<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Four American players of Efes Pilsen basketball team of Turkey refused to go to the Serbian capital of Belgrade for ULEB Cup game against Partizan Igokea to be played Thursday. Engin Ozerhun, Efes Pilsen's General Manager, spoke to reporters during the flight to Belgrade, and said their American players Drew Nicholas, Loren Woods, Rashad Wright and Andre Hutson refused to go to Serbia for security reasons. He said they were aware that these players did not feel comfortable with travelling to Serbia.</div> http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-31463.html Wow, tough situation. Obviously, security comes first, and I think Efes should go easy on them instead of kicking them off the team.
I wouldn't feel comfortable either because they know as well that there will always be some people that take out their political or religious outrage on the innocent. Being a professional sports athlete however, I think they should be fine security-wise. Just the fear set in too thick.
I don't have a problem with them being kicked off the team. They have a contractual obligation to play, and they wouldn't be going as Americans, much less tourists, but as members of a European team.
Thats true AEM, but the Serbian fans will view them as American players and therefore they're prone to attacks. And I agree, M21, that the security wouldn't allow anything to happen, especially not now after the embassy incident.
While I understand that they have some reason to be apprehensive, flatly refusing to go to a game on the basis of general travel advisories doesn't seem to be enough to ignore their contracts. If there'd been a history, or even credible threats of kidnapping or direct violence against Americans (as opposed to American property) that would be directed at them, it would be different. But that doesn't seem to be the case...
Again true AEM, but we know the history of Serbian basketball fans, where usually they end up in fights, etc, people getting injured, cops having to intervene. Efes would be wrong to punish the players, knowing the recent situation. And lastly, its just a game, nothing serious.
At the very least, the players should have tried harder to get an OK from the team, or assurances of increased security rather than refusing to go, and leaving their team short of the required number of players.
