Beijing Olympics. Spain. Spanish Basketball Team. Crude and Insensitive. August 2008.

Can you believe this? In our day and age, as we progress as a global community, we find that neanderthals still walk the Earth. Somehow, these guys were left stranded on Ignorance Island, forlorn and forsaken, unable to expand their knowledge and understanding of the world. Yet, they made their way to the Olympics. I am quite surprised and disappointed that they hail from what was once the bastion of high culture, leader of the christian faith, the former ruler of the world. Man, what a disgrace. No one on the team objected to this demeaning gesture towards their host and Asians in general. Yahoo Sports reported that the Spaniards in Spain don't give a hoot about the racial putdown.


Jose Calderon, a team member and also a player for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, just couldn't get it. He expressed his disbelief, “We did it because we thought it was going to be something nice, something with no problem...But somebody wants to talk about it. It is too much of a big deal with you guys (the media) and everybody talking about that.”

Ah, so it is the media who is at fault...Someone get this guy a mirror.

The Spanish team's head coach, Aíto García Reneses , also couldn't find his way out of his own ignorance. He said, " If I go to play with a taller team and I put here (raising up on the tips of his toes) it is not an offense...I can’t understand anything more. " Yep, I believe you, Aito. You really don't understand this one.

Here's the game-winner : Jose Luis Saez, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, told CNN on Thursday that people just don't get it, that they are wrong to suggest the photograph has racist overtones. He said, "It's simply ridiculous...It was a gesture of affection and identification with the Chinese people." Holy Cow! Someone give this guy a wakeup call. Senor Saez, you have twisted sensibilities.

It should make us all wonder what this team would have done if the olympics were held in Africa.

But, wait. Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports reported on more...

In men's soccer in 2004, Spanish head coach Luis Aragones ordered his player Jose Antonio Reyes to “ tell that black (expletive) you are better than him.” That black (expletive) was Thierry Henry, a French player from Arsenal. When criticized, Aragones expressed surprise or incredulity at the uproar.

" At a Formula One motor racing testing session this year, a group of Spanish fans believed to be supporting home driver Fernando Alonso were pictured with their faces covered with black paint. They wore T-shirts with the slogan “Hamilton’s Family,” a reference to Alonso’s world title rival Lewis Hamilton, a black Englishman... Moreover, at an exhibition match in Madrid in 2004, several black members of the England men’s soccer team were subjected to monkey chants and whistles whenever they touched the ball."

Okay. I'll take back all that stuff I said about being the bastion of high culture.