Racism debate overshadowed by Yao Ming’s man love

As Houston Rockets star Yao Ming saw his nation on the verge of being dumped out of the Olympics at the quarter-final stage by lowly Lithuania, he tried some interesting diversion tactics.

Thanks to Rajnita for the spot.

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So much insensitivity, so little time…

Spain’s Olympic basketball and tennis teams are no strangers to pulling offensive gestures for the camera, and Argentina’s ladies football team have now contributed to the International Athletes’ Photobook of ‘Slit-Eye’ Face-Pulling.

The picture above was published in Argentinean newspaper Ole two weeks ago, and was taken long before the Spanish decided to hamper their 2016 Olympic bid.

The world needn’t worry about any repeat incident from the Argentine ladies, however, as they lost every single

Please guys, you’re just embarrassing yourselves

A few days ago, Spain’s Basketball team highlighted their nation’s ‘poor record for racial sensitivity’ by posing with slit-eye gestures for an advert in a Spanish newspaper. Yesterday, Jose Calderon told us the photo was ‘appropriate’ and the rest of the world is ‘absolutely confused’, and now The Telegraph have discovered the photo above on the Spanish Tennis Federation’s website.

The snap, running with the caption “we are prepared for China” on the Spanish website, includes female tennis players Llagostera Vives, Medina Garrigue and Suarez-Navarro - all of whom are competing in Beijing. It was taken ahead of a Federation Cup match against China in April.

Have you seen any other pictures like this? Are you an insensitive Spaniard not scared of being exposed online? Send us your snaps here, folks.

Offensive photo was “appropriate”, says Olympian

You folks out there in interwebland have been going batshit crazy for the story about Spain’s ‘Chinese wink’ team photo (300+ comments so far), and it seems most of you have been waiting for an apology from the Spaniards for a few days. Instead, however, they have been protesting their innocence - Spanish NBA star Jose Calderon wrote on his website:

Clearly, most of us are ‘absolutely confused’. The whole ‘some of my best friends are Asian’ excuse is a popular choice

Basketball team find subtle way to offend their hosts

Spain (the country whose national manager referred to Thierry Henry as a ‘black shit’, whose fans greeted the England team with monkey chants and whose Formula One supporters found their own special way of welcoming Lewis Hamilton) have enhanced their reputation as world leaders in the field of racism by making ’slit-eyed’ gestures prior to participating in the Beijing basketball tournament.

Clearly, Spanish marketing executives believe the best way to promote good and services is through overt discrimination, as the snap above is actually part of an advertisement for a courier company. The posed faux-pas enjoyed a full-page in Spanish sport daily Marca, and according to The Guardian, no one involved in the advert believed it to be offensive, and they did not consider it inappropriate in light of their bid for the Olympiad in 2016 or 2020.

No relation to Rafa, we presume

One may think The Spoiler is scraping the WAG barrel by dedicating a day to the former wife of a retired Lebanses-American basketball player, but a cursory glance at Mexican supermodel Elsa Benítez will prove otherwise. The 30-year-old beauty was married to Rony Seikaly (twelve years her senior) for nearly six years, but since 1995 has been bringing in the bacon for herself with high profile photoshoots with Vogue, Elle, Victoria’s Secret and various other arty publications that make it justifiable for her to show the world her boobs.

There’s groin-grabbingly good fun going down on the B’ball court

Thanks to our Polish friends at ciacha.net for drawing attention to this peculiar international basketball technique.

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NBA forward unnecessarily thrilled about receiving free garment

American netball fans are currently engrossed in the NBA Finals, where Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics are attempting to throw more balls into some small elevated hoops than the LA Lakers. As a reward for his outstanding defensive performances this season, Garnett was treated to a personalised shirt courtesy of Europe’s second most successful team.

Even though it’s a small gesture for a well paid sportsman, it’s great to see Garnett react with childlike excitement. It’s probably the same bounding enthusiasm that Jermain Defoe expresses when he bursts open the doors of Chinawhite to see a gaggle of scantily-clad Big Brother rejects. Bless.

[Thanks to the dreamboats at Pies for the find]

When abnormally tall men with gigantic hands gather to throw a ball into a hoop, Americans simply can’t keep away from the spectacle, so it’s no surprise that some players get a little carried away in the moment. Thanks to Sporno fan Andrew for sharing this tender moment with us.

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Best slam dunk ever? Yes, best slam dunk ever.

If you’ve ever taken in a good game of Slam Ball, then you’ll appreciate this awesome Japanese sporting feat.