As a young man, Yuen had aspired to becoming a world class soccer player. When
he failed to achieve that goal, he became a martial arts expert, specializing in Wing
Chun, a form of martial arts that involves aggressive, close range combat. After coming
to the United States, Yuen became a hardcore baseball fan—his favorite team
was the Boston Red Sox. Yuen’s full-time job at TRW and his evening law school
classes typically prevented him from watching Red Sox games that were televised on
the West Coast. So, he would program his VCR to record those games. Unfortunately,
Yuen often came home to find that his VCR had failed to record a game, leaving
him frustrated and angry. In his mind, if a research scientist with a doctorate from
CalTech could not successfully use a VCR’s recording technology, then there was
something wrong with that technology.