact
givemetherock.com 6/29/2008 — Nels recently posted about the US national team and the possible fantasy impact that the Olympics will have on the players during the regular season. In the comments, reader siukong asked our opinion on Yao Ming and (presumably) Ming’s recent comments that he’ll ready to play for China’s national team come July. Now Ming’s injury history has been well, well documented. Most recently, it ...

NBA Opening Stores in China Next Month. Using Olympics to Boost Interest
www.bizofbasketball.com 7/2/2008 — The NBA is preparing to open two stores in China this month, with 500 to 1000 planned in the future. The first two stores will be smaller versions of the NBA’s flagship store in New York and will be located in downtown Beijing. According to NBA China Chief Executive Officer Tim Chen, sales of NBA goods at the 50,000 current licensed outlets may rise 40 percent this year, buoyed by the Aug. ...

Shaquille O'Neal 'Tell Me How My @ss Tastes' Album and World Tour
www.bluemonkeydiscoparty.com 7/3/2008 — Shaq's been working hard on penning an all new album of freestyle disses that seem to target all the people who have wronged him throughout the years. We at The Disco Party being the connoisseurs of sport and music that we are, were able to attain some of the rough tracks and remixes off the new album "Tell Me How My @ss Tastes." Look out Jerry Buss, Yao Ming and Iran!

LeBron is the Mane Man
blog.cleveland.com 7/4/2008 — Hanging out over at Etsy, I stumbled on Joel Kimmel's art. Joel is in the process of creating a series of unusual basketball portraits, including the one of LeBron below.

Yi having too much fun
purepoint.blogspot.com 7/6/2008 — Yi Jianlian was spotted drinking and canoodling with his pop star girlfriend, Shi Yanfei, during the wee hours last week when he should have been tucked away in bed as it was clearly past his curfew. Chinese athletes have been punished for spending ...