Spain Basketball Team pictured in Controversial Pose.

[IMG]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2008/08/10/spanishbasketballteam.jpg[/IMG]



Spain's Basketball Federation has published a good luck advert for their men's team, the world champions, in which they stand pulling at the sides of their eyes in a slit-eyed gesture.

There is no obvious intention to upset their Olympic hosts in Beijing, but the irresponsible picture is likely to cause controversy and could be interpreted so as to lead to accusations of racism.

Spanish sport has been mired in rows over racism in the last few years. In November 2004 black English footballers were subjected to relentless racial barracking from home supporters in a match in Spain. Before the World Cup there were calls for Luis Aragones, then Spain's football coach, to be sacked after he called Thierry Henry a "black ****". And last year Lewis Hamilton suffered racist abuse during testing for the Spanish grand prix near Barcelona.

Spain play their first match in the Olympic basketball competition against Greece at 7.30am BST today.

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/10/olympics2008.olympicsbasketball[/url]

It amazes me how silly people can be. Why the f*** would anyone do that?

[quote=dr8ked][IMG]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2008/08/10/spanishbasketballteam.jpg[/IMG]



Spain's Basketball Federation has published a good luck advert for their men's team, the world champions, in which they stand pulling at the sides of their eyes in a slit-eyed gesture.

There is no obvious intention to upset their Olympic hosts in Beijing, but the irresponsible picture is likely to cause controversy and could be interpreted so as to lead to accusations of racism.

Spanish sport has been mired in rows over racism in the last few years. In November 2004 black English footballers were subjected to relentless racial barracking from home supporters in a match in Spain. Before the World Cup there were calls for Luis Aragones, then Spain's football coach, to be sacked after he called Thierry Henry a "black ****". And last year Lewis Hamilton suffered racist abuse during testing for the Spanish grand prix near Barcelona.

Spain play their first match in the Olympic basketball competition against Greece at 7.30am BST today.

[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/10/olympics2008.olympicsbasketball"]http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/10/olympics2008.olympicsbasketball[/URL][/quote]

Racism should have no part of sports. I find myself losing respect for several of these players who I once admired.

Shouldn't surprise anyone about Spain.

The only one that looks like he is actually pulling is Pau in the upper right corner. The rest look like they are just pointing to their eyes lol. People always need to find something to get up set about. It's a silly picture.

What can we say...everybody want to be Chinese these days.

wow

there goes my respect for spain

this is also about the 3rd thread on it.

How is this racist?

These guys are just pointing to their heads.

Is there a hidden racism in this that I just dont see.

Looks like the "think" gesture to me when I first saw it.

[IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/65bgw0.jpg[/IMG]

I really really want this to come out all over the Chinese media and outrage to occur. The only reason I want this is because USA BAsketball is going to need all the help it can get against Spain. If we have the entire stadium booing the sh&t out of Spain and cheering for us, it will be de-facto home cout advantage. The most important thing is while this may not have a definite impact on our play, it couldn't hurt.

[QUOTE=Interminator]How is this racist?

These guys are just pointing to their heads.

Is there a hidden racism in this that I just dont see.[/QUOTE]

Becuase they're not pointing to their heads, they're pulling their eyes back to look chinese or asian. You can clearly see Pau Gasol doing it and a couple other players.

Must be a slow day at work for some people, there's like 3 threads on this. Who cares?

i guess being a homo is not enough for pau. he now wants to be a racist homo.

so what?

people are WAY too sensitive these days.

what if they were playing ireland and they all wore orange mops on their heads? bet everyone here would think its funny and not gravely offensive.

for some reason i guess its off-limits to make fun of blacks, chinese, and mexicans. why? its not like the spanish team is burning their houses down. they're ribbing them over the stereotype of their eyes. big deal.

people just seem to LOOK for reasons to cry and get offended these days. seriously, get real.

[QUOTE=starface]so what?

people are WAY too sensitive these days.

what if they were playing ireland and they all wore orange mops on their heads? bet everyone here would think its funny and not gravely offensive.

for some reason i guess its off-limits to make fun of blacks, chinese, and mexicans. why? its not like the spanish team is burning their houses down. they're ribbing them over the stereotype of their eyes. big deal.

people just seem to LOOK for reasons to cry and get offended these days. seriously, get real.[/QUOTE]
get real? i dare you to make that gesture to my face. you'll see what "get real" means. so the world olympics means let's go make fun of the host country's ethnicity? everything the olympics doesn't stand for.

[QUOTE=Eldrunko247]get real? i dare you to make that gesture to my face. you'll see what "get real" means. so the world olympics means let's go make fun of the host country's ethnicity? everything the olympics doesn't stand for.[/QUOTE]
:violin:

That's a great expression of solidarity in Spanish culture, trying to look like your hosts. When they come to America, Spanish people try to become obese before hand so they fit in.

Seriously, what's the problem? I make that gesture to every Asian person I meet or see walking on the street. They like it, give me a martial arts demonstration free of charge! Let me tell you, Wing-Chu punches to the sternum HURT! But tis all in good fun.:cheers:

[QUOTE=Eldrunko247]everything the olympics doesn't stand for.[/QUOTE]

That's right. The Olympics should be about honoring a country that steals technology from the rest of the world and gives a flying piece of cowdung about free speech and basic human rights.

And before you come crying about "stereotypes"... even Chinese friends of mine agree with this. It's a shame the Games are being held in a country like China.

[QUOTE=Eldrunko247]i guess being a homo is not enough for pau. he now wants to be a racist homo.[/QUOTE]

i hope the irony of this post was purposeful.

[IMG]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2008/08/10/spanishbasketballteam.jpg[/IMG]
entire team in unison: "me chinese, me play joke, me put pee pee in your coke"

i hate sensitive people... if everyone were blacks and chinese, there will be no fun in this world.

I still leave a lot of room for intent when I think about racism. I can let something pass if the intent was not racist. I'm not saying people should sit back and let others make fun of their ethnicity, but I find people of different ethnicities try to dictate what can and can't be said or done too much.

It too often gets to the point where people end up saying "You know what, I just don't give a **** what you think anymore" and that can't help things at all. You can't tell everyone what can and can't be done as if you're the ultimate authority.

Sure people can take things too far and again, there is a time and place to make sure they know what they did was wrong, but from all indications there was no malice in what was done. Perhaps someone can say "even if that was meant in good taste, it hurt me", but don't try telling them they're racist or **** like that because whether you like it or not, people live in different cultures than you and what is right and wrong is more gray than PC America understands.

Acceptance goes both ways.

[QUOTE=A.M.G.]That's a great expression of solidarity in Spanish culture, trying to look like your hosts. When they come to America, [B]Spanish people try to become obese before hand so they fit in.[/B][/QUOTE]
:roll: :roll: :roll:

[QUOTE=vinsane01]i hate sensitive people... if everyone were blacks and chinese, there will be no fun in this world.[/QUOTE]

You are one of the most sensitive douche bag in this forum, and you love guys who always Flop/Whines in the playoffs.

lol that's ridiculous. Only stupid people would think that's racist.The whole photo thing started because a chinese reporter asked Ricky Rubio to do it, after that some idiot of the spanish organization found interesting to do the the same with the whole spanish team for the media. No one noticed until this absurd article of the Guardian

****ing hell, people need to get the sand out of their ******. Seeing as there's no history of enslavement, oppression or anything like that of the Chinese by the Spanish, why would anyone be offended?

I'm not a fan. It still causes unneeded controversy at an event thats supposed to promote global cooperation. Can't wait to cheer on USA when they play Spain!

Last thing I would do is piss off communists on their home turf. I wouldn't be too upset if Pau and Marc got the axe ya dig?:rockon: :rockon:

[QUOTE=vapid]I'm not a fan. [B]It still causes unneeded controversy at an event thats supposed to promote global cooperation. [/B] Can't wait to cheer on USA when they play Spain![/QUOTE]


[B]Unfortunately these events are non the less filled with bad occurances...[/B]


[QUOTE]Violence
Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the 1916 Games were cancelled, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II. A recent and more ironic example is that in the 2008 South Ossetia War, Georgia and Russia started their engagement on the same day the 2008 Summer Olympics began.

Terrorism has also become a recent threat to the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich massacre. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue, as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed.[35]

During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence at ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.[36]

The Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City were the first Olympic games held since September 11, 2001, which meant a higher level of security, which is now required for all Olympic games, as they may become terrorist targets.

There have been pro-Tibet / pro-human rights protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Torch Relay, some of which included violent incidents.

[/QUOTE]




[QUOTE]In 1998, it became known that several IOC members had taken bribes from the organising committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in exchange for a vote on the city at the election of the host city. The IOC started an investigation, which led to four members resigning and six being expelled. The scandal set off further reforms, changing the way in which host cities are elected to avoid further bribes. Also, more active and former athletes were allowed in the IOC, and the membership terms have been limited[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=starface]so what?

people are WAY too sensitive these days.

what if they were playing ireland and they all wore orange mops on their heads? bet everyone here would think its funny and not gravely offensive.

for some reason i guess its off-limits to make fun of blacks, chinese, and mexicans. why? its not like the spanish team is burning their houses down. they're ribbing them over the stereotype of their eyes. big deal.

people just seem to LOOK for reasons to cry and get offended these days. seriously, get real.[/QUOTE]

**** you. This is offensive and anyone who doesn't see that is just a moron.

Of course, Spain has a history of racism so this is hardly surprising.

[QUOTE=RoseCity07]The only one that looks like he is actually pulling is Pau in the upper right corner. The rest look like they are just pointing to their eyes lol. People always need to find something to get up set about. It's a silly picture.[/QUOTE]
repped for being logical.

some people just need something to ***** about, absolutely nothing wrong with that picture.

im chinese but i dont see it as racist. As long as dont do or say anything that is degrading, I'm fine by it. They just tried to look chinese for fun bec they are in china.

At worst, its just profiling and steriotyping. Just like in 1 post earlier where obese was connected to americans. Did anyone find him racist?

Now if team spain starts talking about the slavery they have done before, thats a different issue

[IMG]http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/3993/gyi00554625420810151024fj6.jpg[/IMG]
A Wang ZhiZhi sighting!! Seems like Yao, because of his Reebok contract, refused to wear the team Hyperdunks

[QUOTE=DatZNasty][IMG]http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/3993/gyi00554625420810151024fj6.jpg[/IMG]
A Wang ZhiZhi sighting!! Seems like Yao, because of his Reebok contract, refused to wear the team Hyperdunks[/QUOTE]


Which one is Yao? JK JK

Dude in number 10 looks like he's Mutumbo's age.

[QUOTE=Knoe Itawl]**** you. This is offensive and anyone who doesn't see that is just a moron.

Of course, Spain has a history of racism so this is hardly surprising.[/QUOTE]

How are you offended. You will go to bed tonight not thinking about it. You will wake up tomorrow not thinking about it. You will jack off tomorrow not thinking about it. You will work tomorrow assuming you work not thinking about it. You will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner not thinking about it.

Don't lessen what being offended means. ****ing hack.

[QUOTE=DatZNasty][IMG]http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/3993/gyi00554625420810151024fj6.jpg[/IMG]
A Wang ZhiZhi sighting!! Seems like Yao, because of his Reebok contract, refused to wear the team Hyperdunks[/QUOTE]
Holy ****! The Chinese team is doing the same thing, but I dont hear people *****ing about that....people these days...

No Mengke Bateer?

[QUOTE=DatZNasty]No Mengke Bateer?[/QUOTE]

didnt he got a ring with the spurs lol.

#10 looks like the father of Sun Yue lol. I guess he's their own version of Jkidd