Baskeball "World Cup" gets no respect

This is not true as far as #2 sport is concerned. However, you are accurate in saying that it is very popular.

For example in England, the second sport is probably Rugby (Union) and poss cricket...
The rest of the UK Rugby is definatley the second Sport as it is in France..

Scandanavia, and Russia hockey is #2
Basketball is most popular in Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia (and the old Slavic countries) and Israel. However, I think in Italy there could be a case for F1...

In the rest of the world, there is a large following in OZ, but can't compare to Aussie Rules and both forms of Union..and the second largest sport (in support numbers) in the world is cricket because of the sub-continent.

However, basketball does have a large following in all the countries including England..

-Richard

 

Re: Basketball "World Cup" gets no respect

Ignoring a basketball tournament is evidence that we're obsessed with our sports???

That can't be what you mean.

 

Re: Re: Basketball "World Cup" gets no respect

Now, if he'd typed the word "Leagues" instead of "sports," then he'd have something.

 

Re: Re: Re: Basketball "World Cup" gets no respect

He would. Maybe.

But that would be ignoring the hype that surrounded the 1992 USA Olympic team. Nothing's come close since, because, as it's already been observed, a lot of the very top flight of players (Shaq, Kobe, Tim Duncan, etc.) don't play in these competitions anymore.

And to rtung, who said there's no competition: Bollocks. The US beat Lithuania by only two points (85-83) in the 2000 Olympics semifinals, and France was behind by only four points with four minutes to play before falling 85-75 to the USA in the gold medal game.

The rest of the world is catching up. And if Team USA treats the 2004 Olympics like they did the 2000 Olympics, someone is going to flat-out humiliate them in Athens.

 

Don't forget World Powers such as Cuba, Dominican Republic along with Puerto Rico and Taiwan.

 

Re: ??

Fixed your post

Tell me seriously, and I know what I'm talking about because I'm not an american, who, besides United States nationals, care about american football?

The answer? NOBODY

 

It's not the coach that matters. It's the club owners. You see it again and again. The World Cup is sacred, but things like Qualifiers, non-European championships, and friendlies are a constant battle.

It's only going to get worse. As the club economics scale in Europe, you'll see European soccer begin to resemble American sports teams. At the amount of money these clubs are paying out, they want to protect their investment. Having a Zidane at the world cup can be a great boon to the club in marketing and exposure. Having Zidane play a bunch of friendlies and qualifiers is less so.

 

Not sure why we're discussing this but OK

I think within 10-20 years hoops will be a strong #2 behind soccer around the world. It won't be a number 1 sport in many countries but it will be a strong 2,3,4 sport almost everywhere. With the increasing import of European, South American, and Asian players this will only increase. We are a long way off from one individual country beating the US, but a Ryder Cup style competition of the US against Europe or US against the rest of the work could be very interesting! We would need to send our A squad to beat the world's A squad at this point.

 

basketball is popular in Greece, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and parts of Spain. To think only Americans like this game is ludicrous.

 

I think the reason why the Basketball World Cup get's no respect from the media is because it doesn't deserve it. There is an annual World Championship in icehockey that have the same problem: The best players aren't available. The hockey WC are fought out by players from teams beaten out from the Stanley Cup and players not good enough to play for a NHL team. The basketball WC will be played by those not good enough to play NBA.

The solution so far has been having a break in the NBA and NHL every fourth year for the Olympics, which I think is a good idea. Good for the game. I think it would be a good idea for baseball to do the same. As a recall it the US have had some problems mainly with Cuba in the Olympics. Might be a good idea to send the A-team instead for the reserves.

In football this problem never occurs. Nowhere in the world there is played serious football outside the FIFA family and the FIFA rules. According to these you can't refuse to let a player go to the national team for championship games (including qualifications) if the national association wants him. There has for a long time been talks among the major european clubs to build a league of their own, outside FIFA. It's a long way from a reality though.

 

Actually, it was more like 1988 collegiate "Dream Team" that was the last straw. Seeing David Robinson and those guys on the bench sulking was a thing of... erm... beauty.

But basketball has changed. The product is in decline. Nobody really likes the players + the league took a near irrecoverable hit with the strike talks/threats and that shortened 50 game season dealt a massive blow. I don't even watch the regular season anymore because it's boring. the NBA is watered down with too many teams and too little talent. High schoolers with hardly enough skills to hack it even ten years ago are jumping into the NBA... most aren't even that great in year two, let alone riding the pine in year one (I'm talking to you Tyson...)

The swan song just might be for the US to get the asses handed to them in this WC, and for a foreigner to shine in the league and win the NBA MVP award someday. I know I'm sick of those jack-asses and the NBA beaurocracy...

 

I think what really hurts a Basketball World Cup is that all the best players are in the NBA, or soon to join. It's not like there is a debate as in Soccer over whether the EPL or LaLiga or Serie A... It will be of far greater significance when an NBA team wins a championship led by a foreign national player than a team beating a US team populated with 3rd tier "stars".

The world is getting more competitive in hoops, but the US is still the basketball equivalent of a Brasil that invented the game and has a 50 year head start.

I do hope the tourney in Indiana goes well. One of our Badgers (Kirk Penney) is a Kiwi national teamer. GO TALL BLACKS !

 

I know these are all wacky BS semantics...but (without going to the State Dept web site) Im pretty sure there are more Indians and Pakistanis than basketball fans on earth

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Basketball "World Cup" gets no respect

I agree...sort of.

When the lock out occured, all US NBA players refused to take part in the World Championships. The US sent over CBA and college players. With the exception of a couple of college players, there was not a single player who would be in the top 200 to 250 of the US player pool. Considering the number of foreign players playing in the Premiership, this would be similar to England creating a World Cup team out of players who couldn't regularly play in English first division, at best.

This team lost by 2 to Russia in the semis and finished third, primarily because the players gave a strong effort. If the US can drop that far down their player list and finish two points from the finals, I don't know how much competition there can be. The difference between the NBA players in the Olympics and the second rate World Championship team was nothing but effort. The guys in 98 were striving for some recognition and a chance to play in the NBA. The 92 team wanted to prove something after college players lost their edge.

The 2000 team treated the whole affair like a vacation. When they were forced to do something, the team would reel off 8 or 9 straight points to take the lead. More effort is given during pre-season games than what was shown at that Olympics. If another team cares as little as the 2000 team, then I wouldn't be surprised to see an upset. I'm not trying to take credit from the teams who gave the US a better game, but it was pretty obvious the attitude and effort stunk. And if a team who doesn't care can win the whole tournament, how much competition can there really be?

 

In Yugoslavia, basketball is as big as soccer.

 

... and that's just it. How long has basketball been big there? And how long has soccer in the US been the sport most young people choose to play?

I think we're dealing with the same process in the US with soccer that the Europeans (and the rest of the world) are dealing with in basketball. As the talent pool gets bigger, the games become more competitive. It just takes awhile to overcome decades of tradition-- whether that's the US/Korea/Japan/Nigeria/Cameroon's efforts to compete against the likes of South America/Europe's top countries or Brasil/Italy/Spain/Croatia/Yugoslavia's efforts to compete with the US.

The World Cup already has a core group of perennial competitors (Brasil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, England) even a couple of the same countries (Brasil/Germany) keep showing up in the finals.

The only way a "World Cup" in basketball would be successful (or even Olympic BB, for that matter) is if/when the US "dream team" gets beat by a better team-- or at least the better team that night...

Not to be un-patriotic, but I'd REALLY like to see that happen. Why? Not because I hate the sport of basketball or want the US to lose. But because maybe then our isolationist American sports media could finally start putting our national soccer team's accomplishments in true perspective.

 

I think it's funny that when soccer players are asked to play in the World Cup they are honored...that's what they have dreamed about their whole lives...basketball players could care less...and the American Media sees that no good players are goin to the basketball "world cup" so why cover it?...if players like Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Shaq played the media would be all over it

 

Holy cow, that's over 200 points per game.

Oh and try to use BigSoccer Code to insert images it's really simple. Heck, even I can do it.

 

Nice story. Too bad it didn't happen that way.

 

Basketball is also one of the fastest growing team sports in Britain. I use to watch the British Basketball League's games live on Sky Sports a couple of years ago, although I don't recall seeing it on Sky's tv schedule recently.

http://www.bbl.org.uk/

Kinda strange to see British teams with such American names....Birmingham Bullets, London Towers ( a terrible name! ), the Sheffield Sharks. That said, most of the players in the BBL are actually Americans!