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Chinese Basketball Association officials said they didn't want Beijing Ducks fans to use their well known swear words - also known as "Jing Ma" (Beijing curses) - against visiting teams anymore.
They got what they wanted on Wednesday and Friday during Game 4 and 5 of the Finals as the crowd got creative with the insults it hurled at the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
When a small group of Beijing fans at the MasterCard Center began to shout "Li Shangtui ("use your legs, Li") and "Huan SuWei" ("substitute Su Wei"), the rest of the 18,000 fans soon followed after having a bit of a laugh.
The traditional Beijing curses were thrown out the window, and the Beijing crowds got what they wanted most - the championship title.
The new jabs were aimed at Guandong coach Li Chunjiang - who reportedly asked his players to sweep the legs of Beijing players - and Guangdong center Su Wei, who was substituted on Wednesday due to his poor performance and previous use of abusive language in English towards Ducks guard Stephon Marbury.
"Since the Beijing curse was banned, the fans changed their slogans with tacit understanding and without any dirty words. The result was pretty good," said Li Kerui, 23, a software engineer who left work early to watch the game. "I wonder how the CBA will pick on us now."
The Ducks were fined 110,000 yuan ($17,406) for unruly crowd behavior - including abusing opposing players and throwing litter on the court - during Game 1 of the Finals at the MasterCard Center on March 14.
Li said he supports the Ducks, win or lose.
"For fans like me, coming to the stadium to watch the game was a process to release adrenaline," Li said. "Shouting out slogans with fellow Beijingers is a must-have part of it, no matter if they are 'Jing Ma' or something else.
"If the Ducks have to pay fines for our slogans, Beijing fans would like to provide the money. As Beijing has gone through great changes, Beijing Guo'an soccer club and the Ducks are among the fewer and fewer things that are still bringing old Beijingers together, and it has become a kind of belief."
Wang Ludong, who has been following the Ducks this season, said "Jing Ma" is not about swearing.
"It's more like a slogan that unites Beijingers together and it's not just a Beijing phenomenon," he said. "I do prefer the new Beijing curses, which are clean, innovative and humorous. It works much better than the traditional ones because they directly target the Tigers."
The 35-year-old said he paid five times the face value of his ticket to see the game.
"Fans here are great, no question about it," Marbury said after Wednesday's game. "Playing in this building is electrifying. It puts me back in the States, when I was playing in the NBA. I look forward to the CBA in the future, when all the games can be held in arenas like this."
Sun Xiaochen contributed to the story
cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 03/31/2012 page15)
