Blocking Out Olympics Basketball
Posted Aug. 19 at 2:41 pm by Don Ward
Despite some close calls that saw opposing teams coming within 25 points, the “Redeem Team” is still plugging along at the Olympics, winning oh-so-close games.
USA! USA! USA!
After watching Michael Phelps (and friends) come from behind, time and again, to win eight gold medals, by fractions of a second, somehow flipping on the tube to see Lebron James and Kobe Bryant posterize a bunch of hapless Europeans has little luster.
This is the problem with Olympic basketball and particularly Team USA. Short of completely mailing it in, like back in 2004, there is no excitement in watching NBA athletes blowing other countries out by 30 points each night. (And that ‘04 USA team was unwatchable despite losing)
A different formula for selecting rosters is needed.
Unfortunately, David Stern and the NBA will never allow the system to go back to the way it should be with college hoops stars playing ball for their country every four years.
Can’t have that. People might actually watch the games.
It would also mean that lucrative Olympics marketing rights would go to the NCAA, preventing the NBA from getting its grubby paws on more money when their players hock McDonald’s french fries and coke. Er… that’s Coca-Cola.
So why not fill out an Olympic Team composed of rookie and two-year players? The league already plays a sophomore-freshman game during the All-Star break. It needs to market young stars for the future of the league.
Think how much more kickass the games would be in Beijing if it was Brandon Roy and Kevin Durant shredding the defense of Croatia or throwing down on some stiff from Australia?
The games might even be memorable.
Flashback: The 1984 U.S baseball squad is still one of the most memorable teams in the Olympics. Why? During the Los Angeles Olympics, baseball finally became a demonstration sport.
The United States still had the best paid ballplayers in the world and under today’s rules would have probably fielded Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Rod Carew and Robin Yount.
Instead the team was composed of young Triple-A ballplayers whom nobody had ever heard of. Yet.
It was more exciting to watch a young Mark McGwire, Barry Larkin, John Marzano, Scott Bankhead and Bill Swift take the field and scrape by in close games than any performance that would have been put in by the big leaguers.
Comments
Funny—I was just thinking about this...because the current Olympic baseball team is filled with minor leaguers, and nobody seems to care. Has anybody (other than me, at 6am this morning, over streaming internet) watched an Olympic baseball game this year?
Posted Aug. 19 at 4:26 pm by SethGood point Seth. Although I wonder whether this has more to do with marketing and NBC's crappy television coverage than gauging public interest.
To channel Ron Fairly, if the games aren't broadcasted, most Olympics viewers have a hard time watching.
Posted Aug. 19 at 4:59 pm by Don Ward