The 5 People Happiest About Team USA Winning Gold
August 24, 2008
After the Disaster in Athens in 2004, Team USA has pretty much hit rock bottom, but now they’ve gotten the gold medal back and everyone surrounding the team is ecstatic. But, we thought it would be interesting to single out the 5 people who are the happiest about getting the gold back. Here’s the list.
5. Doug Collins - Doug’s son, Chris, is one of Coach K’s assistants on the Team USA staff and has said he’d be giving his gold medal to Doug who was cheated out of his own gold medal in the disputed 1972 Olympics. Doug, you finally got your gold medal, now stop talking about a game that happened 36 years ago!
4. Coach K - Just before Team USA went down in Athens in 2004, Coach K had turned down the Lakers, opting to continue coaching in the college ranks. Now, with a gold medal in hand, Coach K has quieted at least some of his doubters that he couldn’t coach a bunch of superstar millionaires.
3. Lebron James - All the players are happy about winning gold, but it’s extra important to Lebron as he won’t have to hear “Lebronze” anymore. That’s one nickname you’d rather not have.
2. Jerry Colangelo - Jerry assembled the team and it was always his goal to be seen as some sort of evil basketball genius. Well, you got your wish, Jerry.
1. Kobe Bryant - This one unfolded perfectly for Kobe. He didn’t play in 2004 or even in the 2006 World Championships, and he was the star of the gold medal game. The way it looks is that Kobe is the secret ingredient, like he’s Mr. Miyagi in his prime or something, the master of basketball excellence.
Who would you add to the list?
Does NBC Even Care About Olympic Basketball?
August 20, 2008
I’ve got no problem with NBC promoting Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson as the best thing since sliced bread…they’ve had an amazing Olympics, but what’s with the treatment of Olympic basketball? Not televising any of the pool play in primetime is understandable, but now they aren’t going to show the medal round live at a reasonable time? If you want to catch tomorrow’s USA-Argentina semi-final showdown and you have a full-time job, you’re going to have to make up an excuse to get out of work. The game starts at 10:15 AM ET. This is single elimination against a team the USA has lost to the last two times they’ve faced each other! Want to watch the gold medal game? If you’re on the east coast, have fun staying up to 4:30 AM to watch the entire game.
It’s almost bizarre how little coverage the Redeem Team is getting. You’ll have no problem seeing Lebron James and Kobe Bryant watch some beach volleyball or watch Michael Phelps in the pool, but to watch them actually play basketball? No, how horrible! At least, that’s what NBC seems to think. They don’t even bother to show any of the day’s basketball highlights or give any scores in primetime. Have you seen a basketball score during their primetime coverage? Let me know if you have because I haven’t, nor have I seen a highlight. Sure, a hoops game takes two hours so you don’t have to show the whole thing, but could you spare us a few minutes? Come to think of it, you showed an entire marathon a few nights ago!
Of course, whoever made the Olympic schedule deserves a great deal of the blame as well (though, I’m sure NBC had a hand in that). It’s not like the schedule is completely booked either. Swimming, gymnastics, and to some extent track are compelling events and deserve their coverage, but diving, distance track events, and all the filler tear-jerker clips? No offense to any of those athletes, but I’m just asking for a little hoops coverage!
Do What You Want, Yao
August 11, 2008
I saw this article on Yahoo! today and I couldn’t understand where Adrian Wojnarowski got the idea that Yao was basically being forced to play for China. As far as any of us can tell, Yao loves playing for China, maybe even more than playing in the NBA. In the 2nd paragaph of the article, Wojnarowski quotes Yao as saying, “The game was a treasure, and it will be a treasure for the rest of my life,” then he spends the rest of the article knocking China for wearing Yao down. Sure, Yao has been getting worn down as you can see from his injuries the last two seasons, but why it it playing for China that he should cut back on and not the NBA? I’d hate to see Yao play less in the NBA, but it’s his life so if China is his priority, then let it be.
Will the USA Win the Gold?
August 10, 2008
After beating China handily 101-70 in their opening game at the Beijing Olympics, its time once again to assess Team USA’s chances at getting the gold. A 31 point victory against an improved Chinese team is no doubt impressive, but Team USA also showed that it is not immune to the same problems that dogged them in the 2004 games.
Once again, dismal three point defense kept Team USA’s opponent in the game in the first half and USA failed to hit outside jump shots. China shot 10-27 from downtown, which is not overly impressive, but they shot a much higher percentage in the first half before they were worn down by Team USA. Deeper and more skilled teams will have a good chance at knocking down 40%+ of their threes against Team USA. USA did not shoot well either or, more accurately, they didn’t really try to shoot all that much, opting to dunk instead. The game showed two distinct styles…Team USA had alley-oop after alley-oop in transition while China was knocking down threes.
Despite these issues, Team USA is still much improved from 2004 and is still the favorite to win gold. This team is not selfish like the 2004 version was, has a better roster, and understands international play a bit better. One big difference from 2004 is this team understands that you cannot count on getting “in the act” fouls called so they did not try to draw fouls around the basket. Instead of creative up-and-under layups, Team USA just went up for aggressive power dunks near the basket and it paid off. They didn’t dribble into trouble as much either. One of the biggest nuances of international play compared to NBA play is that you have about 1 less dribble per move before you get into turnover trouble and Team USA is doing a much better job at not dribbling too much.
So, my prediction? I wouldn’t be surprised if the USA loses a game, but I’m going to predict they do go undefeated and win the gold again.
How do you think Team USA will fare?
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