When it was revealed that Yi Jianlian -- and NOT John Wall -- had the most social media followers among the Wizards, it came as a bit of a surprise to most who follow the team.
And when it was revealed that he had 3.5 million followers, some jaws dropped.
But when you look for all of those said followers on Twitter and Facebook, well, they're just not there.
So what's his secret?
Just a little microblog called Sina -- a social media site powered by a little country called China ... which has a population of more than 1.3 billion.
Mystery solved.
But, of course, one has to wonder what exactly goes on on Yi's Sina page.
Sports
First thing's first -- you have to find it. We'll save you the searching.
Here it is: http://t.sina.com.cn/yijianlianblog
What? Not good enough for you? You want us to translate it, too? Geez...
If you're thinking that Yi is using it to trash his teammates or pine over the lack of quality Chinese food in D.C., you are ... in for a big disappointment. It's just normal talk from a guy exploring the world.
Some of the topics discussed:
- Yi's realization that reheating cooked eggs in a microwave is not a good idea, as they will explode (complete with a picture to back up his findings).
- Yi's pitch to his followers to make sure they observe Earth Hour, when everyone in the world is asked to turn off their lights to show environmental awareness.
- A picture of Yi's bandaged right eye. He says it is the third time he's been hurt in the same spot, but he's glad he doesn't need stitches.
- He reminds a friend who was bragging about wanting to ride an extreme roller coaster that the last time they rode a scary ride together (possibly in Vegas?), that they were scared more than anyone else on the ride.
- Several pictures of Yi's trip to Nike's headquarters in Portland, where he gawked over the historic Jordan shoe collection on display. When a friend asked Yi to buy him some while he was there, he came back with a witty response: "Distance preserves beauty. Let us preserve this beautiful feeling." In other words, buy your own Jordans.
There is some actual basketball talk in there, too, including his thoughts after a loss to the Clippers on March 13. Even though the Wizards lost, Yi said he was happy that his coach liked how he played that night.
So while other Wizards' social media efforts include more hype than substance, Yi's actually gives a pretty good look into how he's working his way through life in America.
Pretty cool stuff. No wonder he has more followers than Charlie Sheen...
