Josh Childress involved in on-court riot in Greece
Josh Childress
In his three-year run at Stanford, Josh Childress never made it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In his four years in the NBA, he played in just one playoff series. So we’re guessing Chill wasn’t quite prepared for the kind of postseason intensity he’s seeing in his first year in the Euroleague.
In the opening game of the best-of-five Greek League finals yesterday, Childress’ Olympiakos team lost to their rivals, Panathinaikos. But not before things got kind of crazy. From USA Today:
The match was interrupted for nearly 20 minutes with 1:25 left and Panathinaikos leading 60-58.
Olympiakos fans threw a flare, plastic bottles and other projectiles at Panathinaikos’ bench during a timeout, sending the players scampering for safety. A timekeeper was slightly injured and part of the bench and the surrounding floor had severe burn marks.
Enraged fans were trying to storm the floor and would not listen to the pleas of Olympiakos players for calm. Riot police moved in to contain the supporters. Some 200 hardcore fans also clashed with police after the game and even tried to storm the teams’ locker rooms and the press room where the two coaches were giving interviews.
Fan violence is not uncommon at Greek matches, and the league banned visiting fans from the playoffs and most regular season matches.
Funny how this has barely been a story in the American sports media, yet if it happened in an NBA game, it would spark CourtTV “Live at Michael Jackson‘s Trial”-type around-the-clock coverage.
But part of the fallout may be that Childress, who scored a team-high 23 points in the loss, is back playing in the NBA sooner than expected.
“The violence we saw today, will make me think real hard over my future in Europe,” he was quoted by the Associated Press. “This did not help the team at all … the moment you play and you have found a rhythm, you can’t stop because (of the violence) in the stands.”
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May 22nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
doc says:
He was bitching out there.Scared straight NBA edition.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:01 am
solomon (el latino machismo) says:
yeah, euroleague fans are really wild… and i’m damn understating here…
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Jei says:
message from the future:
welcome back to the NBA Josh Childress.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:23 am
Saku 39 says:
Where’s Ron Artest when you REALLY need him?
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:28 am
king says:
something is wrong with your community as a whole if you need a riot squad at a sporting event. its not that serious.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:33 am
G says:
GO GREEN!
SPANOULIS, BATISTE, PEKOVIC.., COME GET SOME!
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:34 am
G says:
Shout out to my man Lynn Greer tho. Temple baby
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 am
JJ says:
ahhh…man, no matter how bad we think our state, city, hood is, there is something over sea to make us realize how good we have it over here..
i never truely knew this till i spent a summer in africa help out poor communties…makes people who ‘rep thier hood’ here seem stupid at times
Best country ever…bless
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:49 am
QQ says:
And to think that Europeam players are soft… haha.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 am
karizmatic says:
Word is Childress didn’t like it out there before this anyway.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 am
Kid Juicey says:
when does the may issue come out ?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:19 am
Thoughtful says:
Interesting point… if this happened in the nba, with 2 grown men fighting, not rioting, the player would have been painted as an animal that couldn’t help but attack. Sort of how they fight all the time in hockey, and baseball… but when black NBA players shoot a fair one, their thugs who don’t appreciate their riches, and life. Interesting in deed.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
Coop says:
Second what King said.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
superstar james p says:
And I thought that america loved basketball. Their fan love it more.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
joshlee9 says:
haha i lived for four years in greece and this is totally typical. fan violence is crazy over there and this is only for basketball. football (soccer) is 10 times worse hahah
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:27 am
Sweet English says:
joshlee i was gonna say the same. I find it odd that Americans don’t have a large Police presence at all sporting events. As sad as it is, There is a large proportion of English fans who only go to games to brawl with the fans.
The reason it wasn’t big news is because if you wanted a front page everytime there was fan trouble at a european sporting event, you wouldn’t have enough front pages.
Ron artest would not have lasted 12 seconds in the stands at Old Trafford, he would have been stabbed before he got over the first row of seats.
Try youtubing ‘Red Vs Blue brawl’ and witness the aftermath of european football.
Ron Artest my ass.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:31 am
Jules says:
All Childress has to do is bear his Gargoyle teeth at opposing fans, theyll be too scared to fight.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:44 am
Shiptar says:
In Europe problems always start with referees. Fans here can’t stand if referees makes mistakes. Fans in Europe especially in south and eastern Europe love their teams and are very passionate about sports.
Look at this video —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA_RelSs6QU&feature=related
I attended this match, it happened in Belgrade this April, Serbia. It was TOP8 of Euroleague, best of 5 series and home team Partizan Belgrade was already down 2-0, against CSKA Moscow. And just look at the atmosphere in the hall, there weren’t any russian fans, and the only problems began when the refeeres were clearly on CSKA’s side.
Partizan lost that game and were eliminated from Euroleague, but after the match all the fans stayed in the arena and sing, so players had to return from the lockerrooms.
Respect to the fans like that!
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
justice says:
Great vid shiptar, wtf man too much fan partcipation how im i supposed to play with all that singing, flag waving and shytt what happened to good old fashion trash talk
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
D.H. says:
i hate the american media
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
DonKihot says:
@Shiptar
if only patrizan’s fans knew what’s your nickname on DimeMag…
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
DonKihot says:
Partizan’s fans
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
eddy says:
european players are still soft…and just cuz they were firing flare guns doesnt make them tough, u dont have to be tough to fire a gun..
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
yoda says:
justice, we don’t do trash talk in europe. for example when you play basketball and you start trash talking, you can expect to get your teeth all over the court. thats what so funny for us when we see that staring contest in nba and false bad boys like melo. if you try shit like that, no matter how nice guys are, with whom you play with, you will get your ass kicked. by opposing team and your own. we just don’t like bitches and fake mo fos.
as for best atmosphere i have ever seen, it was back in 1997, qualitfications for europian championship, national teams of bosnia and croatia played in sarajevo. when cca. 7k people started drumming on the floor with theirs feet, it felt like whole building will collapse. dino radja, who played in nba and greece, said he never seen something like that.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
flegman says:
it was in the Greek Nat. Leauge, not Euroleague. True the best teasm in Europe participate in the Euroleague, but national championships are different. AND what they call rivalry in Europe are really blood-hate-everything-for-the-team rivalries, especially in Greece, Serbia or Italy. Or remember the British football hooligans.
In Greece a Panathinaikos-Olympiakos is always like that. Every level, every sport.
Let’s say we have traditions!
“May 22nd, 2009 at 9:28 am
king says:
something is wrong with your community as a whole if you need a riot squad at a sporting event. its not that serious.
”
well, you also need it, but after games U won. U don’t even need hated rival fans, U just go out and set cars on fire…
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Shiptar says:
justice says:
Great vid shiptar, wtf man too much fan partcipation how im i supposed to play with all that singing, flag waving and shytt what happened to good old fashion trash talk
That’s the beauty of it, it’s the true home-court advantage! Put NBA players in this atmosphere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA_RelSs6QU&feature=related
and then we will see their true value.
If you read interviewswith european NBA players they will say that NBA match is like a family picnic, 90% of the people in the arena are there for the show, not to support their team.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
faraway says:
so does atl still have his rights or his he a free agent?
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
e says:
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
doc says:
He was bitching out there.Scared straight NBA edition.
i guess when you feel your life in danger to come back to where you can play professionaly and be safe is being soft smh at this whole gangsta vibe everybodys a tuff guy i guess childress shouldve said its nothing im a g and get killed by hundreds of savages SMG GROW UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
erm says:
I think its personal taste, I hate to see all these semi interested celebs sitting courtside barely watching the game.
the whole idea of attending a game with your family or girlfriend after a nice dinner just seems odd to me. its sports, not fuckin american idol. she is chatting about the cheerleaders outfits, the fans are barely showing any emotion if it isn’t for free tacos.
when i attend a game, i want the people around me to love the game as much as i do.
in europe ,of course there are rich people inviting their businesspartners to games, too. but they are way up in the V.I.P Area and stay away from the court/fieldside and leave that to people who really appreciate it!
May 24th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Shiptar says:
yeah Erm, that’s the way it should be!!
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
MissChick says:
I thought fans acting like losers only happen here in LA