hoho, #6?? or 666?? or women???
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Something strange occurred to me while reading the August 13th edition of Sports Illustrated. I was a few paragraphs in S.L. Price’s article on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, entitled “Olympic China,” when he began to address the importance of certain numbers in Chinese culture.

Price’s exact words were these: “…six had been the most prized number in numerology-obsessed Chinese culture, the traditional symbol of smoothness, stability, and luck.”

Let that stew for a second. Yi Jianlian, the newest member of the NBA’s Chinese contingent, was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks this June with the sixth pick in the Draft. You’d think that a man who spent the first twenty-two years of his life as a Chinese citizen would embrace such an omen. Especially since six is supposed to symbolize that “everything will go smoothly.”

We know now that couldn’t be further from the truth.

In American culture a triple-six, or 666, is considered to be one of the most unlucky numbers possible. That is due to the most-widely observed religion, Christianity, and the thought that ‘666’ represents the devil. However, in the East these three numbers can be seen all over the place. Some people pay thousands of dollars just to have that string of sixes appear in their mobile phone number.

So what happened when Yi was drafted in late June?

He, and his camp, immediately began campaigning to get Yi traded from the Bucks. Apparently Milwaukee doesn’t have a large enough Chinese population, and Yi might have a problem finding a good-looking enough girlfriend in chilly Wisconsin.

The Bucks could have predicted that Yi’s camp would have reacted in this manner, because Milwaukee was not one of the teams invited to his private pre-Draft workout. Since the Draft took place almost two months ago, Bucks’ GM Larry Harris and head coach Lenny Krystkowiak met with Yi in hopes of persuading him to play for the team this season.

Sixes or not, they’ve had no such luck thus far.

Dan Fegan, Yi’s agent, is rumored to be seeking a trade to one of the following teams – Chicago, Los Angeles (both), New York, Toronto or Golden State. It’s largely believed that the Warriors are the best fit for the agile power forward; even though that seems to be about as far as the trade talks have gone thus far.

Wisconsin’s population is roughly two percent Asian, but Milwaukee’s numbers are slightly higher – 2.9% to be exact. That means, assuming most of the fans at Bucks games are from Milwaukee, each night the Bradley Center will be welcoming 580 Asians when the Bucks take on the NBA’s best. That number, of course, is without taking in account the surplus of Asians that will travel to Milwaukee to see Yi play, if he does eventually sign. Just look at what happened when Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets, not exactly a booming Asian community.
hoho....the meaning of the number 6...

So let’s double that number, predicting that roughly 1,160 people at Bucks’ games will be of Asian decent this season. Spilt that number, and Yi should have a little over 500 Asian women watching him run up-and-down the floor forty-one times this season. Seems like a big enough sample size of women for Yi to choose from, and that’s assuming he’s only willing to settle down with an Asian woman. He might find that he’ll like what American women have to offer…

After all, American football awards six points for a touchdown, and that seems to be exactly what Yi is looking for – to score.