Theo might not agree
The season of course began with the player strike, about which the best that can be said is that it ended quickly, with the caving-in of certain large clubs. And when some players sought to hold a public protest about the strike, riot police were called in.
Corruption and controversy was no stranger to the league in 2010-11, either; here it is supposed that some were simply using the strike as an opportunity to serve their own interests – kinda reminiscent a bit of the current situation in America’s NFL, as least as far as management is concerned.
Once the season did begin, Olympiacos was forced to serve the penalty handed down by the league after 2009-10’s “night of shame” and thus played several games before empty stands. Plus, the Greek Cup final between Reds and Greens was cancelled due to the impossibility of providing adequate security.
Speaking of empty stadiums, a weird occurrence happened in a game between – or rather, after a game between – Aris and PAOK. While the game was scheduled to be played before no fans, Aris officials lodged a complaint to the league stating that several PAOK fans were actually in attendance (though BiE doesn’t see too many in this photo. The league rejected the claim and did not change a result that affected first-round playoff matchups.
Typical craziness of an Olympiacos-Panathinaikos meeting aside – and the 2010-11 season hosted yet another explosive confrontation – saw perhaps the worst behavior exhibited by fans was when PAO’s Romain Sato of the Central African Republic was taunted with cries of “monkey” two weeks ago during the last meeting this regular season between the two teams.
Finally, Papantoniou laments the lack of competition in Greek basketball at the feet of its two dominant forces. After all, the last five Greek championships have come down to PAO vs. Olympiacos and the Greens have won six of the last eight titles. So how about that Balkan Basketball League thing, then…?
