FanNation

Jonathan Feigen is one of my favorite people in the world of NBA journalism. He's been the beat reporter at the Houston Chronicle for the last decade and a half - his front-page story about the Rockets winning the NBA title in 1994 still hangs inside the old Compaq Center, which is now the home of the Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen's megachurch just down the street from the Toyota Center. Feigen has seen it all - and this week he was given access to Yao Ming as he went through one of the many workouts tailored for him to recover from his foot surgery so that he'll be ready to play in the Beijing Olympics. He took the opportunity to write a long piece on Yao's prognosis as he looks towards Beijing, and his mindset as he watches the Rockets fight as hard as they can to keep afloat in their Western Conference first-round matchup against the Utah Jazz, who went up 3-1 in the series last night with a win in Salt Lake City.

This is a great read, and a rare opportunity to hear from Yao at length as he readies for the Olympics. Enjoy. 

Yao working extra hard to recover from broken foot (Houston Chronicle, 04-27-2008)