By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Don’t get us wrong. We like Caja Laboral, since the day it was named Taugres and created a team that could compete with the bests in Europe. However, something is wrong in Vitoria. You can read about the reason of Carlos Cabezas’ exit from the team, which – let’s be honest – is kind of silly, but it didn’t surprise us.
Last week we decided to ask from Caja an interview with coach Zan Tabak. We got a positive answer by the press officer of the team and we arranged to send our question via e-mail. We did, the days passed and we didn’t get any reply. Finally on the 21st of February we got this e-mail:
Hi, Mr. Moutis,
We’re sorry, but your demand can’t be satisfied. Olympiacos is denying all spanish media interviews, so we must do the same thing to the greek media and journalists.
Regards,
It’s not the first time someone has denied an interview, but it’s the first time an interview was arranged and then denied with such a lame excuse. After all we are an English language site, covering European basketball. We reached Olympiacos‘ press officer in order to find out what’s going on and his answer was that no member of the team is giving interviews at this point of the season to any media from any country. They are aloud to speak to anybody during Euroleague’s open practice and after every game.
So, let’s say that this could be a misunderstanding. However, Caja Laboral’s track record is not exactly perfect. According to Euroleague’s rules the visiting team must provide a translator for the press conference in case its coach doesn’t speak English. During coach Ivanovic’s tenure in the team, Caja never did that, Ivanovic wanted to speak in French and I, a member of the press, was used as a translator twice after games between his team and Olympiacos. No doubt, Caja is one of the most professional teams in Europe but this applies strictly on the court.