China Game 2: ends as Hoyas pulled off floor

[BubbleVisionBiff]

Aug 18, 2011 20:49:32 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Aug 18, 2011 20:47:12 GMT -5 BubbleVisionBiff said:

there is a little park directly across the street from their embassy on CT ave. Think it needs a GU flag.

Awesome idea. If I were in DC right now, I would be putting Georgetown gear, signs, etc. near the embassy for the next week.

remember when they forced down that EA-6 a few years back and held the flight crew for a few days? the protest was to honk as you drove by their embassy. I used to live down the block and after a weekend, I was almost deaf.

[TC]

Pete Thamel just tweeted about it :

"China's govt makes Hoya Paranoia look soft. Government censors took down media stories of the Gtown-China brawl."

[DanMcQ]

For those chiding the Post for not having many immediate details, another look at Gene Wang's story now reveals much more detail:

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/fight-ends-georgetown-basketball-exhibition-in-china/2011/08/18/gIQAs1zeNJ_story.html

It was unclear whether the brawl would affect similar ventures in the future. The Georgetown delegation, which included university president John DeGioia, other school officials and prominent alumni and boosters, was scheduled to fly to Shanghai on Friday. Thompson said the team would continue with the remainder of its itinerary.

A State Department official and a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington both called the melee “unfortunate.”

“We look to these types of exchanges to promote good sportsmanship and strengthen our people-to-people contact with China,” said the U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak for attribution.

“We believe the organizers of the matches and the two teams will address the issue properly, the sportsmanship and people-to-people friendship the matches are meant to represent will prevail,” said the Chinese spokesman, Wang Baodong, in an e-mail.

The official China news agency Xinhua did not have an immediate account of the game, and while other prominent Chinese Web sites such as 163.com and sina.com posted stories, government censors shortly thereafter took them down.

“The situations we were put in went beyond losing your cool,” Thompson said. “It went to, ‘I need to protect myself.’ That got to a level above and beyond competition and competing, and ‘Oh, this is a rough day. The calls aren’t going my way.’ At the end of the day, you have to protect yourself.”

DeGioia and Athletic Director Lee Reed were not immediately available to comment, according to a school spokesman.

Bayi did not immediately issue a statement, but as word of the brawl spread throughout Chinese social media, many citizens chided Rockets players for crossing the line between physical play and unsportsmanlike conduct.

Some Chinese fans were incredulous. “It seemed that [the referee] was eager for the Chinese team win tonight, so the Georgetown team members were very unhappy about it,” said Zhou Ting, 26, a doctoral candidate in biology at the Chinese Academy of Science who attended both games. “I can tell the Chinese players provoked the conflict. . . . The [Bayi] basketball players have got a bad habit of revenge on every small, unfair thing in the Chinese Basketball Association. It’s a hooligan’s habit.”

“Once it got out of hand, I was in great fear for everyone associated with Georgetown University, because if you look at it in terms of sheer numbers, we were very much outnumbered,” Thompson said. “Once it got to that point, once all the skirmishes had ended, my only thought was to get our fans, our players, our family, our friends out of this building as soon as possible.”

[HoyaChris]

At least when Jim Boeheim through a chair he threw it at a wall and not at our players.

[ihoya]

Is this good publicity? I would think that it would be, especially if handled properly. Perhaps some public gestures to at least demonstrate a friendly Gtown-China relationship in the future.

[jerseyhoya34]

The dude with khakis must be China's equivalent of Ric Flair - the dirtiest player in the game.

[alleninxis]

Love how everyone wants to call our guys for being 'soft' now?

Yeah, in a foreign country and a hostile environment they should have stayed around and started swinging chairs when outnumbered 2:1 (at least).

Had we done that -- we'd be 'Thugs'. Heck, I've even seen that garbage anyway.

Guess it's easy for rival players (or ex players..Benimon of all people) and hack-columnists to sit online and tweet about what they/other teams 'would have done'.

Proud of the team and staff.

- They defended themselves and their teammates. Didn't see anyone running away from anything.

- They got the heck out of there when they should have.

Put me in the camp that loves it and loves this group. They don't take any crap and an incident like this..as awful as it is to have happen...it only strengthens the bond of the team.

[strummer8526]

Aug 18, 2011 21:48:38 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

The dude with khakis must be China's equivalent of Ric Flair - the dirtiest player in the game.

See, I thought he was "Bad Gear Dude" at 4:06: basketbawful.blogspot.com/2007/08/11-guys-you-meet-in-pickup-basketball.html

[HoyaLawya]

Scary video ...

www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/msn/gtown_hoops_team_brawls_in_china/6218380/?GT1=39002

[PushyGuyFanClub]

Sad but funny/true responses from a friend in Beijing when I asked what the coverage in China has been now that everything has been pulled off of the Web:

still some on weibo, incl ugly videos. deleted chinese team only fights 2/3/4 to 1. uses chairs. hope they visit DC. y i try 2 avoid foreign vs chinese large sports events. xenophobic mob violence risk very high, esp from crowds at basketball & soccer games. Guy doing the stomping has an "O" face going, Sad. Disgusting. Unsurprising.

I think China is a great country with great people, but the government/PLA are so skewed. Hoyas were victims of a force that wants to show its country it has no weakness.

[deacon]

Aug 18, 2011 21:52:31 GMT -5 alleninxis said:

Love how everyone wants to call our guys for being 'soft' now?

Yeah, in a foreign country and a hostile environment they should have stayed around and started swinging chairs when outnumbered 2:1 (at least).

Had we done that -- we'd be 'Thugs'. Heck, I've even seen that garbage anyway.

Guess it's easy for rival players (or ex players..Benimon of all people) and hack-columnists to sit online and tweet about what they/other teams 'would have done'.

Proud of the team and staff.

- They defended themselves and their teammates. Didn't see anyone running away from anything.

- They got the heck out of there when they should have.

Put me in the camp that loves it and loves this group. They don't take any crap and an incident like this..as awful as it is to have happen...it only strengthens the bond of the team.

The reactions to this stuff is why I'm taking a sabbatical from the business. Way too many clowns who confuse being a cynical Editedbag with real talent. There is no prize for the wittiest Tweet regarding situations like this, but tell hacks like Mike Wise and Eric Bossi that. And it's always amusing to see former players - who will remain nameless - talk tough when they were soft as Charming on the court while they were here.

The team did what it had to do and regardless of how people try to spin it, they made true fans proud.

[chep3]

I don't remember who it was (possibly MCI or RB) who aptly noted that the biggest problem with this issue is a set of grown men attacking a bunch of 18-20 year olds. I'd be Editeded as hell at anyone who fights our guys, but this is absurd. I'm glad we didn't take that crap from them, and I'm glad everyone got out ok.

[WVHoyasfan]

The thing that makes me so mad is eventually this whole fight will be blamed on Gtown.Its already started by other teams fans calling this thugs and stuff.It makes me so mad to see what this program has to go threw every year.They get called names that im not going to write and thugs,jailbait and im sick of it. Thats the main reason I became a huge Gtown fan when I was six.

I heard things on tv people calling the Gtown players the N word and throwing stuff at them on the floor.I looked at my mom(god bless her soal)and said why are they treating them like that and mom looked at me and said son they are bad people b/c that team does not deserve to be treated that way.I looked at my mom and said well that team is NOW MY TEAM .When I seen that today that memory came right back to me and it made me mad.

One way or another people will blame the Hoyas for all of this b/c it has already started and Guys thats not right b/c they did'nt do nothing but fight to protect themselfs.

[RDF]

Guess it's easy for rival players (or ex players..Benimon of all people) and hack-columnists to sit online and tweet about what they/other teams 'would have done'.

I've seen morons who are "journalists" on twitter make light of the incideent and blow smoke up AAU clowns ass about how "tough" they are--and TALK out their ass about how Georgetown should've...........but I had no clue Jerrelle Benimon stated something. WTH would he do? I'm guessing, he'd trip, miss and hit a teammate with friendly fire or since the fight started outside of 2 feet of the rim on the court he'd be worthless .

Guys who weren't there love to puff up about what they would do. Sure.

The GU tang clan aint nothing to .... with.

[seaweed]

quick, remind me, which two hoyas mixed it up in Kenner league? seemed like such a big deal back in the summe....meh

too much said already but if III was looking to teach habits this week, we already got an A in (self)defense, teamwork and apparently overcoming shiiiiiiiity refs. as far as I am concerned this trip is perfect team building exercise

great part is a bunch of folks are going to "try" to rattle us this year because of this and I am pretty sure we will get the upper hand because this teaches cool (and if not maybe we will at least get the upper cut). we WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED, by you SU, by you WVu or by you, Chinese Army! let's hope a lot of people look silly trying to evoke this same chaos to their advantage. bwaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Bulldog on a china stop indeed

[DanMcQ]

www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/081911aaa.html

Aug. 19, 2011

SHANGHAI - Georgetown University Head Men's Basketball Coach John Thompson III and two of the team's student-athletes met with members of the Bayi Rockets on Friday morning following heated exchanges in an exhibition game on Thursday evening.

Thompson, Bayi Head Coach Adejiang, and their team members shared a very cordial and friendly meeting.

Georgetown senior Jason Clark and junior Hollis Thompson accompanied Thompson, while Rockets players Chen Yu and Lehei De also took part in the meeting. Coaches and players exchanged handshakes during the amicable gathering.

While meeting, Thompson and Adejiang spoke about their teams and their respective leagues as well as their families. Both coaches expressed interest in future exchanges and Thompson suggested bringing youth players to the Hoya summer camp in 2012.

The Georgetown team looks forward to continued competition in the Nike Sports Festival in Shanghai beginning this weekend.

Before departing, both teams presented an autographed ball as a gift.

[prhoya]

Just as expected... This tour will be closely monitored by the Chinese government and US State Department et al. the rest of the way. What a great learning experience for the kids, esp. JC and Hollis! Kudos to JT3, staff and GU's administration!!

[CWS]

Hopefully this link will bring you to the front page of the print edition:

www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper?dt=2011-08-19&bk=A&pg=1
or
www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/2011-08-19/Ax1.pdf

You'll see that story made front page of the paper. The picture there is the less flattering one. However, if you look in the middle of the section, there's a sub-heading: "Coach and Leader" and the print under it reads: "John Thompson III deserves an award for his diplomacy..." Nice.

The Jenkins column is front page of the sports section. There the picture of Jason getting kicked appears.

www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper?dt=2011-08-19&bk=D&pg=1
or
www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/2011-08-19/Dx1.pdf

[miracles87]

After reading through this thread, I was impressed at how many HoyaTalk posters immediately took Georgetown to task for assumed inappropriate behavior. MCIGuy, in particular, seemed to equate Georgetown Basketball players with followers of Ghandi or MLK Jr.. Actually, I puzzled over that for a while, but then I realized, that while MCI, as he almost freely admitted, misfired on this particular occasion, this is precisely the kind of hard line on appropriate and ethical behavior that makes it such a joy and comfort to root for Hoya Basketball in the first place. There are ups and downs, of course, but I have never been ashamed of rooting for GTown, as they are very much an example of what is good and right in collegiate athletics. I am very proud of JT3 and the Hoyas today. What an unexpected, jarring and exhilarating wake up call from this uneasy off season. Apparently, while we are young and retooling, our skill is still sufficient to drive a Chinese "pro" team to violent distraction. As some have said, this really should take some of the loathing out of a visit to the Carrier Dome. MCI, again, kudos for sticking to your guns, at least you were wrong for all of the right reasons.

[DanMcQ]

Thanks for linking those, Chris.