Fines, no suspensions in the CBA's "Slapgate" Finals
Wednesday, 21st April 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Du Feng covered in towels, courtside
Charles Gaines, an American who plays for Xinjiang, got into an altercation with Du Feng of Guangdong under the basket, and threw a knockout smack that put the forward on his back. As this video shows, trainers covered Du head-to-toe in towels (extra airtime for CBA uniform sponsor Anta!), confusing fans about how seriously he was hurt. He was then moved to a back room and put on oxygen support.
A phalanx of cops escorted Gaines and the Xinjiang team out of the arena. Incidentally, in a league where emotions frequently boil over into player and fan violence, the Guangdong team recently had to be ushered from the Shanghai Sharks' arena after a playoff game. Angry about a (completely justified) foul call in the final seconds, fans threw objects on the court and directed their anger at the officials (Yao Ming's fans punch referee). To see that foul and get an idea what an arena full of angry CBA fans looks like, cue this video.
The CBA handed down its judgment on the incident this morning, fining both teams 50,000 yuan (about $7,000) and clearing the players for Game 3 in Urumqi.
The Du-Gaines incident is being called "Slapgate" (掌击门) by the Chinese media (hard to believe that American "-gate" suffix has found its way into the Chinese media lexicon, but there it is). Despite being frequently referred to as a punch, Gaines's blow appears to have been delivered with an open hand. That and the way that Du goes down—holding his head up, saying something to Gaines—makes me wonder if Gaines actually KO'd him, or if Du didn't ham it up a bit to extract the maximum penalty for Gaines.
While hitting an opponent like that is unsportsmanlike and never justified, all of the different TV reports I watched only played Gaines's smack over and over again; none of them rewound further to look into what might have set him off, or called attention to the fact that Du raised a closed fist in Gaines's face and gave him a small headbutt to the forehead before getting drilled. Nor did anyone seem to seek out Du or Gaines for a comment on the incident.
Game 3 of the Chinese Basketball Association finals has been moved from tonight to Thursday night, in observation of China's national day of mourning for victims of the earthquake in Qinghai province.
Image: Xinmin.cn
Tags: basketball, CBA, Du Feng, violence