There is no ego in his game, it’s all about winning. Instead the USA team has Kobe, Lebron, and Wade all trying to out shine each other. Too bad Roy turned down an invite. I can’t remember if it was for the select team or the actual olympic squad though.

are all these games going to be available online? and where?

and BRoyinThe4th, roy’s invite was to the select team if Im not mistaken.

I do enjoy watching the winners. I can root for them, but I can scream just as loud for guys that have no real chance (yet sometimes they use it). I can enjoy the losers, or the unexpected turns of events. Some of my favorite Olympic memories (apart from the ceremonies, see fanposts) include completely obscure things:
A swimmer from Equatorial Guinea more likely to drown than get to the finals in Sidney. 100m “sprinters” who don’t even have spikes and run slower than the top 100 or 1000 sprinters in the US. A coach who ruins the chances of his athlete in cycling by pushing him over before the race even starts. A boxer in Seoul who refused to get out of the ring for over an hour after losing his fight, angry about the jury. The Olympic marathon in Athens where a lunatic attacked the leader at this time, who still managed to get a bronze medal. An injured athlete helped off the track by his father in Barcelona. Guys who come back to the Olympics after a decade in between. Sports and athletes you never see (here) on TV. And so on and so on.

The only obscure sport I want to have killed now is synchronized swimming. I know it’s hard and takes a lot of practice. But instead please give me rock climbing. Give me BMX (first time, wohoo). Give me barefoot soccer. Don’t give me that.

P.S.: I’m a former semi-professional track and field athlete (middle-distance running). If some far away nation wants to hire me for London 2012, I am available and my price is negotiable.

that the two month prep system has ended. Hasn’t this been like a 3 year deal?

Until they assemble a team with some outside shooting with bombers like Kapono or James Jones, they will be doomed to close finishes like the one they experienced against Austalia.

I know that these aren’t the Olympics but I was in Yugoslavia when their team won the World BBall Championship in Greece and then was present in Indianapolis in ‘02 when they (Serbia-Montenegro) beat Argentina in the final.

The appreciation of the win by both team and fans is what makes such events so special.

Conversely, the sense of entitlement that surrounds many of the fantasy teams that we send abroad makes it easy to root ‘against’ them so to speak as it runs somewhat counter to the typical American psyche or ethos.

this team has been playing and preparing together for quite a while now. I’m not saying they’ve been doing so against good competition, but they have been hooping together. I agree with you in that I really don’t care if they do well, but that’s only because they SHOULD do well. Plus, I can’t stand the way D Wade has been playing (selfishly- and I don’t cares if he’s making shots). I wish Olympic basketball would pick up on Olympic soccer: 23-year-old and younger with 3 wild card players of any age. Lets get back to that old amateur Olympic spirit, that’s what it’s all about.

Wondering how you then have a blog about an NBA team that does much the same thing (although much better the last couple of years). Assemble a bunch of star college players and hope they play as a team. Surprises me then that you aren’t a huge fan of college basketball instead of the NBA? Or is it that you are just a huge fan of the Portland Trailblazers. I have many friends who would much rather watch college basketball for some of the very reasons you state (and quite a few others) and find myself having to defend my love of the NBA.

My love is firstly and foremost rooted with Portland, but I like the NBA over college ball because it is a collection of the best players. Not necessarily does it provide the best teamwork (often it doesn’t) but because the potential is there and when it happens (best players who play as a team) it is beautiful to watch. The 76-77 Blazers to me are still the best example of that (Homer!).

Anywho just curious of why the redeem team would be any different than college vs. pro in your mind. Maybe a topic for another post…...

Various (random) reasons I’m NOT excited:
1. These guys are SUPPOSED to win – as the best collection of individual talent on the planet. It’s not exciting.
2. Did you watch the Road to Redemption? Gag me…. These guys are coddled, every step of the way. There are cameras constantly in their faces, and they dutifully spout the incoherent babbling of “sacrifice” and “pride” and “commitment”. Talk is cheap. Every other team wants to win for their country.
3. Kobe.
4. Coach K – has to be the most self-satisfied, narcissistic, schmaltzy speaker in BB. And he spouts with the best of them.

ONE CAVEAT – Sarge is there, so I’ll root for him bringing back a few tricks and secrets for the coming year.

...but a nice effort from the guys to get back to the sense of what it is to be an Olympic athlete…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703359.html?hpid=topnews

I’m glad I’m not the only one more excited to see Spain play than the US :-X

but I’m not nearly as interested in the Olympics overall as I used to be. Part of it is because I’ve been watching for many decades and have seen many changes over that time.

It used to be a really big deal because there was much less international competition then. So many of the participants nowadays have competed against one another that they have a track record (ouch). A beat B in competition 1, but B beat A in the next 3. etc. etc. For years they competed and the opposition is known so the Olympics are no longer the first, or even rare, meeting ground. Because they have travelled so much there is no longer the awe of this huge international competition.

The “medal count” wasn’t nearly as important earlier on. It used to be about individual performances, not the performance of the country. Now there is so much emphasis on winning that just being a participant is not nearly as important as it used to be ; you also have to win – otherwise you’ve “let down your country.”

It formerly was about amateur athletics. Or at least in theory. The US stuck to that for many years, but then realized that the training systems in the then-communist-bloc nations equated to paying the athletes so then having pro players became OK. Suddenly the elite athletes were no longer staying in the Olympic village and mingling with athletes from other countries.

I’m not saying that Olympics aren’t as good, or important, as they used to be, just different. I still love the underdogs. The Jamaican bobsled team. The countries that send just one participant (or team.) Eddie “The Eagle” (British ski jumper). I have often quietly hoped that the pampered athletes suffer upsets. Blasphemy, I know.

On a personal note, one of my students won an Olympic medal years after I knew him in third grade. His father won a medal in the same year ; I’ve never been able to learn if this had ever happened before or since. (The sport was Yachting.)

- I don’t like USA Olympic basketball at all for reasons mentioned above.
- I will be rooting for Spain over the US. I rooted for Russia over US ‘cuz of Sabas
- Too many obscure sports(?) for me.
- Track events still my fav by far (then field events).
- I loved the Olympics much more in days gone by when … well when there just weren’t that many people paying attention to it. Now it has become an over-hyped commercial fest. And did I mention too many obscure events.
- Still, I’ll be watching the Olympics a bunch this year thanks to TIVO. You see, I won’t have to watch a single minute of commercials!!!!! Forget the printing press, TIVO is easily the best invention since fire and the wheel.

Call me un-patriotic if you will, but I am way more excited to see Rudy play than most (not all) of the U.S. squad. I want everyone on the US team to realize the major addition that we are receiving this upcoming season with Rudy. Plus, I have to watch K*obe, LaBron and all those guys play all season long. I have only seen clips of Rudy on YouTube. Also, as everyone seems to agree with, the US Team is mostly a collective group of show offs. I got so disgusted in the first “pre-olympic” game. All it turned into was dunk after dunk after spin-around-dunk behind your head- dunk. I had to turn the t.v. off. I just don’t see why we have to humiliate another team by winning by 40 points, just to show that we are the best. Maybe that’s what the olympics are about, but I would rather watch a classy group of guys play good, fun basketball…not destroy another team with their fancy passes and dunks. Maybe it’s just me though.

when synchronized swimming and whatever they call that thing where someone twirls a ribbon on a stick became events.

I think we should send either our finals winner or loser to the Olympics every summer.

The pros for this are obvious: You get a team that has been playing together, and since they made it to the finals, they probably have at least above average defense.

The cons are long summers and risk of injury. But who wouldn’t want to play for their country.

One problem you might forsee as I did lies in this year’s runner ups. The Lakers team would look vastly different when Gasol, Radmonovic, and Vujacic left to play for their countries. We’d have to send the Celts.

Other countries select their bball teams the same way we do. Spain’s team is an allstar team also. Rudy, Marc, Felipe Reyes, Pau… all these guys are stars- the best players Spain has to offer.

Olympic Hoops is getting better and better! I love the fact that sending an all-star team no longer guarantees the US the gold, even if they practice together for years. Virtually every country in the Olympics has NBA players. We’ve got a real tournament with awesome players fighting for medals. There has never been a more exciting Olympic tournament. I don’t want to change anything about it.

I love the Olympics too, and for many of the same reasons. I do not like how we, as a nation, seem to be obsessed with our medal totals and all that.

Nationalistic fervor bothers me.

I love the place where I live, and I know we have the best government money can buy, but to me, that doesn’t necessarily translate into needing to see US athletes deliver crushing defeats to other competitors.

This is a fascinating Olympics- probably the most interesting at least since the boycotts in 1980 and 1984.

Some interesting happenings. Former gold medalist and activist Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by China on the day he was to leave for Beijing. Cheek is leading a movement to pressure China for its role as the main customer for the oil controlled by the genocidal Sundanese regime.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/olympics/cs-080807-joey-cheek-olympics-darfur,0,2144689.story

George Bush made a speech on human rights. He is attending the opening ceremonies—its unusual for a US president to attend the Olympics on foreign soil.
http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/474395

In what I find a fantastic decision, American athletes voted Sudanese "lost boy" and naturalized US citizen Lopez Lomong to carry the flag at the opening ceremonies. I find this to be a great way to make a statement on China’s role without overtly embarrassing the host nation or its people.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5929260.html

We also have the Free Tibet protests and the questions of China limiting freedom of the press during the games.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23629811/

Then we also have some great sports stories to follow. Michael Phelps. 41 year old swimmer Dara Torres. The "Redeem Team" presented by Nike. Rudy and Team Espana. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang.

It’s going to be a fascinating couple of weeks.

Great post Dave. I was just a couple of nights ago laughing with my Dad about the USA Basketball Team. It’s like, I watch them play and I say out loud “I want the US to win” but inside I’m rooting so hard for whoever they’re playing against. I feel obligated to say I’m rooting for the US, but with nary a Blazer on the roster (I realize Nate’s a coach, but he ain’t getting a medal even if they win one, apparantly coaches don’t get them) I’m having a hard time believing the words “I want the USA to win gold” when they come out of my mouth. Like Dave, I could care less if they win, and in fact when I watch them I root, not so much against them, but very much for whoever is playing them.

I like you Dave but….

Common man, the jersey says “USA” on it. All of your griping about the make up of the basketball team misses the point and is arrogant. You know the guys on the US team and have developed opinions of them. Then you’ve projected an ideal virtuous image onto the competition because they oppose the same thing you do. You are ready to ignorantly declare them the ‘good guys’ because they’re opposing the ‘bad guys’ you know. It’s myopic. Don’t forget that EVERY Olympic athlete is a professional. Most are are paid directly by their governments.

‘USA’ does not stand for a basketball team. It’s not a nickname or a logo. The letters represent the values that I assume we both hold dear. Rooting against the team while they wear those letters is a terrible message to send to the rest of the world. I’d urge you to separate your feelings for the players, or the origins of the team from the symbol it represents.

I respect your critique of the team, and join with you in wishing that it played with a different style. Your criticism is healthy and more voices joining together usually results in a better outcome. However, this is the team that this country has fielded this year. The debate is over and it’s time for you to respect that and not let your bitterness over the team’s origins stop you from supporting what the team symbolizes: “USA.” Root for this team now, and try to make it better next time we field a team. Hoping for a bad result so that you can say ‘I told you so’ and win an argument is immature.

We should all respect the principle that every person in the world should root for their home country proudly.

I have the same feelings as Dave….Just not too excited about the USA team..A lot of talent, but it does not have the same feel as in the past…I think the only thing that may bring back some good feel about the team, would be to just allow players selected to the team, as 5 years and under in NBA and College…Seeing Kobe and Lebron strut their stuff just doesn’t get it for me…besides, Nate should not be wasting his time working with players that are our rivals…He should be at home preparing for, perhaps, the biggest season of his career. No NBA coaches…they already have a job.

I’m old enough to remember the 1984 Olympics. McDonalds ran a promotion contest inwhich with every purchase you received a scratch off ticket with an Olympic event. You won free food for the event if the US medaled. Bronze, Silver, or Gold, Coke, Fries or Big Mac. Unfortunately for McDonalds the Soviet Union boycotted and suddenly the US was the favorite to win almost every event. With the Soviet block countries not attending we won just about everything. I ate horribly from a nutrition standpoint but free for about a month that summer. Since then I can only sit down and watch the Olympics if I’m eating a salad. I was young so at least I could absorb a month of Big Macs. It would probably kill me now.

I just don’t have time to be a huge fan of the Olympics. I allow myself the time to follow The Blazers and Pro-Basketball. Oh sometimes I’ll catch an event or two, or three if there is some attached reason or back-story I have heard about. But overall, I’m just not a huge Olympics person. I will root for the USA basketball team. Might catch a few of the Olympic games featuring them and/or Spain with Fernandez. Over the years of casually watching the Olympics in regards to Basketball, we obviously have seen the emergence of it’s popularity and it’s execution on a ever growing and improving level internationally. It’s interesting to me that the Olympics Basketball seems to illustrate how a cohesive TEAM with talent can beat a juggernaut All-Star team made up of individuals that don’t have the “Team” experience or mentality on the court. The US can still easily field the most talented team but unfortunately we’ve seen the rest of the world get closer and edge us out with experience as a group. We’ve reacted by having our guys commit to playing together a little longer and assembling the roster with a little more attention to the differences between the Olympic Game and the US game. Plus I think we are looking at roles and needs closer but this run will be interesting. Do we have enough talent and focus to simply out play everyone even Spain and Greece? Those match-ups will be fun. The N.B.A. did a good job promoting itself abroad but are we ironicly begining to reap some negative fall out? More US players being lured away? Foreign National teams actually beating us in international play? Basketball is a US born game, but in some ways we are becoming victims of our own success. Wasn’t it a little more relaxing when it seemed all most of the foreign world focused on was Futball or that strange game we call soccer?

Basically, no one likes team USA because they are good and there are no Blazers on the roster, so every is rooting against them. If just one member of the Blazers was on the roster, I think a lot more people would be interested and wouldn’t care in the least that the USA has a dominant team. I don’t think I have ever seen a greater example of familiarity breeds contempt.

You could be rooting for a team of rapist and murders from another country and because you know nothing about them and Kobe is on team USA it makes you feel better to root against him. I like everyone who is associated with this team from the coaches, the players, and even the guys they scrimmaged with here in the US. I am not a fan of Kobe but I am a fan of watching him play. I feel a lot of contempt and holier-than-thou in these comments and it is disheartening. Every country sends professions to compete, it is not team USA’s fault that their pro’s are better.

As for the rest of the Olympics, it is a lot more than basketball. I have watched the Olympics since I was a little kid. Once every four years I care to watch gymnastics, swimming, diving, and a variety of obscure sports that aren’t worth my attention normally. I love rooting for people from any country fulfilling their life long dream just to compete in the Olympics. Winning medals is just the icing on the cake. Everyone seems to have forgotten it is about the athletes and what they have had to go through to get to where they are today.

This thread is really disappointing. When I’m watching Bryan Clay, Beth Arnoult, Clarissa Chun, or Dwight Howard holding their gold medal as The Star-Spangled Banner plays, I am sure to get a little teary eyed. I will be very happy for them fulfilling their Olympic dream and and the national anthem means a lot to me. If Rudy wins the gold medal and I have to hear the Mexican national anthem; I’ll be happy for him but I won’t get teary eyed because I don’t know the words. It is not about corporate America, it is not about the USA basketball team, it is about people from all over the world coming together to compete at the highest level. If you can’t appreciate that, then you’re missing the point of the Olympics.

If it’s really about that, why are we playing national anthems for the victors? Why not let them pick their own song? A little Subterranean Homesick Blues on the medal stand would kick butt.

But no, it really is about nationalism with the other stuff thrown in to get us teary eyed once in a whlie and like pavlovs dogs we’ll begin to wax nostalgic and teary eyed when the sponsors jingle is played whether McDonald’s or the US’s.

For some reason the USA basketball team is one of the teams about which I care most. In a lot of the individual events, I root for other countries—perhaps as an attempt to demonstrate to myself that I am not a nationalistic, jingoistic, parochialist jerk. When it comes to Basketball, however, I really, really want the U.S. to win.

More only explanation is that having the U.S. win confirms what I think I know about the world. I think I know that the stars on the American basketball team are some of the greatest athletes in the world… 10 to 20 times more extraordinary, frankly, than the best swimmers or gymnasts in the world. A tiny fraction of the population ever even tries a large proportion of most olympic sports. And, only a fraction of those that try any olympic sport has access to the training and coaching resources necessary to get to the Olympic level. By contrast, success in basketball is open to the vast majority of the population in the US.

I know that coaching and team work and all of those things affect who wins, but part of me wants to believe that individual talent is what matter most in basketball.

By Alastair Himmer

I’m not a big fan of sports at a high level, at any level.
While I can see the appeal of watching the best, I’m pretty much a fan of moderation in most things (except BE posting), and the intense, “move away from your family at age 7 to train with the best” aspect of a lot of Olympic training really turns me off.
Knowing the reasonably high level of doping and eating disorders among elite athletes also turns me off.
But that’s just me.

And I always root for America to kill the other teams in every sport, and love watching the athletes accomplish their lifelong dreams.

I don’t mind other countries winning, but I hate hate hate other countries beating us at basketball. That’s the only one I get super-patriotic/nationalistic about.

It’s not at the level of my homerness for the Blazers, but it’s up there.

Every team is just allstars, and we’d still be sending college kids if the other countries weren’t sending grown professional men. I’m fine if we had a 23-n-under rule, but as long as everyone uses their allstars, I want our best players there.

This team was put together much, much better than the 2004 team. That team made me very angry. They were incredibly awful and I was embarrassed for them. Who was in charge of USA Basketball then?

I don’t see how, say, Spain is any different from us with players just coming together for the Olympics (or World championships and whatnot). Pau, Calderon, Jorge, soon Rudy, they only play together for these things. They’ve played together longer which gives them an advantage, which I’m totally fine with since we got such an enormous talent/athleticism advantage.

I’m glad the other countries have caught up with the USA in many ways. But, I always want us to win.

The Winter Olympics bores me to tears.

I don’t mind people rooting for whoever they wanna root for, but if you’re rooting against USA because of specific players or how it was put together, I don’t think it’s too different from other teams. Everyone has jerks, and everyone would be getting whoever they could if they had players as good as Lebron James or Kobe Bryant. Just because they have players who aren’t good enough to NBA it up or play much outside of their national team doesn’t make it intrinsically better… they’d be forming their team’s the same way if they had the same talent pool to choose from.

I’ll definitely be rooting for Rudy, but I’ll always want to be the best at basketball.

Mortimer

For me it was the 1976 games in Montreal.
Sugar Ray & the US boxing team was phenomenal !

I wouldn’t call you fat.

Dave, I applaud your courage in initiating this particular forum. I wish BEdge could do a retro discussion to some of the events in Mexico City. The massacre of Mexican citizens, the Black Power symbolism, Dick Fosbury’s famous flop, the Swede pentathlete’s disqualification for drinking some beer, the Czech woman’s anti-Soviet gestures. That year, when I lived in both the US and Australia, these questions came to me: Where are my loyalties? How important is patriotism? First, I’m a human being, a citizen of the world, then second, I’m an American, or maybe second, I’m an Oregonian; but ultimately, how much does it matter to one of God’s children?
Like many others have said above, for me the Olympics are about the individuals and the cohesive efforts of the teams, not the countries