Jabroni Free Sports: Serge Ibaka: Spanish After All

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Serge Ibaka: Spanish After All

To "settle" a long-standing debate that I've had with Dean and Ben Carman (who is teetering on the verge of jabroni-status because he said he'd write for us), Serge Ibaka, a Congolese-born Spanish-nationalized basketball player currently on the Oklahoma City Thunder, has been selected to play in the Eurobasket 2012 for Spain.

Boom.

OK, fine, that doesn't technically mean that he's Spanish, but...come on. His paperwork is being processed as we speak, and he has had a couple of lengthy chats in Spanish with national team coach Sergio Scariolo, Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernández, and José Calderón about how "excited" he is to play with them.

"I'm very proud that Spain has chosen me to play for them [in the Eurobasket 2012]. I spoke with [Scariolo] at length in Los Angeles, and he seems like a respectable man with a good heart. [...] I am also very excited to play with Spain, especially with my friend Marc Gasol, who is a really good guy, really nice." Serge (Sergio?) Ibaka in Spanish to Cadena SER, a Spanish radio station. [Translations mine].

So, what more do you want? A copy of his Spanish passport? Because he can provide that for you... I really want to make some sort of "birther" joke here, but I'm having trouble coming up with one. I'm not on my A-game right now because I just got back from Argentina where I was trying to convince Kun Agüero to come play for Real Madrid, and for Leo Messi to retire and become a gaucho. Still crossing my fingers.

Hate the column? Love the column? Send us an email at jabronifreesports@gmail.com.

Gabe Lezra is the Editor-in-Chief (and founder) of Managing Madrid, a Real Madrid website dedicated to bringing English-speaking fans funny, top-quality analysis. His work has been featured on CNN.com and CNN's World Sport, and he regularly contributes to Bleacher Report.

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About the Authors

Dean and Gabe started Jabroni Free Sports in the summer of 2011, a couple of weeks after they both graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Dean has two years of experience blogging about topics in sports and music. He interned for the Yale Sports Publicity Department in the summer of 2010. A history major, he wrote his senior essay on the "image problem" and racial dynamics in the NBA in the 1970s and 80s. He aspires to earn his stripes in digital or broadcast sports media.

Jabronies have been Dean's pet peeve since he first saw the word printed in a since-forgotten issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. He dedicates this blog to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a lifelong crusader in the effort to rid the world of its posers.

Like many other lifelong residents of Connecticut, Dean is caught in a veritable no-man's land of fandom between the diametrically opposed forces of Boston and New York. So, in addition to his undying loyalty towards UConn basketball and harboring an irrational belief that the Hartford Whalers will eventually return, he roots for the Knicks, Jets, and Red Sox.

Gabe is a budding sportswriter, whose work has been featured on CNN International, and CNN's World Sport. He runs Managing Madrid, a Real Madrid blog on SBNation and is a featured Real Madrid columnist on Bleacher Report.

He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, so he loves the Packers, the Bucks, and the Badgers with all his heart; and he lived in Boston for a year in 1996, so naturally he loves the Yankees.

His life ambition is to be yelled at by ex-Real Madrid GM Jorge Valdano during a press conference for asking him an uncomfortable question, and then being removed forcibly by security. (He did meet Valdano when he lived in Madrid, but never got to say anything questionable to him because he was too afraid of being kicked in the face. True story.)