(06-13-2021 05:36 AM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(06-13-2021 12:08 AM)Sleepy Wrote:  

(06-12-2021 11:48 PM)pono Wrote:  

(06-12-2021 04:39 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(06-12-2021 03:15 PM)pono Wrote:  Not sure, I was talking to another UT fan recently who follows AJ and was perplexed by the latest article calling him English, not Filipino. He wrote to the Blade asking their reasoning but did not get a reply. Like you say presuming a person's identity isn't the way to go. It's just inconsistent. Kobe Bryant was never referred to as Italian even though he spent most of his childhood in Italy, grew up speaking Italian and his dad was a notable professional athlete in Italy. I imagine AJ's childhood in Cyprus confuses some folks who know little of the country, but his nationality as Filipino has been the defining part of his basketball identity, so it's weird that local media doesn't acknowledge that.

I can honestly say I've had Fillipino, English and Nigerian food in-situ (ok, one of them was in an airport but I've had it other places) and I might lean Cypriot.... but it's always a bad idea to pizz off Mom too.

Where was he born? I do recall his Ma had moved to England. I thought his Dad a Math Prof or something and they met in England.

Must be off-season

definitely an off season conversation. he was born in Cyprus where his dad was a physics teacher and basketball coach and his mom was finishing college. when they tried to travel when he was a toddler they could not because Cyprus had not granted AJ citizenship. They petitioned for citizenship there for AJ but it was rejected (Cyprus does not automatically grant citizenship to those born there, even the children of legal residents, but has gotten in hot water repeatedly for years of selling passports to underworld folks and Russians). After getting rejected by Cyprus they returned to the Philippines and AJ was processed as a citizen there. Afterwards they went back to Cyprus where they all lived until AJ was 12 or 14 or something when his dad took a job in England and they moved there. At 15 AJ began to play for the Philippines Jr National team. He moved to Toledo at 17, I beleive.

So after all this meticulous biographical research, in depth geopolitical analysis and pervasive sociocultural investigation the pertinent cultural identifier is that the Jr. Accounting major, Ariel John Litang Edu, is a TOLEDO ROCKET. GO ROCKETS

Sleepy, this thread is about Jordan Lauf. Would you please try to stay on topic? We were justing building some uh.... background.

Thanks for the info Pono, it was very interesting (to me). I do think Toledo Rockets should be respected and media reference should get this right. I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out so yes, I do wonder what the answer is and does it matter to Edu. If past recent history indicates, you can expect an article very soon on this topic of Edu's nationality.

Haha, Sleepy nails it. Actually, all of what I posted comes from an article shared on this board a few years ago. I didn't search for it to link, but it was in the context of how immigrants and guest workers sometimes find themselves without citizenship in their home or birth countries and how that led AJ to strengthen his Filipino connections leading to his place on the Jr National team.