NBA tells Cavs and Heat not to do '3 goggles' in Brazil, where it's offensive

NBA players have a number of go-to celebrations — chest bumps, giving daps, running around and beating one's chest in the most confrontational manner possible, etc. One of thJames Harden inadvertently starts World War III.

most popular in recent years has been "three goggles," the practice of putting fingers up to one's eyes in the shape of, well, goggles. It's now common enough that most American fans think nothing of it.

Yet that is definitely not the case in Brazil, where the gesture is very offensive. Enough so that the NBA has asked the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat not to use it in advance of Saturday's exhibition game in Rio de Janeiro. From Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

Holding up the "three-sign" or the "three-goggles" in Brazil means "f--- you" or "f--- off," I was informed.

The NBA sent the Cavs and Heat a memo with a list of questionable gestures that shouldn't be used in Brazil, we're told. The last thing anybody wants is for the stands to clear immediately after a player nails a 3-pointer.

Can you imagine a player floating and waving the three-sign from one end of the court to the other? That wouldn't be good.

James Jones, the Cavaliers' 3-point marksman, says he was not made aware of the memo and knew nothing about the gesture being an insult in Brazil.

"Hey, that's why I just salute after I hit one," James said. "That's not offending anyone, right?" Jones should be fine, but the three-goggle issue speaks to the broader problems of bringing a league with its own culture into countries that may have developed similar customs with very different meanings. Tell someone that things are "a-ok" with your fingers and you're likely to get in a fight. However, the NBA has also played innocent host to offensive gestures from other cultures in the past. In the early '00s, Sacramento Kings and fellow Serbs Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic celebrate three-pointers with a three-fingered salute that had been used by their countrymen as a display of pride — unless, of course, you were a Muslim Croatian, in which case you saw it as a sign of oppression. The act earned some negative attention after its alternate meanings were revealed, but for the most part it continued along with few American fans thinking much of it.

Regardless, it's nice to see that the NBA is on top of the issue and doing its best to ensure that these teams don't start any international incidents. Although it does cause some consternation as to what Brazilian players like Nene and Leandro Barbosa must think every time they see a teammate throw up the goggles. That's no way to make a friend feel comfortable.

Now the protesters are being accused of intimidation in Clare Hall

Demonstrators protesting the installation of domestic meters by Irish Water have been accused of engaging in intimidatory behaviour in Clare Hall this week.

It follows clashes between gardaí and protesters at the northside Dublin estate.

Over 20 gardaí from various parts of Dublin responded to the scene at Elmfield Drive in the estate yesterday after a group of some 150 people turned out to protest.

Scuffles broke out on several occasions, and protesters claimed afterwards that officers involved had used heavy-handed tactics.

Speaking to Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme on RTÉ this afternoon, one resident of the area said she and her neighbours felt ”intimidated by these people in our own homes”.

Giving only her first name, Louise, she said the demonstrators were “ringing doorbells, moving barricades, and intimidating us and our kids”.

However, one of the organisers of the protests who spoke to Duffy – and later, to this website – insisted no intimidation of residents took place in yesterday’s actions.

Jim*, who lives in the estate and is one of the organisers of the ‘Clare Hall Says No’ group insisted that there was broad support for the protests in the area, and that it was the gardaí and the contractors who had engaged in intimidatory tactics.

The group began a social media campaign against the planned installation of meters at the start of the week, Jim said.

He said that Irish Water had ‘blitzed’ the estate and that gardaí had acted aggressively as residents and other demonstrators formed a human chain to try to block contractors’ vehicles.

In a statement on the incident, the Gardaí said that the force had a role to play in “ensuring peaceful protest can take place, and also in preventing injury and protecting life”.

Our objective with any such operation is to ensure the safety of the public.

‘Clare Hall Says No’ organised a public meeting to discuss their actions on Tuesday night, which was attended by some 200 people, Jim said.

He described the clashes with gardaí as “pandemonium” and said one woman had been badly hurt in what he referred to as a “rugby scrum”.

Elsewhere, a member of Clare Hall Residents Association said opinion on the protests was split in the estate, but that there had been a groundswell of opposition to the metering process in recent months. Another member of the association posted a statement on Facebook saying that many of the anti-charges protesters had “behaved impeccably in the face of some very serious intimidation”.

“We are however aware that not all residents are opposed to the installation of water meters or water charges, and that is their right.”

*Jim gave us his full name, but asked that it not be published.

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