[ESPN The Magazine] Yao and Dikembe talk international hoops

YAO ENTERS MUTOMBO'S WORLD

Before he left for the Olympics, Yao Ming learned about international do-goodery and diplomacy from the master.
by Ric Bucher



This time, Dikembe Mutombo simply shook his head, instead of his finger. When Yao Ming greeted his teammate at his Houston home while sporting a sleeveless t-shirt, workout shorts, socks and shower togs, Mutumbo was unimpressed. Dikembe had flown to sweltering Houston from his off-season home in Philadelphia to give Yao advice.

"I get dressed and you show up like that?" Mutombo asked, referring to his navy slacks and crisp dress shirt. Yao quickly disappeared and returned in tan slacks, a crème silk shirt and lace-up dress shoes straight out of the box. Talking international charity with Dikembe is like talking about dunks with Vince Carter. You've got to show up ready.

That's because Mutombo is as well known for his humanitarian efforts throughout Africa—capped by the completion of a $29 million, 300-bed hospital in Kinshasa last fall—as he is for his NBA exploits, which include four Defensive Player of the Year awards. Yao has followed his lead and has been a one-man Red Cross in China, where he organized last summer's charity game in Beijing between NBA and Chinese stars and has started a relief foundation for victims of Western China's earthquake last spring. Still, Yao could always use some advice. So Mutumbo flew down, and The Mag tagged along.

Once the dress code was established, the conversation began.

Yao: Because of the Olympics, a lot of people now ask me about Taipei, human rights, Tibet. I'm not going to talk about those things now because I want to keep the Olympics separate from politics. That's not what the Olympics are for. They were started to bring people from different countries and different ways of thinking together to compete in sports.

Mutombo: Don't reach out through athletes celebrating something that might be once in a lifetime to talk about politics. To refuse to participate because of something political? C'mon. China was not the country that voted itself to have the Olympics. The Olympic Committee of more than 145 countries made that decision. Why didn't those countries tell their sports ministries not to vote for China?

Yao: The Chinese government knew when we got the Olympics that a lot of stories about bad things would come out. But I can tell you that most Chinese people still think the way I once did. When I lived in China and someone would describe us in a bad way or say we were doing something wrong, I would think they were against us. Do that, and you will push us away from what you want us to do. Why not sit down and talk to us?

Mutombo: Be patient and control your temper, Yao, because your heart will tell you to make everybody happy and you can't. It came to a point when I was building the hospital that I almost quit because I faced so many challenges with the government. You will get some support from people in the government but there will be other people that will feel you are taking their job by coming to the spotlight.

Yao: What inspires me are the stories that have come out. There is a picture on a website of a teacher who, when the earthquake was happening, put four kids under a table and put his body on top of the table. When the school wall came down, the teacher died but the kids were saved. You can't stay away when you hear stories like that. When my foundation raises the money to rebuild those schools, we're going to name the schools after those teachers.

Mutombo: One thing I learned, though, is you have a job and without basketball you can't do what you're trying to do to help people. You can't have your charity work carry you away from what you do every day that made you Yao, the basketball player. Warren Buffet can devote 95 percent of his time to charity, you can't. If you don't manage your time, you can have problems at home, too. My wife would say, "You're always on the computer, you're always trying to find money, when are we going to spend some time together?" Yao is going to face that— meeting with the architects to design all those schools, deciding how many kids they want to put back in those schools and where the money is going to come from.

Yao: I've learned so much from Dikembe already. I feel honored to sit here right next to him. On the plane, on trips, he always has a notebook, never stops talking to people on the phone. He has three or four. But I didn't really understand until I had to do it with the earthquake. That's when you understand, it's not something you just do, you have to put your heart into it.

Mutombo: There's not a day that goes by that I don't pick up the phone or check my e-mails or see what I've got to do for the hospital foundation. He watches some movies and plays some of his video games. That's going to change.

Yao: I don't watch a lot of movies. I watch a lot of game tape and read books. But the earthquake has changed me. I've learned no matter who you are or where you live, you're just a human being. You don't know what day you might need help.

Mutombo: Yao has reached a plateau of success, so it's going to be easier for him to get people to help because they know who he is. And we're all feeling the pain. The people in China have come together to help, but I think the world has, too.

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That is so random.