Olympic Basketball

(L-R) Giovanna Trillini of Italy and Nam Hyunhee of South Korea compete in the semifinals of the women's individual foil fencing event at the Fencing Hall on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts) Li Wenquan of China celebrates during the men's archery team round at the Olympic Green Archery Field on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images AsiaPac) Natalie Golda #6 of the United States goes after the ball as Wang Yi #9 of China grabs her ... Read Full Story

Rule No. 1 of taking team photos for the Olympic games, don't mock the physical features of other ethnicities. Someone must have forgotten to tell the Spanish basketball team this important tidbit of information, because they full out mocked the eyes of the Chinese people in a photograph that ran in a Spanish newspaper. Don't they know poking fun at other people is rude? Where are there mothers to smack them on the backs of their heads? Spain's Pau Gasol, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA apologized in a statement, saying, "It was something like supposed to be funny or ... Read Full Story

Jose Calderon: Oriental Expressionist In response to media outrage over the Spanish national basketball team making a slit-eyed gesture in a recent newspaper advertisement, the team's point guard, Jose Calderon, who plays for the Toronto Raptors professionally, issued a statement on his personal website. No way, Jose! Dude, you are clearly unschooled in the way of our people and in desperate need of an educasian. First of all, everyone knows that if you want to make an Oriental Expression ("OE"), you do it with your hands, yo, and not your eyes. The Peace Sign should always be your first option: But in a classier, ... Read Full Story

Yi Jianlian #11 of China dunks the ball while taking on Spain in the preliminary basketball game held at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium during Day 4 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images AsiaPac) In a recent Spanish basketball team photo, they celebrated the Chinese Olympic games by pulling their eyes into slits like old-timey racists.  This photo of China's Yi Jianlian alone, dunking on all five of them, continues that proud photo-posing tradition.  Hey, Spain, were you too busy rubbing shoe polish on your face and tapdancing to make it to ... Read Full Story

¡Hola España Basketball! Boy, that was a close one . You certainly gave Team USA, aka The Redeem Team, a run for their money in Sunday's gold medal game. And, sure, we've given you some shit over the last coupla weeks, but we're totally over that now and would like to congratulate you on winning Spain's first Olympic medal in basketball since 1984! You kept the game oh-so-close through four quarters, and now you can walk away with your heads held high, silver medal in hand. A silver medal! From the Olympics! Has it sunk in yet? Sure, you must feel slightly disappointed that ... Read Full Story