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Apology Accepted."Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
Argentina hates Tony Parker. I haven't figured it out yet.
Manu-mania rules in Argentina
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....2975e768.html
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — They ran at him by the dozens, a jumbled mass of arms and legs seeking his touch. Men holding scraps of paper for his signature. Women waving the Argentine flag. Boys wearing white No. 20 Spurs jerseys.
All of them screaming or singing his name.
Mah-nu! Mah-nu! Mah-nu!
A week after helping the Spurs to their second championship in three years, Manu Ginobili returned to Argentina's passionate embrace.
Judging from the wave of humanity greeting him at a local hospital Friday afternoon, his countrymen have elevated him from conquering hero to deity.
"People here see him as ... something very high," veteran NBA center Dikembe Mutombo said. "Something very symbolic."
Ginobili returned to his native country this week to join Mutombo for the NBA's Basketball Without Borders, an instructional camp for some of South America's top young players.
Chicago's Andres Nocioni and Detroit's Carlos Delfino, who played with Ginobili on Argentina's gold medal-winning team in last summer's Olympics, also are participating in the event.
Neither is drawing the flesh-pressing attention of their teammate.
Ginobili's visit to the Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas, an underfunded facility in one of the city's poorer neighborhoods, created such pandemonium Friday that NBA officials nearly had to cancel the event.
Police officers and NBA security officials strained to keep the crowd back as Ginobili ran into the building under a handmade sign greeting him: "Welcome Manu! Thank you for the championship and for being here!"
The crush of people proved even thicker inside. Children scaled the sides of staircases to try to reach Ginobili. An elderly woman started crying after touching him.
"They think he can heal them," a hospital staffer said.
"I go to Africa every year and see how the people come up to you," said Mutombo, a 7-foot hero in his native Congo. "But I had never seen anything like this. People were just going crazy."
That included the hospital's doctors, nurses and other staffers, who shoved paper and pens at Ginobili, hoping to get an autograph as police officers moved him from room to room.
One NBA official said more than 100 police officers were at the hospital to help with the crowd. Nearly all of them appeared overwhelmed. Compounding the problem, a strike had left the hospital more understaffed than usual.
Ginobili and the other players visited with several children, hugging them, reading books, signing autographs — all while security officials pressed against the hallway doors to keep the crowd at bay. Two overzealous TV reporters jostled with NBA officials when they weren't allowed to get close to Ginobili.
The crush became so great, league officials decided to cut short the visit and plan an alternate escape route for the players. Ginobili, Mutombo and Nocioni, however, refused to leave until they visited a ward for children with HIV. After the players finally sprinted to their bus, people ran alongside the vehicle, waving and banging on the windows until it was led off by a police escort.
The beginning of Ginobili's day had been slightly less chaotic — a visit to the Government House to meet Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. Ginobili and the NBA contingent, which included Spurs director of player development Brett Brown, presented Kirchner with an autographed basketball. A handful of the president's top staffers asked Ginobili for his autograph.
"If I stand here long enough," Kirchner said while posing for a photo with the players, "maybe I can be part of them."
Ginobili also participated in an afternoon news conference for the camp, which drew more than 100 reporters. The media demand for Ginobili has been so great, he agreed to a separate news conference Thursday, four hours after he landed in the country. At least two TV stations televised the event live.
"Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
"It feels a little awkward, but very rewarding," Ginobili said of the attention. "Having some people that you never expect to show you admiration — and to hear the president stays awake until 2 a.m. to see you play — things like that are incredible. I'm a little shocked right now."
The president wasn't the only one watching the NBA Finals. The Spurs' Game 7 victory set a ratings record, stunning for a country whose passion for soccer has been unrivaled for years. More than 50 percent of the sports coverage in the country's newspapers was devoted to the Finals.
"Before, people didn't really have a loyalty to a team," said Horacio Muratore, head of Argentina's basketball federation. "They liked the Bulls for (Michael) Jordan. They liked the Lakers for Magic (Johnson). But now everybody is a San Antonio fan."
Including Diego Maradona, the soccer legend by which all Argentine athletes are measured. Maradona interviewed Ginobili by phone for a national talk show last week. Afterward, he asked for one of Ginobili's jerseys.
"When a guy you admired — a guy you used to get emotional watching — tells you that," Ginobili said, "that's when it hits you."
Apology Accepted."Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
Argentina hates Tony Parker. I haven't figured it out yet.
damn... the antichrist.
Someone tell Ludden to stop screwing around in Argentina and clear up the Horry EBR controversy he created.
Mah-nu! Mah-nu! Mah-nu!
Poor Tony! Don't worry buddy, Manu dosen't think you are the antichrist
mutombo's name has been all over the place lately (here)
Yeah....Pop's been known to visit with C's personally prior to recruitment...I wonder if he's doing more than just talking with Scola...
If Deke is indeed a FA...I have no doubt that he and Pop will hit it off...
I normally don't try to figure Pop...but an old great defensive C like Mutombo? Pop'll get wood.
Sign Horry
Split MLE with Scola and Mutombo(or Deke for vet min)
Sign Devin
Invite all the stud SF's, that didn't get drafted, to training camp(my own personal choice is Katelynas because talent + work ethic = sucess)
If not a young guy get Bo Outlaw.
Roll to another le...
Just like that.
i like everything except the devin part. he wont get any playing time here... and if he can get more money somewhere, he deserves it. plus the overall payroll people have been talking about is getting scary. (as in: they wont pay it)
That's freaking hilarious."Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
It got me wondering, for all the people here from Argentina: did all the Finals coverage in your media center only on Manu, or did they have features on some of the other players, like the San Antonio writers are good at doing? We see people don't like Parker in general, but what about Tim, Bowen, Nazr, and the rest? Is there a general view of them?
Thanks!
tim = john
manu = paul
tony = yoko
?
Lmao
Nah, Manu = David bowei
Tim = Pink Floyd (the group)
Bowen = Ringo Starr
Tony = Merilyn Manson
(Sorry, that was truely random, perheps we should start a thread comparing Spurs players to rock stars)
What's funny is that Tony and Manu love each other as teammates and off the court. I know that when Manu reads/hears that people think Tony don't pass him the ball (or think Tony has issues with Manu's success), Manu thinks it's ridiculous.
its really cool to see all the press about manu there, and tony in france. but i wonder if people in the virgin islands ever thought aj was the devil?
in argentina tony parker is the devil... in france tim duncan is a ball-hog... and somewhere slovenians are thinking pop is dumb.
In France people think TD is a ballhog? I know about the animosity that ARG feels for TP but I've never heard that one.
Interesting quote here from another article.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Manu Ginobili is home again and trying his best to lower the volume on his celebrity. That is no easy thing for someone who is greeted by his president and likened to Diego Maradona in a country where soccer is king.
"Even if I had a chance to put on 17 championship rings, I'd still feel no different," he said. "Talking about achievements makes me uncomfortable."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
i was just kidding... i was saying that in france people probably think tony should be taking more shots... in argentina, manu should be getting the ball more... and slovenian fans probably feel pop should have started rasho in the playoffs.as long as san antonio has theml, and they get along great together... thats probably the way fans should feel about their "favorite" players.
wow they really treat him as god over there....its like he's michael jackson at his peak
but i wonder if people in the virgin islands ever thought aj was the devil?
.
You don't have to be from the Virgin Islands to think AJ is the devil...trust me on this.
Or David Hasselhoff whenever he visits Germany.
"Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
The Tony hate can be explained by this IMO:
1) Tony denies the ball to Manu in the eyes of us Manu homers
2) A lot of people watched their first NBA finals this year and the guy doing the play by play talked crap about Tony from start to finish.
3) Moronic non sports journalists went to Manu's press conference because of his celebrity status.
I believe that most fans and media that can get over their homerism see the potential Tony has, despite his flaws.
"Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball?" asked one reporter. "To Argentina, he is the antichrist."
I can't believe that reporter asked that...
I wonder what Manu's response was to that specific charge in the press conference. I wish Ludden would've published it.
PS I hope someone get's busy photoshopping Tony into Satan's spawn.
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