it's funny how one innocent little thing can remind you of so much memories long buried behind...

life is short, indeed.

RIP

it is one thing to lose 2 heartbreaking games in 2 nights, playing back to back, having great chances to win both.

it is another thing that you have to fight against more than just the opposing team.

first, let me be clear. i'm never a fan that believed in "superstar treatment" by the referees. if a foul is committed, it doesn't matter if the guy is making 20mil or 100k a year; a foul is a foul. if the call could go either way, make sure you call it consistently on both sides of the floor, throughout the game, regardless of who are involved on both sides.

obviously, for anyone that has been following the NBA for a while, you know it's not the case. the names of wade, duncan, bryant, james all come to mind. make no doubt about it that they are indeed all great players.

and then we have yao ming. during the 3 game losing streak spanning the past 4 days, he's played 123 minutes, had 99 points, took 86 shots...

and shot 26 free throws...

take the last game, 112-101 loss at the staple center. kobe shot 50% more free throws than the rockets team. how can yao take 35 shots and only gets fouled 5 times, while being the sole focus of the lakers defense? lakers' young bigs are not bad, but they aren't robinsons or garnetts or duncans yet, make no mistake about it.

to sum it all, yao said it the best.

"How tough is it?" Yao said, his voice cracking. "I feel that is not fair. I can't only shoot eight free throws yesterday and six free throws today and they just let their big guy keep pushing me. I would say Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum fouled me 10 times in tonight's game, and yesterday's game also, and they did not call it. That's not fair.

"I know I'm big. That's not my fault. They have two hands pushing on my back and keep pushing while I'm shooting the ball. They're not fouling upstairs, not fouling on my hands. They foul on my body. I shot only six free throws. I know that's not right. I hope the league, somebody can help with this. It's not just one or two games. It's been a couple weeks already."

for once, i hope dictator stern would slap a fine on the big guy; more publicity can't be a bad thing, after all.