Basketball Loses to Violence

Yahoo! News ^ | 03/22/02

[socal_parrot]

KABUL (Reuters) - A friendly basketball game between U.S. soldiers and an Afghan team turned ugly when a guard shot into the crowd after an American player was kicked in the head, the International Security Assistance Force said on Friday.

The mayhem started during the second game of a three-day tournament at a stadium in the capital on Thursday when one of the Afghan spectators kicked a U.S. player who had fallen near the side of the court.

``One Afghan guard with the U.S. personnel cocked his rifle and pointed it at the crowd and tried to push them back,'' a spokesman for the force told a news conference. ``Then he shot one of the fans in the leg.''

U.S. military personnel had to surround the guard as protection against an increasingly angry mob. They escorted him outside before withdrawing from the tournament.

The spokesman said he did not know the score when the game was halted.

Basketball is relatively novel in war-ravaged Afghanistan (news - web sites), where the favorite sports are soccer, cricket and buzkashi -- a ferocious local game involving horsemen competing for the headless carcass of a sheep, calf or goat.

[socal_parrot]

The spokesman said he did not know the score when the game was halted

I would imagine it was a whole bunch to zero.

[isthisnickcool]

Afgan can't jump?

[Maceman]

Maybe instead of sports, they should try something less violent -- like a karaoke talent contest.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Aren't spectator sports great when the crowd gets into it?

[Charles Henrickson]

March Madness.

[socal_parrot]

How about combining basketball and buzkashi. Although, I don't know if you can dribble the headless carcass of a goat.

[socal_parrot]

The major difference is that, here in the US, it's the players that usually kick (or spit on) the spectators.

[oldvike]

LMAO!

[Blackyce]

Hope our guys were wise enough not to yell "kill the refs"...

[Fedupwithit]

The phrase "Shoot the ball!"sounds like it took on a whole new meaning..

: )

[End Times Sentinel]

Sounds like something from a democrat sponsored midnight basketball game

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[Tuco-bad]

...one of the Afghan spectators kicked a U.S. player who had fallen near the side of the court.

I knew someone who served in the U.S. Air Force in the late 60s.

For one year he was stationed in Afaganistan where we had an Air Force base.

The airmen were told not to leave the base during their term of service in Afganistan, as the there were Afgans who hated Americans, and if there was an opportunity, would do them harm.

Seems like not much has changed.

[cactmh]

Geez, I thought Detroit and L.A. were rough places to be during and after a big game!

[cactmh]

good point!

[Moleman]

Geez, I thought Detroit and L.A. were rough places to be during and after a big game!
Hey, I live in the Detroit area and we have never turned to violence during the SuperBowl ;-)