Daniel Orton, a three-year NBA veteran who now plies…err, plied…his trade in the Philippine Basketball Association, is now team-less after learning a harsh lesson in criticizing national heroes. Last week, Orton’s team, Purefoods Hotshots, faced off against Kia Carnival (yes, these are real team names), which boasts Manny Pacquiao as a player-coach. After the game, Orton was asked to comment on Pacquiao’s basketball skills:
“Professional boxer, yeah, okay…professional basketball player, no. It’s a joke.”
The 5-foot-6 boxer scored only one point, so it’s not like his performance warranted high praise from Orton. Still, you just don’t diss the Pac Man on his home turf, and Purefoods released Orton for his innocuous comment (well, innocuous to sane people), basically equating him to the worst human being on the planet:
“Everyone is angry at him… it is like he went to the United States and insulted the name of Martin Luther King,” the ABS-CBN news website quoted (team administrator Rene) Pardo as saying.
“This office disapproves of and frowns upon the cavalier manner in which Mr Orton issued his comments and the unwarranted antics and liberties he has taken with the league and a fellow player,” PBA commissioner Chito Salud said in a statement.
“This insulting behaviour will never be condoned by this league.”
Orton, who was officially released late last week, was also fined 250,000 pesos ($5,650), and told to never enter the country again (okay, we made that last part up, but he’s probably not welcome).
[Yahoo]
