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Do you honestly think America winning the Olympics is the best of the best in basketball?! It's not. It is indeed a 2nd tier event. It's like a pop warner team playing a pro team. Not one of our professional basketball stars would look at that gold medal and give it two thoughts (it's like a shoot around for them). They know the major accomplishment in their lives is winning the NBA championship and so do any of the European players that play in the NBA. The event is a joke. Which make the fact that they were upset such an embarrassment for the country in 2004. The U.S. could easily put together a second set of athletes that were a notch lower than the "Dream Team" and they could win the gold medal also. As mentioned previously, it would be like having a professional NFL team that wins every game by 40+ points. It's boring and noncompetitive, and no one would have interest in that for long (the Nielsen ratings would plummet). The reason most American sports have such excitement is because at some point, the elite teams meet each other and it's like a prize fight. But you don't get that in Olympic basketball. There is never another elite team that comes around (and therefore no suspense whatsoever). Some of you people are so caught up on winning that you miss the point that people want a competitive event. it meant more when our amateurs (who are outstanding) represented the country. We did extremely well and it was fun to watch. Our greatest event in history was the Miracle on Ice. That event would have meant nothing had it been professional hockey players. This whole winning at all costs mentality that some of you have is a bit much. I think most people would like to watch a competitive game than what we're getting now. Would you honestly feel proud accepting a medal if you beat a 10 year old in a fight? Would you raise the American Flag and think how special you were for beating this kid? I'm thinking not. But that is what happens sometimes with the type on one-sided-ness we get in some of these events. Again, boring and uninteresting.
dam right I would, if that 10 year old was....A COMMIE!
Pros should be allowed to play. One needs to look at the positive impacts having the NBA players included in the Olympics has had on the global game as a whole in the last 25 years since the original dream tream. Overall point differentials have decreased (more nations are competitive now), more foreign players are being drafted in the NBA draft.
One could also argue that if the competition was strictly amateur, the US would still dominate since European players turn professional when they turn 18 as they don't have the collegiate minor league system that the US does. we would be playing our best college players against their 17 and 18 year olds.
The difference between the two is:
Professional wrestling is more of sports entertainment and sports scripted
Olympic wrestling is not
But think if the possibilities due to scripting. You could have your largest and best wrestler's character originate from a tiny end of the earth country, and can fast track them to the final match against one of the superpowers.
Other countries were using professional athletes and the only* for the US to compete was to do the same. The Olympics is about finding the best so if you can make the team, you should be able to compete.
cd :O)
*Our miracle win in Hockey over the Russians is a good counter argument, but that was truly a miracle.
The conspiracy theorists have speculated that the Russians let us win the hockey game so that we would not boycott the upcoming 1980 summer games in Moscow.......
The downstream result was that 1984 Los Angeles games was our most dominant since the eastern bloc countries didnt show up.
Olympics used to be for Amateurs only but there was too much cheating so its now open to any athlete who can qualify, the bigger question would be whether to hold the event in the same place rather than different locales everytime that conspire to put an enormous financial strain on the host city and give rise to much corruption in the process.
This is the real travesty. The amount of bribery/corruption/graft happening by cities just to funnel construction funds their way. Look at the Sochi fiasco, the problems Brazil is having (even though they just spent a fortune on the World Cup not long ago).
2 games decided by 30+
3 games decided by 14+
1 by 11
and the last game by 4
I believe you just answered your own question..." granted it was back and forth". Let me know the next time Croatia or Lithuania get down by 20 points to the dream team and make some kind of a comeback. The Warriors had several situations where they were down by double digits during the season and came back within half a quarter to tie the game. It was plausible and believable that they could do that. That's not happening with these countries vs the dream team.
I don't think so. If they did, the games would truly become the purview of the wealthy, way more so than they already are. Lots of these athletes train on shoestring budgets and make huge financial sacrifices already, and I'm not willing to take away what little support they get. Sports like swimming, diving, Gymnastics, etc are already the purview of the middle class at least, as families that make big sacrifices for their young athletes, have to have something to sacrifice in excess of the mortgage and utilities. Sports like Basketball, Track and Field, boxing, tend to be more egalitarian, and might remain so, to a certain extent.
Amateurism is a useless system that steals money from performers. It has no use anymore.
It was created by wealthy sportsman during the 1800s to keep from competing with athletes who need to work to live. The NCAA has run with the idea and continues to steal from athletes. In the 1950s, the NCAA realized that they might be liable for workman's comp injuries from sports, they came up with the 'student athlete' bs. The Olympic Games has a long, corrupt money history. Not paying athletes while the ruling management pays themselves huge salaries from the gate and TV revenues is disgusting.
The other joke is the fact that during the 1950s to the demise of the USSR, all communist contry athletes were professionals.
Amateurism needs to be eliminated.
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