Italy, Canada Do Not Understand the Meaning of 'Friendly'

Italy begins its quest to qualify for September's Eurobasket tournament on Wednesday against France. Canada is preparing for the late-August start of the 2009 Tournament of the Americas, in which four spots in the 2010 World Championships are up for grabs. So the teams got together for a "friendly" warm-up match. Then this happened.



Fear not: no Andrea Bargnanis were injured in the making of this brawl. In fact, you'll be shocked to know he avoided the fray, jumping in as a peacemaker late. Ditto for new Raptor teammate Marco Belinelli.

The Todd Bertuzzi wannabe -- Italy's Stefano Mancinelli -- will surely be disciplined by FIBA for that incredible hit on Canada's Aaron Doornekamp. My favorite part (other than the Bargs cameo, of course) is when the coaches get into a bit of a shoving match about 2:45 in. Such passive-aggressiveness!