Watching ESPNews last evening and I was delighted to see that they spoke about US and the olympics. I am not one of Tommy Smyth biggest fans but he is winning me over. Ioved it when he said you can be sure the US women will never disgrace themselves like the Mens basketball team. Michael Kim was in the studio and he and Tommy did a nice bit on the Womens team and lots of other good soccer stuff.One could get used to having this kind of soccer coverage on TV all the time. Wrote the heading different did not want any wrong impressions.
Not to be argumentative, but didn't the USWNT do just that at the last Women's WC? I felt they displayed the same type of arrogance and attitude that Dream Team are currently displaying.
imho, no, they didn't. they did not lope around with a sense of entitlement. they played hard. they left it all on the field. but loosing chastain in the first game and not having hucles to sub in at all in a physically demanding tournament (and some would say, not having the referee blow the whistle at that crucial milbrett moment) made all the difference, and they lost to germany.
I don't think I would compare the USWNT losing to Germany, who at the time of the World Cup was a top five team and is now #1, to the men's basketball team losing to Italy. It's apples and oranges. Yes, we were expected to win, but Germany had a damn good team. You can lose on any given day when you're playing a top ranked team. Saying the USWNT "disgraced" themselves is not true. Them playing as well as they did to defeat Canada and get the bronze proves the opposite is true.
The German keeper had the match of her life against the U.S. in the WWC. It happens. That'll make the Gold that much sweeter.
I beg to differ, the USWNT played poorly and lost to Germany because they were arrogant and soft from their previous success. I'll point to an ESPN chat just after the WWC with Michelle Akers, who was asked why the women wouldn't admit that they played poorly and that Germany was a better team(at least on that day). Her response?, WHATEVER DUDE, and then proceed to rip on the guy. This exemplifies their attitude and arrogance at the time. It was like they felt they could just show up and name the score against whoever. This is the impression that many got from them, don't get me wrong I'm not bashing the USWNT, it's just human nature to sometimes get spoiled from success.
and i can point to that same response as an indication that the guy was just way off base. my view of the match was that the uswnt played hard and played well and left it all on the field but were done in by a combination of: 1) another of the world's best teams playing a great game 2) a referee swallowing her whistle at a crucial point in the game 3) a gk having "one of those days" add to that the fact that in spite of playing very short staffed thru a tournament that had short turnover times, they beat other top world teams (canada, sweden et al) to get the 3rd place spot. testament enough!
Jones, the German player who played in WUSA, said as much to her national teammates: that the US players in WUSA tended to lord it over the foreign players with an attitude of entitlement -- as though merely stepping on the field guaranteed a result. I think that fed Germany's determination to really humiliate us, which they did.
she has a right to her opinion, but her saying so does not make it so. there were many other foreign players who played in the wusa who actually think that the uswnt players welcomed and encouraged them and made their games better. and losing to germany was not humiliating. it simply proved the fact that the sport is improving all over the world - and by the way, the wusa and the uswnt players were a large part of that.
The waythey lost certainly was -- give up 3 goals without an answer? Spin like a top, but that was as humiliating as France getting knocked out in the group stage of WC'02. It's not supposed to happen to the reigning champion.
What is the reference for the U.S. Men's Basketball team disgracing itself? Surely not the loss to Italy. That was a pre-tournament warmup, friends. The last Olympics? Uh, the U.S. won. The last world U.S. basketball championships? Well, yes, the U.S. lost and lost in ugly fashion, but I'm not sure that the tournament is important enough to warrant the term "disgrace."
that's the way you read it. on the contrary it was indicative to me of the fact that they kept pressing forward right up to the end of the game even tho they knew a counterattack could score against them (the uswnt having lost its starting centerback in the first game). they did not give up. it was only "not supposed to happen" to those who believed the 1999 tripe about the uswnt being head and shoulders above anyone else. the uswnt is simply one of the top 4 or 5 women's teams in the world. on a given day they can lose to another top team that plays well. they have their work cut out in the upcoming olympics especially since the core of the team is one year older. as sregis pointed out, the france analogy is not even close. first in 1999 and getting to the 3rd place game and winning it in 2003 does not compare to first in 1998 and then not even getting past the first round in 2002. and by the way, the reigning champion does lose the championship the next time around. it happens a lot in soccer. many times the reigning champion does not even get to the third place match - and i'm not only talking france 2002.
Disgraced and humilated might be a little strong, under performed about sums up the WNT effort at WWC'03 though. But, if it's your opinion that the USWNT didn't disgrace or embarrass themselves at WWC '03, then you can't say the US men basketball team embarrassed or disgraced themselves either.
i think people need to give credit where it's deserved- to germany & sweden. the us played about as well as that team could- we were beat fair & square. we'll see how us basketball fares, but we were terrible v. italy and poor today v. an unmotivated german team that failed to qualify.
Come on now, you want to give credit to the WNT's opponents and then turn around and deny the men bb opponents the same credit? Please European's have gotten much, much better at hoops. An unmotivated German team? Did you watch today's game, I did and the Germans were FAR from unmotivated. Truth is both teams have under performed at international competions lately. BTW, imho the USWNT is capable of playing much better than it did at the WWC. How many goals did they score during the run of play? How many were scored on set pieces?
i'm not among those who said or believes the b'ball team embarrassed or disgraced itself. most of the members of this team are wet behind the ears with regard to international basketball, while most of the national teams they'll be playing would have spent a whole lot more practice time together than the u.s. has. this may not even be our second or even third best team and international basketball is getting better! face it. we might barely make the bronze in greece - if that!
Is there some way that I can filter-out replies/threads that have "entitlement", or any reference to such, in them? What a bunch of BS!