China Game 2: ends as Hoyas pulled off floor

[strummer8526]

Out of curiosity, what did Benimon say? I can't find his Twitter feed.

[seaweed]

May be just me but I don't see Calhoun/Boheim/Pitino getting this kind of resolution. Well done Coach, well done team. Now beat them like a rented mule on Sunday please

Aug 19, 2011 3:35:43 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

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.

[rosslynhoya]

Aug 19, 2011 8:32:25 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Out of curiosity, what did Benimon say? I can't find his Twitter feed.

I don't know about Benimon but Vee had an EASILY mis-interpretable tweet on the topic, calling his ex-teammates "goons" but meaning it as an unabashed compliment.

[hoyajmw]

I know the Wall Street Journal story was linked already in the "links" topic, but worth reposting here and further advising that the hard copy's very short note about it Friday/page D5 includes the photo of Jason about to get stomped and highlights the foul discrepancy . . .

blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/08/19/after-u-s-china-basketball-fracas-in-beijing-the-sound-of-silence/

[hoyasaxa2003]

For what it's worth, the "Captivate Network" (which runs stories in elevators on TV screens) has a short blurb about "Friendship game turns into brawl" with the picture of Jason on the floor with the Chinese players kicking him. While the blurb was neutral, the picture certainly paints a positive picture for the Hoyas.

[NCHoya]

Glad to see III getting lots of positive local press as a coach and leader. Coach gets a lot of criticism on this board for not being emotional enough or being too thoughtful or laid back. Well, that was exactly what was needed in this situation. JT3 came through big-time getting his players out of harm's way as quickly as possible without further incident or injury and then issuing a statement almost immediately that took the high road and completely diffused a potentially flammable diplomatic situation. Great representative of our University. Thanks coach.

[PushyGuyFanClub]

Worthy read that discusses some of the political implications here. I think the media is missing something by considering this more of a typical sports brawl.

PLA Declares War on Georgetown: www.informationdissemination.net/2011/08/pla-declares-war-on-georgetown.html

[SFHoya99]

It is kind of interesting (?) that the Army team lacked so much discipline. The service academies in the US, for example, are about the last team I'd expect to brawl.

[jgalt]

Really disgusting to me that Journalists would first label the team "thugs" with little evidence, then when presented with exonerating videos, would call them "soft" for not "winning". Guess Moses should have slammed some poor guys head with that chair.

Cant be as disgusted by people like Gilbert Arenas or CDR. I would have to respect them first to be disgusted by them.

Did anyone see Fran Francilla's segment on Good Morning America about it? That piece will shape the most peoples opinions I would think

[jgalt]

Aug 19, 2011 9:48:04 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

It is kind of interesting (?) that the Army team lacked so much discipline. The service academies in the US, for example, are about the last team I'd expect to brawl.

They would also be the first to offer swift punishments for those involved. The fight reveals many cultural differences between the two nations.

[Boz]

Not sure if this has been posted/suggested yet, but I wonder if we'll ever get to see video of the entire game.

Obviously, this is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is that if we ever did get to see that, we, as Hoya fans, are going to be completely outraged at the treatment of our team (more so than we are now), and most people will start wondering what a few people are wondering right now: why did we even let it go this far and not walk out on this game much, much earlier?

I could be completely wrong about what the full video might reveal, but something tells me I ain't.

[TC]

Aug 19, 2011 9:29:10 GMT -5 NCHoya said:

Glad to see III getting lots of positive local press as a coach and leader. Coach gets a lot of criticism on this board for not being emotional enough or being too thoughtful or laid back. Well, that was exactly what was needed in this situation. JT3 came through big-time getting his players out of harm's way as quickly as possible without further incident or injury and then issuing a statement almost immediately that took the high road and completely diffused a potentially flammable diplomatic situation. Great representative of our University. Thanks coach.

It'd be nice if people factored this into the equation next time the team loses a tournament game and any semblance of big picture thinking goes out the window.

Also, I cannot imagine what the media reaction would be if situations were reversed and Fort Hood was the host. Can you imagine the media reaction to a situation in which multiple Fort Hood players and fans were stomping on Chinese students, triple team beating them, and the Chinese team left the court to a hail of water bottles? It certainly wouldn't be headlines of "Chinese student team involved in a brawl".

[HoyaSinceBirth]

I was hopping that Georgetown might post full videos of the games when they got back stateside. Now i'm skeptical we'll get to see any of them after this much less yesterday's game. I suppose they could lie and say they didn't tape this game but taped the others, but it'll look a little weird if there are tapes of the other games but not this one. I'm just assuming they'll go all hoya paranoia on us and not release any footage, but i'd love to be wrong.

I'd also love a box score of the game prior to the brawl.

[williambraskyiii]

Aug 19, 2011 9:52:05 GMT -5 jgalt said:

Really disgusting to me that Journalists would first label the team "thugs" with little evidence, then when presented with exonerating videos, would call them "soft" for not "winning". Guess Moses should have slammed some poor guys head with that chair.

Cant be as disgusted by people like Gilbert Arenas or CDR. I would have to respect them first to be disgusted by them.

Did anyone see Fran Francilla's segment on Good Morning America about it? That piece will shape the most peoples opinions I would think

It was on in background when I was getting ready for work -- what did Fran say?

[biggmanu]

One of the interesting aspects of Chinese Sports culture compared to the US is that in China young children are often separated from their families and become State Sponsored athletes for the good of the country. Their sport is literally their life and they don't exactly get the kinds of opportunities NCAA college athletes do. Watching the video over and over you can tell that they are passionate beyond the dimension of it 'Just being a game'. Well it's not just a game for Chinese State athletes. Not everyone can be the next Yao Ming, and there's no diploma to fall back on. If we are to learn anything from this situation I think we should have just let the Chinese team win the friendly exhibition, because in the grand scheme of things our kids are winners just because they were born free.

[hoyas big supporter]

Aug 19, 2011 10:06:19 GMT -5 HoyaSinceBirth said:

I was hopping that Georgetown might post full videos of the games when they got back stateside. Now i'm skeptical we'll get to see any of them after this much less yesterday's game. I suppose they could lie and say they didn't tape this game but taped the others, but it'll look a little weird if there are tapes of the other games but not this one. I'm just assuming they'll go all hoya paranoia on us and not release any footage, but i'd love to be wrong.

I'd also love a box score of the game prior to the brawl.

You know they dont have to lie, were not entitled to anything. They can simply say they dont want to give us the second game and that makes sense.

[derhoya]

Well wearing my Gtown jersey at Hong Kong's airport next week might be appropriate now? What an interesting event (all the dimensions involved). Glad to hear no injuries, and in general, TV coverage I've seen has been fine PR wise for us.

[CO_Hoya]

Aug 19, 2011 9:52:05 GMT -5 jgalt said:

Did anyone see Fran Francilla's segment on Good Morning America about it? That piece will shape the most peoples opinions I would think

It's an interesting point. The GMA piece (link) was generally neutral about the fight (implicitly both sides were at fault).

But on the GMA website, there's a link to ABC Nightly News' clip about the fight from last night, which paints the incident as entirely the fault of the PLA team and the officials (link).

[TC]

Aug 19, 2011 10:11:35 GMT -5 biggmanu said:

Not everyone can be the next Yao Ming, and there's no diploma to fall back on. If we are to learn anything from this situation I think we should have just let the Chinese team win the friendly exhibition, because in the grand scheme of things our kids are winners just because they were born free.

In what world is "we should have thrown the game because we are better than you" the lesson we should have come away from this with?

[rosslynhoya]

Aug 19, 2011 10:22:27 GMT -5 TC said:

Aug 19, 2011 10:11:35 GMT -5 biggmanu said:

Not everyone can be the next Yao Ming, and there's no diploma to fall back on. If we are to learn anything from this situation I think we should have just let the Chinese team win the friendly exhibition, because in the grand scheme of things our kids are winners just because they were born free.

In what world is "we should have thrown the game because we are better than you" the lesson we should have come away from this with?

I liked the patriotic sentiment, but it probably makes more sense in the long-run to nip their feelings of entitlement in the bud now. In a wiser age, the President would have already sent in the battleships to shoot up the harbor in order to force a proper indemnity from the perfidious mandarins.