Shane Battier Gets a Hero's Welcome in China

I can't understand a single syllable of Chinese, but I do know that if you make it through the first 45 seconds you'll see Shane Battier arriving in China to a throng of adoring fans sometime during the Olympics.

What's with the beauty pageant treatment? Being a teammate with Yao Ming has its perks, one of which is that Battier is practically a TV star over there: back in April we told you how his commercial for Peak, a Chinese shoe company, was on non-stop rotation on Chinese television, and as of late July, things hadn't changed. From Daniel Oshinsky of the Rocky Mountain News:

I've seen this ad so often now, I've been forced to turn off the TV. I'm terrified to hear its faux Brian McKnight soundtrack one more time, to see this former Duke star splashing through a muddy rice patty again. Other ads for Yao Ming or Liu Xiang or even the Fuwas are on frequently, but it's this Peak ad for Shane Battier that's running on all of CCTV's channels at all hours of the day. Even worse: it's the only ad in the entire Peak campaign.

Is this what Jason Kidd can look forward to? It's not a bad way to live.