Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 9:00 am  |  118 responses

Jason Kidd Thinks Team Spain Got Off Easy

by Marcel Mutoni

Jason Kidd thinks Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon and the rest of the guys on Spain’s national hoops team should have to do more than simply give a ridiculous explanation of their slanted-eye photo. Kidd knows that if Team USA had made such a bone-headed decision, there’d be hell to pay.

From Yahoo! Sports:

“We would’ve been already thrown out of the Olympics,” he told Yahoo! Sports. “At least, we wouldn’t have been able to come back to the U.S. …There would be suspensions.”

And for his European peers, well, Kidd suggested, “They won’t do anything to them. It’s a double standard.”

I don’t know about Kidd’s belief that he and his teammates would’ve been thrown out of the Olympics, but suspensions (or at the very least, some kind of slap on the wrist) from the League would have been handed down.

Feel free to step up at any time, Mr. Stern.

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  • Myung Lee

    To those who have been bashing Jason Kidd for speaking his mind on this matter because he beat Joumana when he was on the Suns, who exactly is allowed to speak out on these sort of issues? Which country and which team has a roster full of players without any trangresson or folly? Is only a perfect human being allowed to give his opinion on anything? While I don’t condone wife beating AT ALL, I’m not sure how that has anything to do with his stance on the matter. Personally, I have a bigger issue with how far his game seems to have slipped in the past year than anything regarding his personal life.

  • Guzman

    It looks like nobody took a minute to read the reasons of that pic and who was behind it.
    Li-Ning, the Chinese brand, ordered the pic for its marketing campaign. And the Spanish Basketball Federation is the oldest international business mate that the brand has overseas. Here there are just some bunch of haters who dont have anything else to do than criticize.
    I THINK THE WEB PAGE SHOUL BE EMBARASED OF HOSTING SOME OF THE COMMENTS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE.
    What kind of people use such a poor arguments like talking about things back in the 15th century, or saying that just because a bunch of idiots call monkey a player all Spain is racist (generally, in the stadiums, if someone insult that way a player the rest of people in the crowd is going to take him down directly to the authorities… and those incidents happen only twice a year maybe). But of course, you are not interested in knowing all of this cause the only matter here is feeling big men by criticizing the others… why dont u do it by setting examples. That is the highest path. This is my last comment in this article.
    I also apreciate the way that some people try to make the… let’s call them haters, understand than that is not the way. But this is like talking to a wall. WORTLESS.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    I thought it was a courier service that ordered the picture? And what the hell is going on with the Spanish Tennis team doing the same thing? Are they sponsored by Li Ning too? And why were they doing the slanted eyes thing at a dinner party? This second picture is much more disturbing than the first one to me.

  • Myung Lee

    Guzman, I appreciate your post, and I think most of us DO understand that Li Ning wanted that photo as part of the their advertising campaign. You make a lot of good points, and I think it IS unfair to call a country of millions racist because of the actions of a few. That being said, just because an Asian company ordered something to happen doesn’t necessarily make it right with Asian people. This company does not represent all Asian people, just like the few hoodlums in the crowd don’t represent the country of Spain. I can’t speak for all Asians in this case, but speaking for one (me), I can say that I’m very insulted by Li Ning’s decision (whether it was Li Ning or just the photographer). You DO realize that Li Ning doesn’t speak for the billions of Asians in this world, right?

  • Guzman

    Yeah, I got that Myung, and I thing they shoukd have had more touch with it. And think it was very inapropriated taking that pic, but not racist for God!!. it does not mean more than a mistake that since it was done without any bad intention… should be taken the same way. Some of the tennis players, after a dinner, took a pic kind of same back in APril before playing agaist China. The tennis federation had the pic uploaded in their webpages so that gives you the idea that the pic was not hidden… so we dont feel that was be doing anything wrong. That does not mean that they want to ofend them. It just shows how uimportant and just humorous is that thing in Spain. It is the same that when Japanese or Chinese tourist come to Spain and like to take a pic infront of a bull statue doing like they are fighting it… so that could be interpreted as we all are bullfighters or something, but that does not bother us cause we understand it is done without any bad intention. I have a lot of friends from Asia and they actually found funny the pic although dont understand why did they take it. So do I.
    If you want to know why the British media is taking this issue that important you need to know that they are totally against Madrid as a candidate for hosting the next Olympics… and suporting Chicago. And by doing this they are trying to blow it up.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    I don’t think anybody has offered an explanation for why the tennis team thought it was a good idea. The basketball team, sure they could have just been doing what the sponsors told them. While that’s not smart, that makes sense. But, why was the tennis team making this gesture at dinner in April beofe a match against China? What are they trying to say? If they are getting ready to have a match against the Chinese, what does this picture mean? I don’t understand the idea that this was “all in good fun.” Why is it good fun to pretend like you have slanted eyes? What is the joke? Why is it funny? Nobody has explained this yet. Humor has a purpose, what exactly was the purpose in this humor?

  • Myung Lee

    I’ve been asking the same thing, Allenp. Everyone keeps saying it’s all in good fun, but I don’t see the humor in it. I hate it when people have to break down a joke for you to understand it, but maybe it’s such a high level of humor that someone DOES have to actually break it down to mortals like you and me.

  • Truthsayer

    Li Ning did NOT direct the shoot. It was for a racist Spanish freight company and it’s totally racist.

    They should suspended at the very least. I am against the capital punishiment but this is a very strong case for it.

    This kind of anti-semitic and anti-sinic activities can not be tolerated.

  • Winslowalrob

    Myung, you do not speak for all Asian people, don’t even try. I understand where a lot of people are coming from in claiming it is racist. But get off your high horse and pretend that YOU are the one people have to placate. Li-Ning does not speak for the “billions of Asians” in the world, but you do? Sorry to come off like a prick dude, I just get annoyed when people essentialize race. All Asians are not the same (and who qualifies as an Asian? Russia? Iran? India? Do you mean east Asians? What about southeast Asia?) and anyone that has lived in China would realize just how much diversity there is in the country amongst the provinces and the cities. You are right in that, if a joke has to be explained, it is probably not funny, but there are a lot of Asian people that would not be offended by the picture… they just happen to live on the Asian continent. Maybe an ABC would not like it, and that is understandable, even if I do not agree with it, but a mainlander? I think Guzman is right in breaking down WHERE the indignation came from: the British press trying to screw over Spain. The way people talk about racism though allows ANYONE to accuse others of being racist, so people are having some kind of oppression olympics about Spain and the US while not realizing just how racist China is… it ain’t easy being dark unless you play basketball, that is all I am going to say (not to imply that China is an evil country with evil people, quite the opposite actually, but that different people can get hated on in a lot of different countries, nobody has a monopoly on racism). Long story short, any company that would willingly sponsor Damon Jones (Li-Ning what the HELL where you thinking?) cannot be trusted…

  • Myung Lee

    Winslowalrob, you make some good points, but I’m pretty sure I was careful about my posts by saying I was speaking for myself and not speaking on behalf of all Asians. When I did say I was speaking for Asians, I said I was speaking for some (including many of my friends and my wife) who don’t frequent SLAMonline. If you think I’m on a high horse, then sorry you feel that way but I don’t think I need to apologize. I felt like I was trying to find a middle ground between the offended and those who are defending the actions of the Spanish team. I wasn’t attacking anyone nor using foul language. But if that rubs you the wrong way, what can I do…

  • Myung Lee

    But one point you DO make, and this is where I was wrong… when I did say I was speaking on behalf of nearly (I purposely included that word) the entire Asian population, I should’ve been more specific. You’re right; I wasn’t thinking of people in India or Russa, et al. I was referring to East Asia. I should’ve been more specific. Sorry.

  • maki

    Truthsayer says:
    Li Ning did NOT direct the shoot. It was for a racist Spanish freight company and it’s totally racist. They should suspended at the very least. I am against the capital punishiment but this is a very strong case for it. This kind of anti-semitic and anti-sinic activities can not be tolerated.

    wow!!!whats the name of the company???let’s bomb the main building!!!hahaha…what does all this have to do with anti-semitism??come on man…relax,breath…hahha…totally racist ummmm well…it is a waste of time to try to talk with someone like you

  • Winslowalrob

    My bad for sounding so confrontational Myung, I know where you were coming from. Shoulda done more editing.

  • Myung

    All good, my friend.

  • chintao

    Just for the record, it does appear that Chinese were offended by the photo. Spain was booed lustily by the home crowd in its game against China. Also, the photo shoot was not for Lining apparel. It was for an courier service. Chinese people were not involved in the shoot. Finally, I have to disagree with J-Kidd. Asians are fair game. Their unwillingess/ineffectiveness in confronting offensive/discriminatory behavior makes them easy targets. I can’t recall an incident in which someone lost his job or suffered otherwise for a racist jab at Asians. If Spain had done the ad in blackface, well then….

  • maki

    david stern has sent a letter to the 30 teams of the nba forbidding them to make any kind of contact with the iranian player ehadadi becaus of the bad relationships bet their governments…well where is the double standard now mr.kidd?do americans hate all which smells like arab or muslim mr kidd??….

  • chintao

    It would be interesting to note how much of a role (if any) Stern’s Jewish heritage played in the Ehadadi edict.

  • Andrea

    It was a little funny in my warped mind, but yeah…racist. Kidd’s right, America would have been all over the news if we had done that. Big bad US.

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