[Too Artificial]

Originally posted by phoenixboy70:


may i add that team usa sucked MAJORLY @ shooting from the outside and rebounding.

That's SHOCKING! NBA players sucking at the fundamentals!

[lngtones]

Originally posted by cjrivera:
yes, but the style of ball they are playing is more like the rest of the world (team ball) than the typical NBA style. This is what the USA team is lacking (that and outside shooting)

Damn those selfish Americans. Long live the rest of the world! When are the olympics going to be The Rest Of The World vs. USA

[cjrivera]

Originally posted by lngtones:
Damn those selfish Americans. Long live the rest of the world! When are the olympics going to be The Rest Of The World vs. USA

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge USA supporter in the Games, and I hope the Men's Basketball team will strike gold, but I'm being critical of the type of play, rather than the country. If the Men's team played with the effort and heart that some of the other US teams (women's basketball, men's gymnastics, women's softball), they wouldn't be in this predicament.

A better team to represent the US (if you could get them to play) would be the winner of the NBA finals. They would at least have played as a team and knew the roles and responsibilites each player had and filled them.

I'm not saying anything different than many other sports commentators and basketball fans are saying across the US.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
So when I watch Rugby I'm unpatriotic. Just can't win with those conservatives.

Rugby?

There is a difference between watching a sport that isn't very popular in your country and rooting against your own country from the very beginning of a match.

And what does being a conservative have ANYTHING to do with this?

[slimshady023]

Screw getting a bunch of all-stars, they should have the Detroit Pistons represent the United States. They are the reigning world champions, and know how to play like a team. Who better than having the Wallaces, Billups, and crew tearing things down.

Most of the players out there looked pathetic, not knowing how to play as a team. It's the same reason that Kobe Bryant will never be Michael Jordan, no matter how great of an individual talent he is.

Just my two pennies.
- slim

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by cjrivera:
Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge USA supporter in the Games, and I hope the Men's Basketball team will strike gold, but I'm being critical of the type of play, rather than the country. If the Men's team played with the effort and heart that some of the other US teams (women's basketball, men's gymnastics, women's softball), they wouldn't be in this predicament.

A better team to represent the US (if you could get them to play) would be the winner of the NBA finals. They would at least have played as a team and knew the roles and responsibilites each player had and filled them.

I'm with you. Add in the fact that Team USA has only been together a few weeks while many of these other nations teams have had steady rosters over the years. Also, the average age of Team USA is 23 years. It's practically like a college all-star team... with Duncan and Iverson.

The only thing I want to see is Team USA give their all ala the early 1990s NY Knicks (Ewing, Oakly, Starks). If they come up short, so be it. But it better go down with Team USA hustling and defending. I want to see Lebron James give his body up for the good of the team, like Derek Jeter's head-first dive after running down and catching a critical 12-inning pop fly against the Red Sox some last month.

[brachiator]

Originally posted by ender2002:
doesnt the united states own puerto rico?

That's kind of a strange, colonial way to put it, although PR is treated somewhat like a colony. It's part of the US, and Puerto Ricans are US citizens -- albeit ones with no representation in Congress (just like Washington, DC)... it's a Commonwealth with authority over its internal governance, while external affairs are handled by the US gov't. But there have been factions fighting for independence or statehood for years.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
There is a difference between watching a sport that isn't very popular in your country and rooting against your own country from the very beginning of a match.

I thought it was the whole "if you're not with us, you're against us" attitude... oh wait, it is. So you're unpatriotic if you don't root for the USA? That's just silly.

And what does being a conservative have ANYTHING to do with this?

Because not being pro-USA in every aspect (especially sports) is unpatriotic. Seems like a very conservative-centric view, that's all.

[brachiator]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
Because not being pro-USA in every aspect (especially sports) is unpatriotic. Seems like a very conservative-centric view, that's all.

That's a GOP view, not a conservative view, actually. There are very few conservatives with any power left in the GOP, apparently.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by brachiator:
That's a GOP view, not a conservative view, actually. There are very few conservatives with any power left in the GOP, apparently.

That's a caricature of a GOP view, not a GOP view, actually. No one actually goes this far in their beliefs, not even the staunchest USA-cheerleader.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
I thought it was the whole "if you're not with us, you're against us" attitude... oh wait, it is. So you're unpatriotic if you don't root for the USA? That's just silly.

Because not being pro-USA in every aspect (especially sports) is unpatriotic. Seems like a very conservative-centric view, that's all.

You are mixing words. There is a difference between not rooting for your country and rooting against your country.

If you live in Spain, and root against Spain (regardless of who they play) in an international sporting event, it's unpatriotic by definition.

I'm not saying we should lock you up... but criticism is one thing, but cheerleading for them to lose is something different. I realize it's just a game, but it is what it is.

[phoenixboy70]

Originally posted by slimshady023:
Screw getting a bunch of all-stars, they should have the Detroit Pistons represent the United States.

let's see argentina or italy (one of these two will win the gold), play the pistons (or even the lakers)...

[scottiB]

Any national Olympic team would be trounced by the Pistons--or pretty much any other NBA team because an NBA squad has played together for much longer than Team USA and all NBA squads are well-rounded with role and position players (defensive stoppers, 3-point shooters, etc.).

What's killing USA is not lack of talent; it's the lack of playing together for more than three weeks prior to beginning warm-up games and the Olympics. Give these guys and Coach Brown two solid months of prep time to get acclimated to each other and international rules, and USA would win all games pretty convincingly (though not Dream Team '92 drubbingly).

As well, the USA selection committee seems to have chosen players that fall into a ranking and made choices based on that--irrespective of what was needed. If player A declines, they ask player B as the next best player--even if the teams needs something else. When Rip Hamilton, a fantastic jump shooter declined, the next player invited should've been Michael Redd (another great shooter)--not Carmelo Anthony who plays no defense, and USA was already deep at the 3 (small forward).

Team USA needs to create a national team, announced in the spring of an Olympic year, of developmental league players, hardly playing rookies, etc., and get 'em going from May till August--and the Olympics can be their showcases to the world of their bankable talents. Perhaps some NBA team or Euro League team will pick one of them up.

Here's an ESPN article that initiated that idea.

[brachiator]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That's a caricature of a GOP view, not a GOP view, actually. No one actually goes this far in their beliefs, not even the staunchest USA-cheerleader.

Caricature it may be, but I am referring to statements made by GOP leading lights such as Ari Fleischer (and by extension, GWB) and Ann Coulter. I am also referring to the general tone of discourse, nationally, and the nouveau-COINTELPRO approach that seems to be taken more often now by the local and national police.

I do take pains to distinguish the GOP and reactionaries from Republicans, Republicans from conservatives, and Republicans and conservatives from small-r republicans. Same goes on my side -- very few true liberals, democrats or republicans to be had in the Democratic Party.

[phoenixboy70]

didn't look too shabby against greece. that was probably one of the toughest opponents of the entire tournament.