Les Tan/Red Sports
For the first time in a long while, I saw red. No, not Red Sports red, but angry red.
When your team loses to a better team, it’s ok. But when the winning team takes cheap shots, that’s another matter.
Last night, Mark Caguioa punched* Kyle Jeffers of the Singapore Slingers. As Kyle tried to get past Eric Menk, Caguioa came down with a clenched fist.
But hey, don’t take my word for it. You can see it in the sequence of pictures below.
The Ginebra Kings are a good team and they play good, entertaining ball. But ballers like Mark Caguioa should learn to do it with some class.
After all, this is basketball, not boxing.
What a thug.
Mark Caguioa jumps high, anticipating a jump by Kyle Jeffers of the Slingers (red). (Photo 1 © Francis Espeleta)
As he falls back to the court, Caguioa clenches his fist… (Photo 2 © Francis Espeleta)
… and follows through with a punch on Jeffers head. Jeffers winces from the challenge but the umpire missed that foul. What a thug. (Photo 3 © Francis Espeleta)
* I mistakenly wrote that he got away with the punch. Reader Gohan correctly pointed out that he was called for a hacking foul. My mistake.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZavNb8d1aM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMcc4k_zlno
Here’s some more..
@pogi: This is completely off topic but why are teams called “Burger King Whoppers”? I mean, sure they sponsor the team, but to be named after a burger or a sausage (Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants) is very funny.
“So, what do you do?”
“Oh, I play for Burger King.”
“Sure, and I’m Ronald McDonald.”
Not very manly. ; )
@pakshet101 wow, looks like he had one burger too many.
Now this is what you call a real punch inside the court, ironically by one of the teams you Slingers defeated, albeit of yore (Burger Kung Whoppers, formerly Air 21) — just yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQhiBv92hdU
from 0:17 to 0:38
what’s this why can’t you post my comments….
BIAS!!!!!!BIAS!!!!!BIAS!!!!!!!!!!
to: Slingerrocks
hey,…you just only think and listen to what that player SLINGER says….and judging MARK CAGUIOA for that action…well…YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS BIAS…’cause you didn’t even ask the side of mark caguioa…
@Clear baiased? are you Ris Low? Anyway can we just move on from this discussion. Its over, KJ is ok and the ABL is starting, time to let go.
Mr writer, your really are baiased. Again, hv u watched the game personally, didnt you count how many times your jeffers used his elbow to push Ginebra players? Didnt u see what he did to Eric Menk before Mark landed his elbow?
BE FAIR.
I would like to watch Slingers play Ginebra again so that we can beat Ginebra to pulp.
I think his gesture when Jeffers was shooting free throws says it all, no point arguing about what happened when whoever was in the air.
The series of picture above does not convince me of an intentional punching like what Les Tan is saying. If you look closely Caguioa was on the air because of a fake by jeffers, caguioa’s position is very high already because of the anticipation of the shot, and his momentum obviously is towards jeffers. What went wrong is that Caguioa, instead of landing a hand or clinging to jeffers, clenched his fist, in anticipation of a hard fall. The last picture depicts the true intention of Caguioa, if you Look closely, yes his fist was clenched, but it was not the knuckles that landed in jeffers back neck but the part of his arm. If it is an intentional punch then the knuckles should be the one landing in the neck. I believe this was unintentional but because of the nature of the impact was rightfully called a hacking/flagrant foul. Anyway this is my observation and I do not even like Mark Caguioa. Peace to all.
@wRedgE…obviously u were not at the game or are very ignorant and naive. Did u see any of the Slingers do anything close to that to any of the PBA players? RP team is a dirty team. Own up! Philippines does it to other teams too. Read this: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/212908/iran-beats-rp-25-points
Ehaddadi was badly bruised in the eye and it’s Ranidel de Ocampo who did it again!
guys peace out…its not a dirty contact the one that mark did..its just a physical game and its so obvious thats not his intentional to put his arm in jeffers back its accidental because we all now caguioa has came from both knee injury so he maybe get his balance to land on his both feet on the court..and in general if caguioa did it intentionally why he did not use his fist instead of arm?…Basketball is a physical game,mental,passion and heart.
I won’t say they are bias but they do allow very physical play between teams (much more than those in semi-professional games). We all should know that the players on the court are grown man and some physicality should be allowed, but there’s a fine line between physical contact sport and thuggery.
MR LES, In my opinion it all happened because of the referi, all calls are bias to slingers thats why some player lost their cool and do such thing like this. Hope they can improve their officiating.
@GokU: Yes, and then when you speak to the Slingers they say the ref is biased against them in some calls. You win some, you lose some, yeah?
Blaming the refs is no excuse for punching (or hacking).
play chess or cross stitch or sumthing if you dont want to get hurt! basketball is and will always be a “physical contact sport”. Wink! wink!
Hey pinoy friends, I respect your passion a lot. And I enjoying thrashing some of the Pinoy players at basketball at my local court. It is a lot of fun playing with pinoys. They really compete, unlike most Singaporean players. So, it is healthy competition. Basketball is a clean game. Dirty plays are certainly not good. That punch was totally unnecessary so I can’t say yes to caguioa’s play. Definitely that deserves criticism.
@EpicFail coming from an epic failure lol, i expect nothing else
You’re all just a bunch of sissies. We’ll thrash your team come SEABA.
I’m not against the Philippino crowd at all, in fact I envy their passion for the game 🙂 . We enjoy some friendly banter and annoy each other a little bit but it’s all fun. The incident was by one individual and it definitely should not have anything to do with everyone else. I just hope Caguioa gets punished for his actions, what he did was wrong.
Frankly, the punching foul was rather unnecessary. Personally, you could tell that Caguioa did it intentionally. When he walked away from the foul, you could still see the smug in his face. It was indeed a rather physical match, but making such a statement by punching an opponent player??
As for people who say this is common in NBA? I am sure they have not been watching the REAL NBA! Any Fist towards a player would have caused the player a suspension or a fine!
Frankly, with fans who are pointing Vulgar Gestures and abusing referees? I am not sure if that is passionate or downright shameful!
Let’s not make this all a Filipino vs Singaporean thing. I think all ball loving fans, whether Singaporean of Filipino, enjoy a good game of bball. And they can enjoy it sitting side by side.
Again, hats off to the Filipinos in the way they cheer on their team. Slinger fans should step up too and get behind our team.