By The Sports Kid
08-23-04
Wow. I never knew U.S.A. basketball was this bad. I mean, I knew they weren't going to do too well this year, but I just never really pictured team U.S.A. sucking so much. I knew we were bad on paper, but I still wouldn't believe it. Are NBA American players that bad? The players that we sent probably weren't the best we could have sent. We were young, and we did lack International experience but still. I like Iverson a lot, he's probably one of the toughest players in the NBA--he throws himself inside like he's 300 pounds and lays it up. A lot of people think he takes too many shots and shoots too low shooting percentage, but it's not his fault nobody on the Sixers step it up. Duncan is a great player nothing bad to say about him. But besides those two, our team is a bunch of nobodies.
All of this may be true, but I could just never picture the U.S. get eliminated so quickly. I almost feel ashamed. Almost... but they again, I think it's good for the Olympics. It's like having the Yankees lose in the World Series to a team like the Marlins who have a payroll less than half theirs. It's good for the game. It's good for the Americans. It makes the games interesting.
I'd be lying if I said I was 100% behind the U.S. team on Saturday's game against whatever that team's name was (the name doesn't come to mind right now, and it doesn't really matter.) I sympathize for the other countries that have to watch the snotty, rich Americans take all the golds.
Has anybody seen that one swimmer dude by the name of Phelps (and yes that's sarcasm)? 5 golds and like 2 bronze? I saw him swim the other day--it was Saturday night, it was the 200-meter butterfly I think. It was a great race. Phelps started out pretty slow, and was still behind the number one gut--the other American in the race, Crocker--after the second half of the race. As they approached the finish line, I stood up and got closer to the T.V. (By the way, this is how I try to build tension here, because, well it's the only way I know how on the Internet as you read this page...). They were neck and neck, with Crocker with mere centimeters ahead of Phelps. Then with about two meters left Phelps stretches out and reaches the wall .04 of a second faster than Crocker.
They finish 1-2. Man, wouldn't it suck to be Crocker. Always coming second to Phelps, and then finally getting a real chance of beating him and you lose by .04?!?!? I would be crushed if that happened. But he was all smiles on camera. It was killing him on the inside. Like it's killing me to write more...