Hometown fans admire Ginobili with passion, pride

[user name]

Johnny Ludden
San Antonio Express-News

BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina — Manu Ginobili stepped off the plane and into the sunlight Monday morning to find a small army of fans and reporters awaiting his arrival. A large banner hanging outside the airport terminal also greeted him.

"Felicitaciones Manu Bienvenidos a Casa," which translated means "Congratulations Manu!, Welcome home!"

After a whirlwind four days that included talk-show appearances, celebratory dinners and a reunion with Argentina's Olympic team, Ginobili returned home Monday. Seven hours after he touched down, more than 3,000 people braved 40-degree weather to cheer him in a mall parking lot.

"It doesn't matter where I go," said Ginobili, whose Spurs last month defeated the Detroit Pistons for their third NBA championship. "These are always my people. I am a son of the city."

When Ginobili agreed to participate in the NBA's Basketball Without Borders Americas camp, he asked league officials to include a visit to his hometown.

The 10-kilometer ride from the airport became a parade. It didn't matter whether they were butchers, cooks, pharmacists or businessmen — they all left work to line the streets and cheer Ginobili as his bus passed. At nearly every intersection, cars stopped to honk their horns.

Ginobili first stopped at Hospital Municipal de Agudos to visit the children's ward. Though a few hundred people crammed the street outside the facility, the atmosphere was not as chaotic as Ginobili's hospital visit in Buenos Aires three days earlier.

Ginobili, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and the other NBA players and coaches on the trip signed autographs and handed out toys to the children. One doctor pulled Popovich aside to give him a few words of advice.

"You can win easier if Duncan make the free drops," he said, "and Parker no lose balls."

Said Popovich: "You could have my job."

During the NBA Finals, hospital staffers and patients stayed up late to watch Ginobili play. Dr. Pablo Bualo, who works on Ginobili's Web site in his free time, emailed a question to Popovich's radio show last season: Why do you bench Manu?

"I have never seen anything like this before," Bualo said. "In the hospital, in all the town, everybody is talking about Manu. You come here and everybody likes basketball."

Bahia Blanca has long been known as the capital of Argentine basketball. Ginobili's father, Jorge, has served as president of Bahienese Del Norte, a local club where Ginobili learned to play the sport. A year ago, he helped pay for a new court for the gym.

"I believe a big reason I've been able to get to where I am," Ginobili said, "is because of all the time I spent here trying to learn how to play."

When Ginobili arrived at his old gym — now renamed Estadio Manu Ginobili — he was greeted by dozens of young boys, most of them wearing No. 20 Spurs jerseys under their jackets. In the afternoon, Ginobili and the coaches put on a clinic at the club for about 250 local orphans.

"The game is spreading so much," Popovich said, "and now they have a role model in Manu to look up to."

Popovich has become quite the celebrity himself on his trip here. During the clinic, he was engulfed by children and adults seeking his autograph. When he walked on stage in the pep rally, the crowd began chanting, "Pop-o-vich! Pop-o-vich!" in tune with Queen's "We Will Rock You."

Said Popovich: "They must not have heard about Point Four."

Ginobili said he planned to spend the next month vacationing in his country.

"I'm not going to think about basketball or sports," he said. "I wouldn't change this moment in my life for anything. I will enjoy it."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....38cb3993.html

Pop and Manu

Many, Manu, Patient, and Patient's Mom

[CostaRicaSpurs]

@Pop

Never fails to crack me up.

[EG 20]

[George]

congrats manu
glad pop went along...i know people were upset last year with him benching manu. its all cool now

[Martin R]

there is a note in LA NACION newspaper today (5th) where Pop talks about Tony's game and that they have to be patient with him. WOW, first time I hear Pop talking about Tony's turnovers... lol.

[ATHENEA]

From Manu's site: Pop in Bahia Balnca Hospital

Athenea... is that Pablo with Pop?

[ATHENEA]

Yup (the younger doc)

cool! thanks

[ATHENEA]

Pablo said that Pop is a really cool man

[EG 20]

Argentine Emanuel Ginobili of the NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs, talk to children at Bahienses del Norte basketball club where he began playing at his homeland of Bahia Blanca, south of Buenos Aires, Monday, July 4, 2005 as part of a program backed by the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) called "Basketball Without Borders." The program was to include a basketball training clinic for young people of diverse backgrounds, stops to promote education and even a visit to a hospital.


Argentine Emanuel Ginobili of the NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs, wave to fans at his homeland of Bahia Blanca, south of Buenos Aires, Monday, July 4, 2005 were he arrived as part of a program backed by the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) called "Basketball Without Borders." The program was to include a basketball training clinic for young people of diverse backgrounds, stops to promote education and even a visit to a hospital that treats children with the HIV virus.

Originally Posted by EG 20

[
Argentine Emanuel Ginobili of the NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs, wave to fans at his homeland of Bahia Blanca, south of Buenos Aires, Monday, July 4, 2005 were he arrived as part of a program backed by the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) called "Basketball Without Borders." The program was to include a basketball training clinic for young people of diverse backgrounds, stops to promote education and even a visit to a hospital that treats children with the HIV virus.

awww look at that Championship Smile....