Writer/reporter Ursula Liang -- who is half Chinese, half German -- reflects on seeing a Chinese athlete on the cover of ESPN The Magazine.

There's a basketball bouncing high in my rib cage, so fast and so furious that it's hard to breathe. I'm excited and nervous and worried and wary, because I love hoops, and I love my people, but I'm suddenly scared that one man will represent us all. Yao Ming, a Chinese brotha, is on the cover of The Magazine.

I call up Wataru "Wat" Misaka to tell him. The 76-year-old Japanese-American they used to call "Kilo Watt" once took the Utah Utes to two National Championships and then became the first person of color to be drafted by a pro basketball team. He feels me. When his three-game stint with the Knicks ended, he thought it would just be a matter of time before another player of Asian descent followed his lead -- 10 years at most. But 10 years passed. And then 20, 30, 40, before Corey Yasuto Gaines (black/Japanese) and Rex Walters (white/Japanese) came along. But we Asian basketball fans are still waiting for our Jackie Robinson.

I ask Misaka what it was like to be an icon for Asian-Americans at the height of anti-Asian sentiment, and he tells me about hearing "Kill that Jap" at a game at Utah State. But he doesn't say much else. He, like many of his generation, downplays the effect racism had on his life. "We grew up with prejudice. That's just how it was."

Misaka just straight-out loves the game. I can hear him glowing as we chat hoops. "Stockton's my kind of player. Not flashy, no dunks. He doesn't go for points; he wants assists. And he doesn't have tattoos. Jason Kidd, too. Those guys are team players."

We talk about Yao Ming. "7'6""! My goodness! That doesn't seem possible. But it'd be great if he makes it." At this point I can tell he shares both my fire and reserve. "Just tell him not to let the pressure of being a [torchbearer] overwhelm him. There's too much pressure in the game itself."

The sage Sensei is right, I know. But for Wat -- and for me -- I want someone to make it. Soon. I realize now there's a reason that ball bounces so urgently within: we've got to hustle up the court. For a moment, I feel calm.

Ursula Liang has worked for ESPN Magazine since its launch in March 1998. She is a member of the Asian-American Journalists Association. E-mail her at ursula.liang@espnmag.com.