What has happened to Toronto’s classy Jose Calderon?August 25 08  NBA news mixed with analysis: News: “I would like to share a story with you about something that happened with the Spanish National Team that someone interpreted incorrectly. It happened in the photo session where the Spanish National Team was introduced; one of our sponsors asked us to pose with a “wink” to our participation in Beijing, we made an oriental expression with our eyes. We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving.” (From TSN and El Mundo) Analysis: Nobody had a rougher Olympics than Jose Calderon. First, he was photographed with the Spanish National squad making an insulting “oriental expression” (his words, not mine). Instead of offering an unconditional apology, he made things worse by trying to explain the picture. Toronto has a large and proud Chinese population. Calderon, after inking a lucrative extension with the Raptors this summer and landing the starting point guard spot, may face a backlash from the city’s Chinese community. News: “It’s not the moment to be talking about officiating, but I think we would have won under FIBA rules.” (Found this on HoopsHype rumours section. Original source El Mundo.) Analysis: The Raptors’ table-setter sat out the gold medal game with injury, but still blamed officiating for Spain’s loss to ‘Redeem’ Team USA. Worst of all, he threw out a disclaimer before insinuating the refs contributed to the defeat. During his three-year run in the NBA, Calderon has handled the press beautifully, sidestepping a potential controversy with former teammate T.J. Ford over the starting point guard spot. Until recently, his conduct on-and-off court had been exceptional. Something changed at the Olympics, though. During Sunday’s final, Calderon and his teammates protested every call, which led to two fourth quarter technical fouls. Jay Triano, an assistant coach with Calderon’s own Raptors and game analyst with CBC, criticized Spain’s poor sportsmanship on-air. Hopefully, the Jose that Toronto knows and loves returns –and soon. What do you think of Calderon’s photograph and complaints about officiating? Did the refs favour Team USA? Get at us in the comment box below and return to HoopsVibe The Blog for more NBA tidbits. Photo courtesy of noamgalai.
Posted by
on 09.15.2008 | If there is a lesson to be learned here, USA is not the center of the world. And Americans can’t force to have other people think the way they do. You don’t dictate what is right and what is wrong, what socially unacceptable is. Don’t go back to the time of ancient Greece thinking that Greece is the center of the universe. Expand your horizon and think better.Had the USA team lost and D-Wade, LeBron and Kobe start to air out their complaints against officiating, I don’t think Americans would find that inappropriate. And people will start to review the game tape and see how bad the officiating really was.The USA team was expected to breeze past the Spaniards, but the Spanish national team gave them a run for their money in the Finals. Without the big 4 point play of Kobe and the mistake of Ricky Rubio’s foul away from play... the outcome could have been different. . | Posted by
Torontontero
on 09.1.2008 | Let’s start with first part of Mr. Sandor’s article: the "oriental expression".There are two facts: the spanish squad made a picture with that gesture, and that kind of gesture is considered offensive and racist in the USA.Think in this for a moment: when chinese comunity arrived to America, they did the worst and dirtiest remunerated jobs in a racist society: the lowest social step were the black slaves, and almost as them, the chinese.That’s why exists that touchness about this kind of gestures in the USA.But what happens in the USA has not to be the same in the rest of the world, in Spain chinese people never have been mistreated nor considered inferior, so there isn’t these kind of touchness.The commercial was made in Spain and announced in Spain, no one in the spanish chinese community complained for it or claimed to the company, even the Chinese ambassador in Spain said that he didn’t saw anything offensive on it.So they did the commercial on Spain for the spanish people, no bad intention on it, no chinese claimed over there, but you think they have to apologize for racism? I think there is more racism contaminating the sight of those who saw it. . | Posted by
raptors fan
on 08.31.2008 | I would definetly appreciate input from anyone and everyone regarding my post, nd would also like it if the writer gave me his opinion too. Thank you . | Posted by
raptors fan
on 08.31.2008 | Firslty , calderon is still classy. Just a ’racist picture" or perhaps complaining a bit too much does not make him un-classy. This is because calderon has been with toronto for 3 years now and has always been very media-friendly and has never faced or created any controversy. So for just an incident or two, it is unfair to say he is not classy anymore. That said, i would like to point out that although i agree with you, the picture could be inrtrepeted as racist, and spain does have its fairshare of history regarding racism, calderon or the spanish team did not have any intentions of it being racist. Calderon actually said that the team was just responding to a claim from the photographer. So if anything, blame the damn photographer! As far as the godl medal game is concerned with, i think as J-franchise said, the refereeing was poor as a whole in the sense many calls were not given to both the teams. So to some extent, his complaining was justified. Im pretty sure if the US team lost, somebody would have complained. Therfore, the classy Calderon toronto knows never left, it was just his bad luck and unfortunately he faced some controversies. One more thing, the un-titled post saying that Toronto should disown Jose, to the person i would say he is an idiot for saying that ! because Jose contributed so much for toronto for the past 2 seasons and im pretty sure could have done much more only if he was a starter and got more playing time . I mean, the dude averaged 11 points and 8.3 assists in only 30 minutes a game and that also coming off the bench ! Trust me, if he was not playing under sam mitchell or was not the back up point guard, he would so much better. So now that ford is gone, watch out evryone for the very classy, and talented jose calderon. Guarantee he is going to average a double-double. Peece out ... PS: if anybody has any concerns or questions about the "racist picutre", this article would definetly answer your questions.http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/2008/08/13/spanish_photo/ . | Posted by
raptors fan
on 08.31.2008 | Firslty , calderon is still classy. Just a ’racist picture" or perhaps complaining a bit too much does not make him un-classy. This is because calderon has been with toronto for 3 years now and has always been very media-friendly and has never faced or created any controversy. So for just an incident or two, it is unfair to say he is not classy anymore. That said, i would like to point out that although i agree with you, the picture could be inrtrepeted as racist, and spain does have its fairshare of history regarding racism, calderon or the spanish team did not have any intentions of it being racist. Calderon actually said that the team was just responding to a claim from the photographer. So if anything, blame the damn photographer! As far as the godl medal game is concerned with, i think as J-franchise said, the refereeing was poor as a whole in the sense many calls were not given to both the teams. So to some extent, his complaining was justified. Im pretty sure if the US team lost, somebody would have complained. Therfore, the classy Calderon toronto knows never left, it was just his bad luck and thus ,he faced some controversies. One more thing, the un-titled post saying that Toronto should disown Jose, to the person i would say he is an idiot for saying that ! because Jose contributed so much for toronto for the past 2 seasons and im pretty sure could have done much more only if he was a starter and got more playing time . I mean, the dude averaged 11 points and 8.3 assists in only 30 minutes a game and that also coming off the bench ! Trust me, if he was not playing under sam mitchell or was not the back up point guard, he would so much better. So now that ford is gone, watch out evryone for the very classy, and talented jose calderon. Guarantee he is going to average a double-double. Peece out ... PS: if anybody has any concerns or questions about the "racist picutre", this article would definetly answer your questions.http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/2008/08/13/spanish_photo/ . | Posted by
Sixer
on 08.28.2008 | Certainly, I said idiot not stupid. You learn to read . | Posted by
Sixer
on 08.28.2008 | My English is bad. But your arguments arepainful jajajajajajajaja J_Franchise es tonto del culo. Es un americano fanfarrón y además con cara de rata.Nadie lo kiere  pobrecitoThis way better? jajajajajaja . | Posted by
J_Franchise
on 08.27.2008 | lol @ sixer... calling americans stupid when he cant even spell. . | Posted by
musing
on 08.27.2008 | i cheer for teams based on entertainment value associated with them winning or losing. Hence, I wanted Spain to win, not because I like the Spanish and don’t like the Americans, but because a loss by the Americans would result in deeper and more enduring recriminations. Having said that, my view is that the Spanish were far from robbed. Though Spain played a better team game, the U.S. deserved to win. They were able to make plays under pressure, when the Armada was breathing down eagle’s neck. I do like Jose and regard the criticism of him to be warranted but unlikely to be reapeated. I was surprised by the compursure and maturity of the American team. I wonder whether this has to do with coach K? . | Posted by
Ginobili
on 08.27.2008 | jajajajaja this post is very very bad!!!!! jajajajaja CALDERON FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!! . | Posted by
Sixer
on 08.27.2008 | LOL LOL After this "post", is confirme thtt the americans are idiot . | Posted by
J_Franchise
on 08.27.2008 | soledad c-mon dont be stupid. Yes U.S.A. was officiated differently but where were the refs when spain kept on yelling off the bench... they only called a tech on it when the game was clearly over. Where were the refs when marc gasol was clearly hacking the hell out of the usa bigs/ players? where were the refs then? c-mon. then you call U.S.A. players arrogant. WHO CRIED TO THE REFS ALL GAME???? i think spain clearly was the most arrogant team on the court. And btw, fernandes did not outplay kobe why? CUZ HE DIDNT FINISH IN THE 4TH!!! Kobe took the fourth Q over hitting 3;s clutch plays and everything. C-Mon at least you could have said navarro ouplayed kobe (which i believe he did) because he was the best player for spain in that gold medal game. Fact is that spain was crying the whole game while U.S. was pretty calm even when they were thrown with bullshyt calls. Spain lost. U.S.A. Won. Period. talking about biases, if team U.S.A. posed like the spaniards in that picture, they would have probably been kicked out of the tournament. Yet spain, a country full of athletes that are not foreign to being racist can do this every olympics and not get kicked out. ludacris. . | Posted by
Bend3r
on 08.26.2008 | . | Posted by
Soledad
on 08.26.2008 | Spain was definitely robbed that game because of the officating. TEAM USA is very arrogant, you see the expression of Kobe, Lebron or Wade when they make a shot. Truth is Rudy Fernandez outplayed Kobe, and Kobe could not stop him. Rubio is better than Paul, Williams, or Kidd in the international stage. Calderon had the right to complain. I still feel he is a classy guy but what the Spanish Team did in slanting their eyes is extremely racist especially for the fact that over 50% of the world’s populace are Asians, meaning the slant eyes are the common or standardize human eyes in terms of numbers. That was a very ignorant move by the Spanish Team. . | Posted by
jose calderon
on 08.26.2008 | you know what happened? tha he said that truth, and you don’t know how to deal with it, the USA team wasn’t officieted by FIBA Rules, in it was, then why they didn’t get all the travelling calls they shoud have got?? the nba rules is not over fiba rules, just because you’re a superstar . | Posted by
O. Sandor
on 08.25.2008 | Hi there. Thanks for posting no-name poster. Disowning him is a bit extreme. Other than the past two weeks, Calderon has been great for Toronto. But something was off during the Olympics. Don’t know what. Some bad choice perhaps. Still, I think JC will bounce back for Toronto. Thanks for commenting. . | Posted by
on 08.25.2008 | What a baby. Disown him T-Dot! Now! Save yourselfs . | Posted by
that one guy
on 08.25.2008 | lol... he’s just frustrated that after they got it to a 2 point lead basically one player put them away himself.. . |
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Oly Sandor | Daily take on NBA Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More |
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