Kori Ellis
07-02-2005, 04:29 AM
Ginobili so popular at home it's scary
Swarming crowd creates near riot during appearance by Argentine hero, other NBA players
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3250165
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - When the doors to the bus opened and the waiting horde moved forward, it was more smothering, more unnerving than anything the defense of the Detroit Pistons had to offer.
Manu Ginobili came home Friday and an NBA-sponsored community event at an impoverished hospital turned into a near riot as more than a thousand fans and members of the local media swarmed the parking lot and hallways to get close to their native son who has returned a conquering hero.
There were punches thrown at several members of the league's security detail as a group of NBA players attempted to visit a pediatric ward and an HIV/AIDS unit at the Prof. Alejandro Posadas National Hospital in one of the poorest sections of the capital city.
The Argentine-born guard of the San Antonio Spurs, who won his second NBA championship just eight nights earlier, has seen his celebrity profile rise meteorically, and that made for a tenuous situation for the contingent that included five other NBA players — Dikembe Mutombo, Andres Nocioni, Samuel Dalembert, Daniel Santiago and Carlos Delfino.
Swarming crowd creates near riot during appearance by Argentine hero, other NBA players
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3250165
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - When the doors to the bus opened and the waiting horde moved forward, it was more smothering, more unnerving than anything the defense of the Detroit Pistons had to offer.
Manu Ginobili came home Friday and an NBA-sponsored community event at an impoverished hospital turned into a near riot as more than a thousand fans and members of the local media swarmed the parking lot and hallways to get close to their native son who has returned a conquering hero.
There were punches thrown at several members of the league's security detail as a group of NBA players attempted to visit a pediatric ward and an HIV/AIDS unit at the Prof. Alejandro Posadas National Hospital in one of the poorest sections of the capital city.
The Argentine-born guard of the San Antonio Spurs, who won his second NBA championship just eight nights earlier, has seen his celebrity profile rise meteorically, and that made for a tenuous situation for the contingent that included five other NBA players — Dikembe Mutombo, Andres Nocioni, Samuel Dalembert, Daniel Santiago and Carlos Delfino.