QotD: Embarrassed
Posted August 27th, 2004 @ 06:12pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: Should the US basketball team be embarrassed?
My Answer: Basketball is a team sport, and like other team sports, chemistry is underrated. If anything, this year's Olympics taught us this. However, that doesn't answer the question. Yeah, they should be embarrassed. Not because they lost, but because they talked so much smack and then lost. Repeatedly.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
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Posted 27 Aug 2004 at 6:35pm #
Yes, I didn't watch a whole lot of the Olympics, but I heard about Puerto Rico, and was eating lunch at a restaurant that had the Lithuania game on. I was cheering for the Lithuanians. Hopefully this will instill a little less ego.
Posted 27 Aug 2004 at 6:40pm #
Hear hear! I rooted against my own nation when they played Lithuania (and blogged about it accordingly) because I didn't like how they represented my nation. Arrogant, to the extreme. I will say that I'm proud of how the women's soccer, basketball, and soccer have performed - like true sportsman, um, sportspeople should!
Posted 27 Aug 2004 at 6:51pm #
Yes, the basketball team should be embarrassed because they didn't play as a team, and they didn't play with any heart. Basically, the only player I can think of on that team who took it seriously was Tim Duncan who is class act on and off the court.
In these Olympic games, I've been much more impressed by the women's basketball, soccer, softball, and beach volleyball teams. They are the symbols of team play.
Posted 27 Aug 2004 at 7:16pm #
I hated the fact that they called this current group of "basketball players" "The Dream Team". To me, there was only one "Dream Team", and that was the first group of NBA players we sent to the Olympics. Names like Jordan and Magic and Bird. Players with talent. Players with class. The "Dufus Team" that we sent to Athens are a bunch of millionaire whiners who care too much about their own game time and whether or not they get the ball than they do about the actual game. Or winning (for God's sake!).
Yep, we deserved to lose. We deserved to get booted from the medal rounds. We deserve to get sent home with our tail between our legs.
Maybe in 2008 we'll smarten up and go back to the old way of doing things: Forget the pro players and go back to sending the best NCAA players. After all, they're the ones with talent, and have the drive to want to play as a cohesive force on the court.
And finally, all of the NBA players who went to Athens should have their salaries cut down to half of the league minimum. They don't deserve to make more than $50K a year to play all freakin' day.
Posted 27 Aug 2004 at 7:43pm #
Yes and no. I really think the selection committee did a horrible job with who they picked. They had a billion slashers, no outside presence, no real point guard, and really no inside presence besides Duncan. It seemed weird that Odom was considered a big man -- I never really thought of him as a true 4. Of course, one could argue with no Kobe, Shaq, Garnett, Kidd, TMac, Artest (defensively he would have been nice), etc., the selection committee had little choice in the group of players they picked. However, they should have picked some role players that could come in and do what they are used to doing – play good defense and hit a big shot now and then.
Hopefully the selection committee will re-evaluate and figure out a new way to pick a team that actually looks good on paper instead of a bunch of players who basically play the same position and style, which did not translate well against international play that focused on the three-point shot (and flopping).