I just watched the US men’s basketball team receive their bronze metals. They looked ashamed and they should be. They played like crap, but I’ve got a few notes for everyone who is lauding a “new era in international basketball.”
- This team was, for the most part, a bunch of B teamers and six men. Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan being the only tried and true starting verterans.
- This team only had about a month to prepare for the games. Not much prep time considering many of the other national teams have played together for years.
It’s a joke to think that if true verteran starters were to have played they would have only managed a bronze. Let’s just list a few who could have easily made the Olympic team: Shaq, Kobe, Rip Hamilton, either of the Wallaces, Artest, or Jermaine O’Neal. Hell, we could have sent a team who has played well together (ie. the Detroit Pistons) and won gold.
In other news, the FIG is putting pressure on Paul Hamm to give up his gold. This is crap for a few reasons.
- FIG screwed up and it’s against the rules to change the scores.
- South Korea didn’t protest the score soon enough. They had their chance and passed it up for some odd reason.
- The South Korea contendor was docked 0.10, but replays show an extra release, which would have lead to a 0.20 doc (thus negating his 0.10 lost by the idiot judges). So if you want to play the replay game then he still loses.
What other sports out there would do such a thing? If you’ve already used your instant replay in the NFL you don’t get to put pressure on the other team to give up the win. Sometimes winning includes getting a few calls going your way and I consider this just that.