Francisco Elson Didn’t Learn Enough About Diversity

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

If the San Antonio Spurs go on to win their 4th title (as many expect they will), the glum, “grasping for straws” Bay Area basketball fan might linger in despair until Baron Davis starts penetrating to the hole in a few weeks. Well, Golden Bears, you can find at least one man to wishy-washily root for on this methodically fundamental team: Francisco Elson, former Cal player who helped lead the team to the pinnacle of their limited expectations, an NIT title. He’s been a solid bench player with excellent offensive rebounding skills and a half-decent shot, and he’s clawed his way from the Dutch League to the NBA Finals. Seems like someone you should root for his tenacity, right?

That is, until you figure out a little bit more about Elson the individual. We’re pretty sure that you’ve gotten plenty of chances to find reasons to hate on these fortunate Spurs, and it’s from a few years back, but if you really needed to find another reason to try and stir up your own personal hatred for this team…here ya go.

Elson has been one of the leading instigators in Denver’s physical approach against [Kevin] Garnett during the best-of-seven series. The two had several heated exchanges in Game 3, which Denver won by 19, and it continued in Game 4.

Elson knocked Garnett into the seats behind the basket with a hard foul early in the game, and the two exchanged words after Garnett tangled with Marcus Camby while fighting for a loose ball. Elson and Garnett also reportedly yelled back and forth outside of Minnesota’s bus after the game, and Elson kept the banter going with his comments on Wednesday.

“That’s a cheap shot by a low-class type player,” Elson said. “You don’t do that. That’s gay on his part. I told him that he was gay, too, for touching me in my private parts.”

Something tells us that John Amaechi gets invited to speak at Berkeley again before Francisco Elson does. Just a hunch.

Elson apologizes to gay and lesbian community [ESPN]
(Image from MySA.com)



Topics: Alumni, Cal Basketball, Sports

Related Articles
    None Found

Comments are closed.