Word: shoeing
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...people on both sides of the Pacific are hoping that the talented 6-ft. 11-in. teenager will be the next Yao Ming. Ever since Yao electrified the National Basketball Association last season as a rookie fresh out of Shanghai, a slew of agents, scouts and shoe-company reps have been looking for a Chinese player who can follow the large--and lucrative--footsteps of one of the league's biggest draws. Yi wears size-18 shoes, just like Yao. But it is the glimmer of his vast potential--the explosive slam dunks, the boyish good looks, even the mystery...
...touch a spot more than 11 ft. 6 in. off the ground. (The basketball rim is 10 feet high.) As Yi mastered new skills--the midrange jumper, the baby hook, the reverse slam--he attracted the attention of Adidas. Eager to loosen Nike's hold on Chinese basketball, the shoe company flew Yi to New Jersey for its ABCD Camp in the summer of 2002. He was the only Chinese player there. "It was an eye-opening experience for him," says Guangdong junior coach Zhang Zhenming. "He came back with a very clear vision of where he wanted...
...game heading into overtime, Yi came off the bench to score 13 points in five minutes to seal the victory--and secure Guangdong's place atop the standings. Two weeks later, when Guangdong played the army team for the CBA championship, the stands were crawling with sports agents and shoe-company representatives, all fixated on the big kid on the bench. "It's partly the Yao Ming effect," said a shoe-company executive. "But Yi Jianlian is so promising we would have pursued him anyway." Yi played sparingly in the game, but he offered a fitting capstone to the season...
...SOFTBALL printed across the rear. "They're always worn with the waistband turned down," explains Jennifer Bruder, owner of New York City's Berkley Girl, a tween and teen boutique. In fact, girls often roll them down twice, testing school dress-code limits on short shorts. The must-have shoe to wear with the shorts: equally sporty old-school-styled kicks, especially the groovy retro-looking Puma Mostros New Mesh sneakers...
Clients also ask for personal advice, because a good shoe salesman is a bartender and shoes are the rich woman's whiskey. "You become their psychologist. You get to know who is getting a divorce and who is having an affair," he says. Since many of them go to the same charity functions, he has to steer them away from the same shoes, especially when relationships become entangled. And like a bartender, he's glad to push his wares on those in need. "When they say, 'I just bought these to pick myself up,' that feels good. That...