Giant Disappointment

Yao Ming calls injury a "sudden death"; doubts he'll return to peak form

The Houston Rockets are going to have to do it without him, Yao Ming says in an interview with China Daily.

And he has faith the team can win an NBA title without his 7 feet and 6 inches of seven-time All-Star assistance. "Even some of my close friends bet there was no way for the Rockets to win more than 30 regular season games last season. Just have a look at how much they won," he says in the interview, which took place in Beijing.

But the star center says talk of whether he'll make it back to his peak form is "nonsense." His remarks are almost shockingly candid: "I know I will retire one day. My career will end sooner or later. Even if I can play until I am 36, I have to accept that fact. The only problem is that 30 is the golden time for an athlete, but for me it's sudden death and I find it hard to accept that."

Yao says that although the intensity of his training has increased since his latest foot injury, he'll have to make it through next season without injury before he can speculate about his recovery. Yao admits that he hasn't played any competitive basketball — even in a scrimmage — since he went down in the third game of the Rockets' second round series against the Los Angeles Lakers on May 8, 2009.

His words stand in sharp contrast to the Rockets' relentlessly positive PR campaign on the center's recovery — one that included regular released videos of Yao dunking on a court by himself.

We're ones to look at the bright side. Maybe being sidelined will mean more time to spend with his new anchor baby.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”