NBA Player Apologizes for Big 'Mistake' in China

It's not quite as bad as peeing on the Alamo, but Bobby Brown of the Houston Rockets is still getting a hard time from commenters in China after leaving graffiti on the country's Great Wall. Brown, who played in China for three seasons, not only tagged the wall in chalk, he posted a photo of it on his Weibo microblog Monday, reports the South China Morning Post. "Are you proud of your carving? This is a part of world heritage, not the toilet of your home," one outraged user commented.

The Rockets were in China with the New Orleans Pelicans for the NBA's Global Games. Brown, 32, issued an apology, saying he has the "utmost respect" for Chinese culture, the Houston Chronicle reports. "I wrote my name on the wall in chalk. I saw different writings—I didn't mean any harm by it," he said. "I made a mistake. I could have just put my hand over it and erased it. It will never happen again." The state-run Beijing Youth Daily says "the Great Wall needs protection from both Chinese people and foreign tourists," and tourists who want to leave messages should use areas set up for that purpose. (This botched repair job did a lot more damage to the ancient wall.)