Bear-Arms
Mentor
EWING: What kind of food do they serve here?
MUTOMBO: Chinese.
EWING: I know Chinese. But what kind of Chinese? Snake? 'Cuz I don't eat snake.
YAO: No snake. In China, yes, but you're not in China.
EWING: Well, I don't eat pork, duck or chicken either. Only shrimp and fish [and beef].
MUTOMBO: I eat anything.
EWING: [Browsing through the black leather-bound menu] What's the speciality here?
YAO: Uh. ... [Looks at menu and shrugs.]
Ewing, Mutombo and Yao order coconut curry prawn, General Tso's chicken, fried rice with shrimp, Mongolian beef, garlic basil prawn, Szechuan prawn and white rice.
MUTOMBO: [Sipping a virgin strawberry daiquiri] I like your restaurant, Yao. It's made for 7-footers and guys like Patrick Ewing, who is really 6'9". [Ewing has always been listed as 7 feet.]
EWING: Hey, I may be 6'9", but I'm a bad 6'9". And what about you? When I first met you, you told me you were from Zaire.
MUTOMBO: No, Congo. [Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997.]
EWING: How many languages do you speak, seven?
MUTOMBO: I speak Ebonics now, so eight. Yao, do you speak Ebonics? [Yao shrugs.]
Mutombo's cellphone rings. The ring tone is 50 Cent's In Da Club. He answers and starts speaking one of his eight languages -- not English.
EWING: Man, every time I go over to Dikembe's, he's on the phone. [Ewing picks up his cellphone and starts mocking Mutombo.] 'Doobleedoo doobloodoo doobleedoo. ...' I'm like, 'What the hell is he saying?'
The food comes, and the three dig in.
MUTOMBO: That's what I'm talking about. Yao, next week I'm bringing my wife and kids, and we're going to eat like this.
YAO: How many will you be?
MUTOMBO: Me, my wife, my kids, my cousins ... about 10.
YAO: Just let me know.
EWING: [To Mutombo] Can you pass me that beef?
MUTOMBO: Sure. [Before passing it, Mutombo takes his own spoon and scoops four pieces onto his plate.]
EWING: Man, I don't want that now. You put your spoon in the plate. [Ewing nonetheless takes the plate from Mutombo.] Jeez, man.
MUTOMBO: Oh, come on. I didn't even touch the beef on your side of the plate. You can eat that. [Ewing reluctantly scoops three pieces onto his plate. He doesn't say a word.]
MUTOMBO: How long have we known each other, 18 years? I've been dealing with this same crap for 18 years.
EWING: Let's see if the curry shrimp tastes like Jamaican curry shrimp.
MUTOMBO: Yao, you know there's a lot of Chinese in Jamaica [where Ewing was born].
YAO: You sure they were not Vietnamese or Japanese or Korean?
MUTOMBO: Of course.
EWING: You may have cousins down there, Yao. You may have family in my country!
MUTOMBO: All the food's good. The chicken is the bomb. The coconut prawns, too. The Mongolian beef is my favorite. Tell your mommy everything is good. [Mutombo flashes two thumbs-up.]
MUTOMBO: [To Ewing] I'm sorry you don't eat chicken. I feel very sorry for you.
EWING: [His mouth full of shrimp] Don't feel sorry for me. The shrimp is very good.
Yao leaves the table and sits in a recliner.
EWING: You finished already?
YAO: Yeah, I can eat this every day if I want. At home. Here.
EWING: [Rubbing belly] I gotta go work out tonight. I'm full. You got a treadmill for me?
YAO: Leave your car keys here and run home. I'll give you the keys tomorrow.
MUTOMBO: I'm so full too. Somebody may have to drive me home.
YAO: Keep eating. You can stay here all night.
The waiter enters and asks if they need anything.
EWING: I need a take-out menu.
MUTOMBO: Look at this motherf-----. [Laughter]
EWING: I'm not going to order anything now, but one night, if I'm hungry, I'll call and order and say, 'Put it on Yao's bill.'
YAO: All right. Of course.
EWING: How much is the bill?
YAO: I got it.
EWING: You got it?
YAO: Yeah. [He slides a $100 bill under a tea cup on the table as a tip.]
MUTOMBO: You're a great man, Yao. When you come to Africa, I'm going to take you to a great African restaurant.
[url]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/players/03/07/first_pe rson0314/[/url]
MUTOMBO: Chinese.
EWING: I know Chinese. But what kind of Chinese? Snake? 'Cuz I don't eat snake.
YAO: No snake. In China, yes, but you're not in China.
EWING: Well, I don't eat pork, duck or chicken either. Only shrimp and fish [and beef].
MUTOMBO: I eat anything.
EWING: [Browsing through the black leather-bound menu] What's the speciality here?
YAO: Uh. ... [Looks at menu and shrugs.]
Ewing, Mutombo and Yao order coconut curry prawn, General Tso's chicken, fried rice with shrimp, Mongolian beef, garlic basil prawn, Szechuan prawn and white rice.
MUTOMBO: [Sipping a virgin strawberry daiquiri] I like your restaurant, Yao. It's made for 7-footers and guys like Patrick Ewing, who is really 6'9". [Ewing has always been listed as 7 feet.]
EWING: Hey, I may be 6'9", but I'm a bad 6'9". And what about you? When I first met you, you told me you were from Zaire.
MUTOMBO: No, Congo. [Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997.]
EWING: How many languages do you speak, seven?
MUTOMBO: I speak Ebonics now, so eight. Yao, do you speak Ebonics? [Yao shrugs.]
Mutombo's cellphone rings. The ring tone is 50 Cent's In Da Club. He answers and starts speaking one of his eight languages -- not English.
EWING: Man, every time I go over to Dikembe's, he's on the phone. [Ewing picks up his cellphone and starts mocking Mutombo.] 'Doobleedoo doobloodoo doobleedoo. ...' I'm like, 'What the hell is he saying?'
The food comes, and the three dig in.
MUTOMBO: That's what I'm talking about. Yao, next week I'm bringing my wife and kids, and we're going to eat like this.
YAO: How many will you be?
MUTOMBO: Me, my wife, my kids, my cousins ... about 10.
YAO: Just let me know.
EWING: [To Mutombo] Can you pass me that beef?
MUTOMBO: Sure. [Before passing it, Mutombo takes his own spoon and scoops four pieces onto his plate.]
EWING: Man, I don't want that now. You put your spoon in the plate. [Ewing nonetheless takes the plate from Mutombo.] Jeez, man.
MUTOMBO: Oh, come on. I didn't even touch the beef on your side of the plate. You can eat that. [Ewing reluctantly scoops three pieces onto his plate. He doesn't say a word.]
MUTOMBO: How long have we known each other, 18 years? I've been dealing with this same crap for 18 years.
EWING: Let's see if the curry shrimp tastes like Jamaican curry shrimp.
MUTOMBO: Yao, you know there's a lot of Chinese in Jamaica [where Ewing was born].
YAO: You sure they were not Vietnamese or Japanese or Korean?
MUTOMBO: Of course.
EWING: You may have cousins down there, Yao. You may have family in my country!
MUTOMBO: All the food's good. The chicken is the bomb. The coconut prawns, too. The Mongolian beef is my favorite. Tell your mommy everything is good. [Mutombo flashes two thumbs-up.]
MUTOMBO: [To Ewing] I'm sorry you don't eat chicken. I feel very sorry for you.
EWING: [His mouth full of shrimp] Don't feel sorry for me. The shrimp is very good.
Yao leaves the table and sits in a recliner.
EWING: You finished already?
YAO: Yeah, I can eat this every day if I want. At home. Here.
EWING: [Rubbing belly] I gotta go work out tonight. I'm full. You got a treadmill for me?
YAO: Leave your car keys here and run home. I'll give you the keys tomorrow.
MUTOMBO: I'm so full too. Somebody may have to drive me home.
YAO: Keep eating. You can stay here all night.
The waiter enters and asks if they need anything.
EWING: I need a take-out menu.
MUTOMBO: Look at this motherf-----. [Laughter]
EWING: I'm not going to order anything now, but one night, if I'm hungry, I'll call and order and say, 'Put it on Yao's bill.'
YAO: All right. Of course.
EWING: How much is the bill?
YAO: I got it.
EWING: You got it?
YAO: Yeah. [He slides a $100 bill under a tea cup on the table as a tip.]
MUTOMBO: You're a great man, Yao. When you come to Africa, I'm going to take you to a great African restaurant.
[url]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/players/03/07/first_pe rson0314/[/url]