Buck-ets BUZZ

It's well-known in most professional sports circles (any fraternal organization, for that matter) that rookies are routinely hazed by veteran players as they struggle to "learn the ropes". As Yi's new Bucks teammate Desmond Mason has made abundantly clear, the lanky Chinese power forward will be no exception.

Mason has talked in the press about the singing and suitcase-carrying Bucks veterans foist upon their green and wide-eyed teammates, though we can also rest assured that those are the mildest of burdens rookies are forced to endure. But one novel hazing "ritual" that stood out from Bucks camp a couple of weeks ago had many grizzled veterans - who have tortured endless classes of hapless rookies - rolling on the floor with laughter.

When All-Star shooting guard Michael Redd punted a basketball deep into the stands at the Bucks' practice facility in Green Bay, Wisonsin and ordered Yi and fellow rookie Ramon Sessions to retrieve it, the rest of the team couldn't help but join in the fun. For the next several minutes, ball after ball got booted into the stands, some rolling into the hallways outside the gym, as Yi and Sessions obediently ran up and down the stairs and brought the balls back to the giggling veterans, like dogs to their masters. There is something about a group of grown men drop-kicking basketballs and giggling like schoolboys that reminds you how easily humans are amused.

It's one thing to chase booted balls around a gym, but Yi's first real "hazing" will no doubt come at the hands of the Orlando Magic when Milwaukee steps into the lair of the man-child that is Dwight Howard. Yi, who has just been named the team's starting power forward for the Bucks' regular-season opener, may well be forced to guard the scoring and rebounding beast in his first real taste of NBA action tomorrow. Howard is a match-up nightmare for anybody, and if the rod-thin rookie is forced to try to contain him, his little game of fetch will seem like a picnic.

(China Daily 10/31/2007 page22)