Ex-Parramatta rake Nathan Peats is probably breathing a sigh of relief after leaving the Eels, Gold Coast teammate Chris McQueen admits.Peats will line up for the second time this year against his former NRL club on the Gold Coast on Saturday but McQueen reckons the ex-Eels hooker is only now truly appreciating his move north.Pre-season wooden spoon favourites the Gold Coast aim to break a six-year finals drought after moving into the top eight with last rounds 32-12 thrashing of St George Illawarra.In contrast, the Eels have lurched from one controversy to another in 2016.In May, Peats reluctantly joined the Titans when he was cut loose by Parramatta to ensure the besieged club became salary cap compliant and could play for points this year.But asked if Peats was now glad he got out of Parramatta, Titans backrower McQueen said: In hindsight with everything that is going on now it is probably good to be away from that sort of stuff.Hes a great player, probably one of the most competitive players I have played with - he hates losing.Parramattas slim finals hopes were all but ended by last rounds 22-18 loss at Penrith.Not that McQueen was taking the embattled Eels for granted this weekend.They seem to be doing a pretty good job to block out everything that is going on there, McQueen said of the Eels.They have been one of the most competitive sides all year.They have nothing to lose after everything that has happened to them this year.We have to show up ready to play.Gold Coasts finals hopes may rest on their next three games - all at home.Besides the Eels, the Titans also host Cronulla and the Warriors.Their run to the finals is completed by Wests Tigers (away), Newcastle (away), Penrith (home) and reigning premiers North Queensland (away).We have three games at home which is good but we have to win every game for the rest of the season to maintain our spot in the eight - we are not getting ahead of ourselves, McQueen said. 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Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Call it the Big Bang of NBA fandom in China.Chinese basketball fans began watching NBA games in 1987, the year in which China Central Television (CCTV) began broadcasting NBA games. Megastars such as ?Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson instantly became household names. Then along came more transformational American talents like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James?and Stephen CurryYao Ming, however, always has a special place in Chinese fans hearts.The 7-foot-6 center from Shanghai isnt flashy. Unlike Allen Iverson, Yaos image is so clean that it borders on boring. The color of Yaos Reebok sneakers is so dull that for many years in China it lagged far behind Nikes glamour shoes.Hes too tall -- basically no Chinese person can relate to or emulate his playing style. Generation after generation, Chinese teenagers have worn baggy pants like Iverson or Under Armour sneakers like Curry, mimicking the look and moves of their idols. And they simply dont practice Yaos post moves.But Yao is one of us. His experience is our experience; his time is our time.A generational symbolIn China, those who were born in the 1980s are called post-80ers. They are part of the first generation that started to enjoy the benefits of Chinas economic reforms of the late 70s that allowed a more open market. Yao was born in 1980. His parents generation emerged hungry from the suffering and political turmoil they grew up in. They were able to provide for their children. When Yao was growing up, millions of Chinese people started to see the world beyond their own windows.Former NBA commissioner David Sterns tireless efforts to globalize the NBA took root in China in 1987, that same year, the American fast food restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken opened its first store in Beijing. Two years later, the first Shanghai KFC outlet opened, and some time later, a 10-year-old Yao waited two hours in line to get his first taste of American food.Fifteen years after that the Houston Rockets drafted Yao as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. The NBAs popularity in China boomed. His first game against Shaquille ONeal and the Lakers attracted more than 200 million viewers in China. The Rockets instantly beccame Chinas team.dddddddddddd Former U.S. President Bill Clinton described Yao Ming as Chinas single largest export to the United States.Yaos emergence on an elite world sports stage was followed by two fellow post-80ers: Liu Xiang, Yaos fellow Shanghai native, a gold-medal-winning 110-meter hurdler from the 2004 Olympics and world-record holder. And then came Li Na, at one time the worlds No. 2-ranked womens tennis player and two-time Grand Slam winner.By no small coincidence the trios success paralleled Chinas. The countrys gross domestic product per capita in 1987 was $302. It rose to $1,149 by 2002. That same year, KFC opened Chinas 700th restaurant.Post-YaoYao retired in 2011 because of persistent injury issues. Liu was next in 2012, and Li finished her career in 2014. In China, this big three enjoyed once-in-a-lifetime status, not only because each had world-class achievements, but also because they crafted a brand-new kind of Chinese athlete. They spoke English; they had a unique sense of humor; and their charisma was incomparable and, most importantly, authentic. After he finished his NBA career, Yao decided to go back to China. In a 2014 interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, he said: There is more opportunity [in China]. We have a lot that can be developed.He was correct. Now back in China, he has made himself a professional basketball club owner (in 2009, he bought the Shanghai Sharks, his former CBA team), a successful businessman (he owns his own wine label), a congressman and an ambassador for wildlife protection.In 2015, Chinas per capita GDP was $8,027. KFC has more than 5,000 outlets all over the country.Yao is the product of his era. Fortunately for him and for most Chinese people, it has been a very good era.On Friday in Springfield, Massachusetts, an entire country will celebrate Yao Mings Hall of Fame entry. Undoubtedly his speech will thank everybody important to him. But it is the Chinese fans who will also thank him, for being the countrys best export -- and import -- between United States and China. ' ' '