So, the US basketball team got as far at their championship as the Nats did in Japan/Korea. At least one smart-alek columnist has noted this: J.A. Adande in his column in the L.A. Times today Saturday on the U.S. disaster at the World BB championship. this is in the last graf: "We'll only look back at this week as a bad turning point if the trends from this year's World Cup and World Championship continue ... and the United States becomes a soccer country." ouch. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-adande7sep07.column?coll=la-headlines-sports you have to register, but it's free (disclaimer: and it's also the paper I work for)
ESPN: US a soccer plyaing nation More US Nats, BB Soccer comparisons. From Mark Stein, ESPN... INDIANAPOLIS -- The United States had the better soccer team this summer and Argentina had the better basketball team. And not a soul anywhere can dare claim they had money on that exacta... ....Karl will be remembered as the coach of the first NBA-staffed U.S. team to lose a game. The first to lose two in a row and fall totally out of medal contention. The first to officially render us, as proclaimed on a recent SportsCenter, a soccer-playing nation. http://www.espn.go.com/nba/columns/stein/1428895.html
Good fun there. Funny thought for me was when the USA basketball team lost I compared the exact two situations.
It's a little disappointing that reporters are taking it this way when one could easily say this marks the turning point for basketball as a truly world sport like soccer. If I followed basketball, I would be happy with this.
Is anybody really pissed at the NBA players for the way they have acted going into this. Listen, I hate the NBA, I think we have just seen some of the fundemental flaws in the NBA come glaring out at us. Lack of defense, poor shooting ... but as an American I am totally pissed that we made such an embarrassing showing. Yeah I am happy for the pro soccer comments, but this was just ridiculous. Listen the NBA was formed in my Grandfathers living room right here in Ft. Wayne ( No, Really ) and he can't believe what it has turned into. It is a circus. If our best athletes don't care to represent there country.. ************ em. This is what the Euro's were saying at the world Cup also. but they played . Sorry for the vent.. Thanks..
The parallels are really quite startling. Teams with high priced players, who didn't prepare or play with hunger were beaten by teams with lesser talent who prepared and played with hunger. It shows the gap in talent has been narrowed significantly, although not entirely and desire and teamwork wins out.
It wouldn't be a sport if the "less talented" teams didn't have a chance to beat the "more talented" ones. The US can't automatically win a basketball game just by showing up any more than Argentina can automatically win a soccer match. BTW, what happened the last two time the US took the soccer field against Argentina?
Oh please, even on paper the Yugoslavians had more talent than this USA team. There was no way any sane person could have thought that we had an easy run to the championship.
No ************, but it still speaks to the gap in talent that we send a c team, give them 2 weeks practice and they still have a chance to win it down the stretch.
Looks like I'm gonna highjack this to "Other Sports".. On paper, really? The NBA defensive player of the year, the third leading scorer, the league assist leader,,,,,7(?) NBA All-Stars,,, This was no "C" team. The problem was that it was no TEAM. No, it was never an easy assignment. But that display of missed FT's, repeated defensive lapses, non-existent ball movement, ball-hogging, and lack of focus and passion was staggering. Some US NBA fans are fearing that this loss indicates the talent gap has perilously narrowed. Perhaps. But anybody remember what happened during the '98 WC? Because of the NBA lockout, the USBA rounded up a bunch of CBA guys and anonymous FAs who THIS close to winning the whole thing, ultimately taking the bronze. Why? Athleticism, which readily translates to defense, and more importantly, teamwork. Even though they had the same short preparation period, that group trusted each other and focused on defense. (Obligatory soccer correlation: the NATS could do well to draw upon its reserve of uber-athletes to play pressure defense and stretch the field-see Tony Sanneh-at the expense of "skilled" but less athletic players.) Bottom line, this group should have done MUCH better. And they were rightly the favorites. Which makes it all the more humiliating.
There you have it. Turning back to soccer... notice how many supporters from both teams were wearing soccer jerseys? Whenever they would show the Argentina fans, about 80% would be wearing the soccer shirts, and there would be two or three guys wearing the rugby strip. Same with the Jugos, only more club team kits (and, to be fair, the occasional Sacramento Kings jersey). It's a minor point, but worth keeping in mind next time some columnist claims that basketball has replaced soccer as the world's #1 game.
Well, it's obvious that basketball has replaced soccer as the #1 sport. I mean, look how successful their respective world championships were.