International Players pressured

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International Players pressured 

Post#1 » by Moon Walk » Fri Mar 7, 2008 2:32 pm

I dont know how many euros/chinese fans are there in this realgm. But does the country really pressures the players to play for their national team. As you can see in the wiretap of yao playing in the Olympics. He is supposed to be resting. Are these "Hooligans" fans really chase them till their throats to play for some useless games in the olympics. NBA is wht , that is more important, since they pay you the big Bucks$$, You have to be loyal to the ones that pay you big!!

Last year it was Garbojosa after he fell and broke his ankle and now its Yao. Look at Steve Nash, he takes rest during his summers and works extremely efficient during the regular season. Even though some stupid Canadians really hate Steve, just for the sole purpose of him taking rest during summers.
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Post#2 » by 667Club » Fri Mar 7, 2008 2:36 pm

No you have to be loyal to your country first or you are nothing more than a mercenary. That's a big difference between the USA where Money > *.* and Europe.
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Post#3 » by MalReyn » Fri Mar 7, 2008 2:47 pm

It's an especially tough situation for Yao right now, with the upcoming Olympics being in China. Of course there's significant national pressure for him to play.

Heck, depending how serious Yi's injury is, he may be in almost the same situation.
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Post#4 » by BillessuR6 » Fri Mar 7, 2008 3:06 pm

I don`t think there is a country in Europe that pressures players to play for NT. Garbajosa played because he wanted not because they pressured him.

It doesn`t happen in democratic counties, but obviously China is something completely different. Until they have a true democratic system there these things will continue to happen...
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Post#5 » by maradro » Fri Mar 7, 2008 3:31 pm

thebirdman wrote:It doesn`t happen in democratic counties, but obviously China is something completely different. Until they have a true democratic system there these things will continue to happen...


oh please. i cant think of a specific example in basketball, but there are millions in soccer and they all involve democratic countries. so long as there is money to be made from "amateur" sport, the IOC will make sure to steal as much as it can, and it can always steal more when there are stars involved- thats what bring the fans and their money to the show. are you going to tell me the IOC and FIFA are communist? they are corrupt, but unfortunately that isnt something exclusive to either political system.

as an argentine i can say that all our national team players are criticized when they dont play, regardless of whether they are stars or not, or whether they have played a lot or not (for ex, manu played something like 6 straight years till he finally took a summer off last year- he was still criticized for not going to the tournament of americas). a part of it is the fans gripes (no different than when people in the US question why shaq/garnett/kobe/ray allen/tmac didnt play more), but the other part is the media circus which is driven by the federations and their sponsors. you guys think that if lebron went down with the same injury as yao, that nike wouldnt be whispering in his ear to get his ass in beijing regardless?
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Post#6 » by prekazi » Fri Mar 7, 2008 3:37 pm

Honestly, most of the media and public treated Hedo and Memo like traitors when they didn't play for Turkish National team@2006 Japan. But the team performed better without them so everyone forget it.

Personally I don't care, no athlete should be pressured to play for the national team.
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Post#7 » by The_Pope » Fri Mar 7, 2008 4:02 pm

Most players really want to represent their countries and many consider it more important than club basketball.
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Post#8 » by Buck You » Fri Mar 7, 2008 4:43 pm

MalReyn wrote:It's an especially tough situation for Yao right now, with the upcoming Olympics being in China. Of course there's significant national pressure for him to play.

Heck, depending how serious Yi's injury is, he may be in almost the same situation.


There's actually a report of Yi possibly shutting it down for the season.
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Post#9 » by Lakers_4_Life » Fri Mar 7, 2008 4:45 pm

In Greece for a Greek player getting to one of the big 3 Greek league clubs that all play in the Euroleague like Aris, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos is a big deal, but way bigger than this, or even say playing in the NBA as a starter honestly for the players is to play in a European Championship, World Championship, Olympics as a key player on the team.

Because if you just play on a domestic club, say you play for Olympiacos, 2/3 of the city of Athens and 4/5 of the country of Greece probably HATES you and vice versa for whatever team you are on.

But when you play for the national team the whole country will get behind you. In Greece players like Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Theodorus Papaloukas, Antonis Fotsis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Vassilis Spanoulis will be remembered as all-time great athletes in the country and be loved generally because of what they have done for the national team.

Even though players like Diamantidis and Spanoulis play for a club team in Greece, Panathinaikos, that is hated by all other fans with passion, when they hit that national team the whole country is with them 100%.

I believe this is the same truth for most all the countries, except the US.

In America fans cannot be expected to grasp this as the fans care about the club teams but the national teams are just like some trivial side show or something. And American fans constantly on Yao for NBA being 100 times more "important" than Olympics. But in basically every other country except the US it's the opposite. The US seems to be hell-bent on being "different" than the rest of the world culturally in just about every single aspect.
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Post#10 » by BillessuR6 » Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:11 pm

maradro wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



oh please. i cant think of a specific example in basketball, but there are millions in soccer and they all involve democratic countries. so long as there is money to be made from "amateur" sport, the IOC will make sure to steal as much as it can, and it can always steal more when there are stars involved- thats what bring the fans and their money to the show. are you going to tell me the IOC and FIFA are communist? they are corrupt, but unfortunately that isnt something exclusive to either political system.

as an argentine i can say that all our national team players are criticized when they dont play, regardless of whether they are stars or not, or whether they have played a lot or not (for ex, manu played something like 6 straight years till he finally took a summer off last year- he was still criticized for not going to the tournament of americas). a part of it is the fans gripes (no different than when people in the US question why shaq/garnett/kobe/ray allen/tmac didnt play more), but the other part is the media circus which is driven by the federations and their sponsors. you guys think that if lebron went down with the same injury as yao, that nike wouldnt be whispering in his ear to get his ass in beijing regardless?



Obviously there is pressure by media and fans in every country but not by the government itself like in China. That is a completely different situation.
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Post#11 » by Diaper Dandy » Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:12 pm

667Club wrote:No you have to be loyal to your country first or you are nothing more than a mercenary. That's a big difference between the USA where Money > *.* and Europe.


:rofl: :rofl:
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Post#12 » by Rooster » Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:20 pm

Lakers_4_Life wrote:In Greece for a Greek player getting to one of the big 3 Greek league clubs that all play in the Euroleague like Aris, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos is a big deal, but way bigger than this, or even say playing in the NBA as a starter honestly for the players is to play in a European Championship, World Championship, Olympics as a key player on the team.

Because if you just play on a domestic club, say you play for Olympiacos, 2/3 of the city of Athens and 4/5 of the country of Greece probably HATES you and vice versa for whatever team you are on.

But when you play for the national team the whole country will get behind you. In Greece players like Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Theodorus Papaloukas, Antonis Fotsis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Vassilis Spanoulis will be remembered as all-time great athletes in the country and be loved generally because of what they have done for the national team.

Even though players like Diamantidis and Spanoulis play for a club team in Greece, Panathinaikos, that is hated by all other fans with passion, when they hit that national team the whole country is with them 100%.

I believe this is the same truth for most all the countries, except the US.

In America fans cannot be expected to grasp this as the fans care about the club teams but the national teams are just like some trivial side show or something. And American fans constantly on Yao for NBA being 100 times more "important" than Olympics. But in basically every other country except the US it's the opposite. The US seems to be hell-bent on being "different" than the rest of the world culturally in just about every single aspect.

Of course, the American players in the NBA also have a longer and therefore more physically demanding season but no, it's not like the injuries players have undergone from playing 82+ games and then international competitions in the summer could be a factor...
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Post#13 » by The_Pope » Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:23 pm

The Olympics only comes round every 4 years, apart from America every other country considers it to be the most important basketball event.
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Post#14 » by cdcastellon1 » Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:34 pm

For Spanish players im sure they prefer win the GOLD at Olympics than win a NBA ring.

Our team is like a family who love to gather all the summers.
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Post#15 » by Basti » Fri Mar 7, 2008 8:38 pm

as the others said it, winning Olympia is way more important than playing in the NBA. those games are far from being meaningless for them. they want to prove themselves vs other national teams.

and if the general consensus in america about olympia is "a few meaningful games" I'm not surprised about the latest struggles of your NT...
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Post#16 » by maradro » Fri Mar 7, 2008 9:48 pm

thebirdman wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




Obviously there is pressure by media and fans in every country but not by the government itself like in China. That is a completely different situation.


i dont think its that different. the motive, most of the means, and the ends, are the same-

make money by pressuring an injured/tired athlete compete in a tournament so that it is successful and makes money. and it happens quite a lot regardless of whether its a company or a government applying the pressure. nobody's holding yao at gunpoint either, its all part of the power play that revolves around professional athletes and the gambles they take working with their bodies. most cases i'd even say the athlete benefits financially, because he can work for coca cola when he cant play ball anymore. its not like american players dont get injured playing on something shaky in HS, college, NBA...
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Post#17 » by Lakers_4_Life » Sat Mar 8, 2008 12:48 am

cdcastellon1 wrote:For Spanish players im sure they prefer win the GOLD at Olympics than win a NBA ring.

Our team is like a family who love to gather all the summers.


I hope you guys are ready for a war if we see you again.
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Post#18 » by pk00 » Sat Mar 8, 2008 3:19 am

maradro wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



oh please. i cant think of a specific example in basketball, but there are millions in soccer and they all involve democratic countries. so long as there is money to be made from "amateur" sport, the IOC will make sure to steal as much as it can, and it can always steal more when there are stars involved- thats what bring the fans and their money to the show. are you going to tell me the IOC and FIFA are communist? they are corrupt, but unfortunately that isnt something exclusive to either political system.

as an argentine i can say that all our national team players are criticized when they dont play, regardless of whether they are stars or not, or whether they have played a lot or not (for ex, manu played something like 6 straight years till he finally took a summer off last year- he was still criticized for not going to the tournament of americas). a part of it is the fans gripes (no different than when people in the US question why shaq/garnett/kobe/ray allen/tmac didnt play more), but the other part is the media circus which is driven by the federations and their sponsors. you guys think that if lebron went down with the same injury as yao, that nike wouldnt be whispering in his ear to get his ass in beijing regardless?


in european countries the fans might get pissed at you but the government doesn't.

if yao refused not only will the fans get pissed at you, the government does too. even if yao hated playing for china, he doesn't want his mom to 'disappear' so he'll have to play.

there lies the difference.
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Post#19 » by lovehoops01 » Sat Mar 8, 2008 7:58 am

Lakers_4_Life wrote:In America fans cannot be expected to grasp this as the fans care about the club teams but the national teams are just like some trivial side show or something. And American fans constantly on Yao for NBA being 100 times more "important" than Olympics. But in basically every other country except the US it's the opposite. The US seems to be hell-bent on being "different" than the rest of the world culturally in just about every single aspect.


Part of it is because the NBA is based in the North America, and the franchises in those countries are the ones paying the $60 million-$100 million salaries to those players that allow them to live the lives they do -- and in the case of Yao and Yi -- even return money to China's national team and the government. The national teams of the players' individual countries could care less if those players' pro teams fall flat on their faces; it' doesn't cost them a penny, and they end up getting national respect if they are successful. I'm guessing that if Barcelona was going to lose tens of millions of dollars a year if its star player got hurt playing for the national team, that it might have a problem with it, too. NBA teams have a hard time selling tickets when their teams don't win, and since that's how they make money to pay players the salaries that they receive, they need those players to win games.

In the case of Garbajosa, for example, I can understand if the Raptors are a little upset. He was not fully recovered from an injury and needed surgery. He didn't get it so he could play for Spain's national team. Now, the team that actually is paying him millions of dollars might have a shot at home-court advantage in the playoffs if he was healthy and playing. But he is not and had to end up having the surgery that he should have had over the summer. Now the team will not finish as high in the NBA standings as it might have if he'd been healthy. And if they don't make it to the second round and get more home playoff games, that will cost the team that is paying him money to possibly lose money. But the Spanish national team got his best effort and doesn't have to pay him a penny, and the Raptors' record doesn't bother them at all. If the Raptors had refused to pay Garbajosa while he is out because of the injury, I bet he would have had a problem with that, though -- despite the fact that he went against the advice given him by the team in playing for Spain last summer.
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Post#20 » by Duiz » Sat Mar 8, 2008 8:05 am

The fact that the USA will be playing the olympics baffles me. China's bullying humanitarian actions are so far from the values that are meant to be the byproduct of the celebration of the olympics. It really makes me sick and not want to watch it.

It is scary to think that Yao Ming's best year might have been during this year before the injury, because they will pressuring him to comeback, and that will severely limit his potential due to an improper recovery.

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