熊眼小窥

Yao Ming’s left foot suffered from stress fracture, which was a thounderblow in the blue sky to the supporting fans. Without Yao Adelman needs to think again about the tactics Rockets are carrying out so far.

As one of the most efficient players in the paint, Yao is the last line of Rockets’ defense and the dominant low-post scorer in offense. It’s the guy who all the centers would not like to meet in the game.

Shaq O’neil was traded to Pheonix Suns and it’s hard to say whether he is good enough to replace Shawn Marion but it’s sure that Yao has outshined him since last season with his averaging 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds. Yao is a representative of traditional centers in NBA. You hardly find such a center now in the NBA. He is tall, having great hands and beautiful moves, something rare to see today.

You may like Howard from Orlando Magic, the newly awarded slam dunk king. Muscular and strong, Magic’s Howard is a monster like guy who can play the ball facing the basket but he is not a traditional center with all varieties of technics.

Nowadays’ NBA only has Yao-one guy in the paint to show the technics of traditional centers.

You can’t count on Mutombo to shoulder the responsibility with his shaky footsteps. Surely Mutombo is a real miracle in NBA to play 17 seasons, but he is dubiously to continue his next season since he plans to announce his retirement after this season. Plus, he does not have Yao’s uncanny hands. Yao’s free throws are undoubtedly the nightmare of many western teams.

Without Yao, Rockets need to change. Rick Adelman wants the team to play quicker, fluid transition. He had it in a way now. Yao is out of the season now and what will Adelman do with all star Tracy McGrady, Head, Alston, Scola, Landry, Mutombo in hands?

It seems that Mutombo will play a key role in the transition but everyone knows Yao and Mutombo are not at the same level. Yao is the pivot of Rockets and the fuel tank of Rockets, and he could score and play tough defense. Mutombo is a good defense player but not good enough in offense side. So Landry and Scola may shoulder the two sides of the paint. McGrady will become the transition center again though it has proved not a success for the team. Tracy is just not the type of player who can always encourage and activate others. The lucky thing is they still have Bobby Jackson.

The test is for Adelman now.

Spring Festival, a traditional Chinese lunar new year festival, is losing its charm in the noises of commerce and the ignorance of modern youth.
When I was a child, I still remember that I lit a firecracker with my friends with joy and expectation, just like imagining the presents from Santa Claus. Gone, forever, is the joy and expectation with the vanishing smog of fire. Maybe, life is not as wealthy as now, but I share the most beautiful memories with my peers. Nowadays the celebration of the festival is quite another thing.

Exhausted and bored, I finally got on a bus to my hometown, which is nearly a miracle in the travel peak this year. The train tickets dealer always get all the tickets and hope you need. It’s a battle to buy a train ticket in travel peak of spring festival. You have to sacrifice your dignity to use all your relationship to get one. Unfortunately, I still had no chance to get one even if I tried.

This year is year of rat just after the year of pig. In last year we have suffered from all the “rises” in our life. Rise of housing prices, rise of daily necessity prices, rise of pork price, rise of CPI, rise of stock markets(though sharp decline in last week), it seems that the price of everything is rising except for the salary. With the rising prices, I am not in good mood to celebrate the festival.
The diner at new year’s eve has a different flavor since I have grown up and work for my own. I had thought that I could enjoy the festival since I haven’t seen my parents and relatives for such a long time. But unchanged, the life and my family are; even worse, the stories I heard from different friends and relatives. To sum up, I would like to quote a saying, it goes,” life is just common and usual and there is nothing that is worthy telling to others.” I have lost my interests in nice food and novel clothes, even the traditional Duilian is well printed by machine and has similar words. “Happy new year”, “Have a good day”, “wish you to be wealthy”, after all these good words and wishes no matter if they really mean what they says, I finished first day of my festival.

People love festivals because they can eat and converse without work pressure and entertain themselves. They got badly drunken and tried to find others’ private things in the whole year that they may miss because of work or some other things. They say some words they may never say in daily life and they gather together to gamble and argue to welcome the upcoming new year.

The temple fair and other traditions are filled with commercial atmosphere. You can always “buy” your happiness and pleasure to participate the games. All the plastic flowers and all kinds of toys are everywhere in the Ditan Park where the twenty-third Temple Fair is held to celebrate the year of rat. You can enjoy yourself if you have enough money in your purse. Snacks of different flavors are offered for your mouth and colorful shows are ready for you, or games ready to play. You pay ten RMB to play for once and may get one present from the participation. This may be a fresh idea to foreign visitors but a usual routine to me.

Young people have different ways to celebrate their new year. They more enjoy the Valentine’s Day or lovers’ day on Feb. 14 than the traditional festival. Though gov’t finally set new year’s eve as official holiday, young people don’t enjoy the holiday as I was. Life style is changing with the opening to outer world and people have more choices. The youth tend to ignore the traditional festivals since they grow up watching Doraemon and listening to westlife and Li Yuchun.