Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture

[ElRey]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/be...t=AtCkZU9LOcqPODVDzdWco_e8vLYF?urn=oly,100152


very nice Spain...hope the US team beats the **** out of your ignorant baffoons. It's even more amazing that they don't even think it's a big deal...sigh

 

[kennadog]

It's even more amazing that they don't even think it's a big deal...sigh

How dumb. I don't know what the intent was, but it just looks childish and stupid.

 

[BritishColumbia]

It is a different culture ... they did not know it is offensive. Yes, it was a mistake but their intent was not to offend Chinese people.

 

[Peja]

Well if you know that the picture is going to be shown in public then it is offensive!

 

[ElRey]

It is a different culture ... they did not know it is offensive. Yes, it was a mistake but their intent was not to offend Chinese people.

That argument doesn't fly...they've traveled all around the world to play basketball and have been to other countries, including now China. Many of the Spanish players are also NBA players, they know better than that. Our own players would have been reprimanded for this. These idiots still don't even think they did anything wrong.

 

[captain bill]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/be...ug=aw-nbaspainphoto081308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


A great article that exposes the hypocricy of a lot of the efforts by the NBA to 'clean up the league'- remember how they crack down on hand signals that might be protrayed as gang signs coming from Black American players, yet this picture in which Spanish NBA players engage in a clearly bigoted if not racist pose are given a free pass. Whatever your take on whether or not that picture is okay, it certainly reveals a double standard of the league office.

 

[uolj]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/be...ug=aw-nbaspainphoto081308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


A great article that exposes the hypocricy of a lot of the efforts by the NBA to 'clean up the league'- remember how they crack down on hand signals that might be protrayed as gang signs coming from Black American players, yet this picture in which Spanish NBA players engage in a clearly bigoted if not racist pose are given a free pass. Whatever your take on whether or not that picture is okay, it certainly reveals a double standard of the league office.

Sorry, I think that article misses the mark on several things.

This has little to do with the NBA. The complaint that the NBA players haven't been suspended or fined yet is pretty stupid considering this occurred completely outside the scope of the NBA (as opposed to the gang sign flashed during the game). Not to mention the fact that the uproar over the photo is relatively new and it is still entirely possible that the NBA would discipline its players in some way for the offensive picture.

It also seems obvious that the players involved are ignorant of the offensiveness of what they did. That does not excuse the behavior, but it should help you understand why they were talked into it in the first place and why they don't seem as apologetic about it now.

 

[Variant]

Just for once I'd love to see the supposedly "offended" group come back and say ... "ya know, this was probably not something intended to be offensive and we personally are not offended by it and suggest that everyone else not be either. Next time Spain, be a little smarter though."

Seriously, there are a lot bigger and more serious things out there to be offended by than this. It won't bother me if it gets Spain boo's and the US cheers Thursday morning however.

 

[Bricklayer]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/be...ug=aw-nbaspainphoto081308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


A great article that exposes the hypocricy of a lot of the efforts by the NBA to 'clean up the league'- remember how they crack down on hand signals that might be protrayed as gang signs coming from Black American players, yet this picture in which Spanish NBA players engage in a clearly bigoted if not racist pose are given a free pass. Whatever your take on whether or not that picture is okay, it certainly reveals a double standard of the league office.

Hardly a great article, and unfortunately by a writer who has always missed the nuances of things when there is a sensationalistic angle.

Team USA has in many ways become an extension fo the NBA -- its run by NBA guys, all the players are NBA guys, its an NBA enterprise. For it to pull a stunt like that...it would reflect directly on the NBA, and in many ways be the NBA's responsibility. Much like somebody flashing a gang sign on an NBA court. And as far as the NBA handing out suspensions or whatnot, just because Jason Kidd, who has the same I.Q. has your average toenail fungus, thinks so, hardly makes it so. The NBA would have an acute interest, would likely like to suspend or fine, but whether they could overcome objections from the players' union in such a case is very much open to question. Nudge me the next time you see an NBA player fined/suspended for something non-criminal that happens in the offseason )other than obvious direct contract violations of criticizing the league, riding motorcycles etc.).

Meanwhile the Spanish national team has nothing to do with the NBA, other than a couple of its players taking their summer vacation over there. What they did was stupid, but it is also no more of an NBA enforcement issue than Paul Pierce flashing gang signs on a pickup court somewhere in Inglewood this summer. There will probably be a letter or a phone call once they return to the league, but right now they are clearly not representing the NBA, their NBA teams, nor the United States to the degree that matters. The generalized good behavior language of their contracts would have to be broad indeed to reach conduct taking place halfway aorund the world in the NBA offseason while they play for their NTs. The NBA does not have the ability to legislate class.

 

[Rookie]

It is bad taste and bad judgement by a group of young men. But as an asian, I really don't care. I do have slanted eyes and proud of it. An apology has been given...accept it and move on.

Actually now I think of it...it's actually funny.