October 23, 2009

Basketball Player Attacks Fan in Stands: In the Philippine Basketball Association, Wynne Arboleda of the Burger King Whoppers went into the stands and punched a fan several times during Friday night's win over Smart Gilas. Fan Alain Katigbac said that he yelled "Arboleda, matanda ka na hindi mo na kayang abutan si Casio!" and "P--- bakit sinahod mo, p--- bakit sinahod mo!" -- which of course would make anyone mad -- and he's filed a criminal complaint against Arboleda. "I now endure not only physical suffering, but mental anguish, uncontrollable fright, serious anxiety, a besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and other similar emotional and psychological injuries," he said. That's not all. Katigbac's attorney told the Philippine Star, "His parents, who are both in their senior years, had elevated blood pressure after seeing the incident. His wife, who is six months pregnant, shook violently after seeing the incident on television and on the internet and continues to have chills as a result."

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:05 AM - 17 comments

This is not an excuse for his behavior but my God professional leagues around the world need to do something about asshole fans who provoke people to no end. What ends up happening occasionally is a player who has a lapse in judgment does something which smears the reputation of the sport indefinitely. It's bad for the player, bad for the sport.

I've sat behind hockey benches while fans use the absolute lowest forms of reference to yell at players; things about dead parents, girlfriends, mothers, even young children and security does absolutely nothing about it.

I know it hasn't happened in sports yet, but around the world, emotional abuse is increasingly being treated as serious as physical abuse. It's time for pro sports' archaic view that athletes should have to "put up with it" to be brought to the 21st century.

posted by dfleming at 10:22 AM on October 23, 2009

I don't know, if you measure it against the emotional and physical abuse most future pro jocks subject their classmates to on the way to the top, being heckled by fans seems like just deserts. Call it revenge of the nerds.

posted by Hugh Janus at 10:31 AM on October 23, 2009

Arboleda must have been watching too many of his sponsor's nightmare-inducing commercials.

posted by billsaysthis at 10:43 AM on October 23, 2009

I need to get a coach's job application sheet from this league for Isaiah.

posted by beaverboard at 10:46 AM on October 23, 2009

I don't know, if you measure it against the emotional and physical abuse most future pro jocks subject their classmates to on the way to the top, being heckled by fans seems like just deserts. Call it revenge of the nerds.

In my experience, again, it's never nerds, or even jerk teenagers who go that extra mile; it's the former athletes, the ones who never made it, the ones who've lived a life eating sour grapes, that throw this kind of stuff around. I don't really know if that applies in this situation, but it seems like the average person who got beat up in high school by jocks either doesn't follow sports or does so politely.

Score another win for the geeks. They're good people.

posted by dfleming at 10:49 AM on October 23, 2009

"His parents, who are both in their senior years, had elevated blood pressure after seeing the incident. His wife, who is six months pregnant, shook violently after seeing the incident on television and on the internet and continues to have chills as a result."

And his dog no longer is able to chase after his tail or sniff his crotch, his cat no longer coughs up hairball, his goldfish turned silver, the leaves on his tree don't turn colors in the fall.

It's a shame that the fan was attacked but those were some choice words that he yelled at Arboleda.

posted by BornIcon at 11:01 AM on October 23, 2009

Yeah, you're probably right about who's doing the really provocative heckling, dfleming. Looking at the the plays leading up to this incident, though, I imagine it would be tough for anyone to resist mocking Arboleda. Maybe that's why he got so hot: he knew he looked like a hapless donkey out there and about a hundred people, including this lippy courtsider, were there to see it. It's hard to muster sympathy for people who play a game for their job and still think it's okay to punch rude customers.

I'd sure love to know what "p---" means, though. Sounds very hurtful.

posted by Hugh Janus at 11:28 AM on October 23, 2009

Some Filipino-to-English translations:

Arboleda, matanda ka na hindi mo na kayang abutan si Casio!

Arboleda, adult you will not be able to overtake si Casio!

P--- bakit sinahod mo, p--- bakit sinahod mo!

P--- why your wages, p--- why your wages!

posted by rcade at 11:42 AM on October 23, 2009

It's a measure of my immaturity that I'm frustrated by censoring a word that I wouldn't know even it you gave me all the letters.

posted by yerfatma at 12:00 PM on October 23, 2009

It's a measure of my immaturity that I'm frustrated by censoring a word that I wouldn't know even it you gave me all the letters.

Seconded. I keep filling "poop" in for it.

posted by dfleming at 12:06 PM on October 23, 2009

Burger King Whoppers vs Smart Gilas is one of the biggest rivalries in sports. I'm not surprised something like this happened, what with the hype leading up to the game and the rabid fans. What bothers me is I missed the game. Must have been on PPV. I'm fuc---- p---.

posted by smithnyiu at 12:23 PM on October 23, 2009

When I babelfished the hollered language from Tagalog to NBA Arena English, it came up as follows:

"Do fries come with that shake?"

posted by beaverboard at 04:10 PM on October 23, 2009

puta

posted by ursus_comiter at 04:44 PM on October 23, 2009

I think you've hit it, u_c. I seem to remember that word from a few disagreements between "cocktail waitresses" in Olongapo. After all these years, the only Tagalog I can remember is "I love you, Sailor, buy me a drink."

posted by Howard_T at 04:56 PM on October 23, 2009

u_c

I thank you for the help with the p-word translation. Going over the Urban Dictionary word usage list, I particularly like this one:

mamame la puta polla. = Suck my f**king cook.

I wonder if this implies that I should inhale sharply on the person preparing someone's meal whilst they are in the act of engaging in relations? I know if someone yelled that at me while I was playing basketball for a large American fast food chain I might come unglued as well. And just think of the poor cook!

posted by THX-1138 at 05:50 PM on October 23, 2009

"Puta" gets around, doesn't it? The hispanic dudes who work for me call me that all the time and they tell me it means "great chief."

posted by outonleave at 08:05 PM on October 23, 2009

Burger King Whoppers vs Smart Gilas is one of the biggest rivalries in sports.

What bothers me is I missed the game. Must have been on PPV.

Yeah, ESPN did a great job all week handling the hoopla and media frenzy leading up to the game. The Philippine Basketball Association should be getting a major network deal soon, so hopefully we won't have to miss these matchups much longer.

posted by dyams at 02:44 PM on October 24, 2009

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.