Monday, September 18, 2000
NBA players out of this world
SYDNEY, Australia — Other than drug testing, the biggest joke at the Olympics is that the world will catch up to American basketball. The world will not. We do basketball better than anyone. Basketball and movies. Always have. Always will.
Certain countries are known for certain things. You don't go to Norway to surf. That's just how it is.
You can complain about this, and rip the NBA players for playing. Or you can revel in America's natural superiority and Vince Carter's throw-downs. It's not that hard a choice.
America played China in its Olympic opener Sunday night. It was a game for about six minutes. China had really tall players who fouled a lot. One, 7-foot-5 center Yao
Ming, likely will play in the NBA. The other, 7-foot Wang Zhi Zhi, was drafted by Dallas in '99.
And the Chinese still lost by 47.
With 10:53 left in the half, the U.S. ahead just 27-20, someone with a sense of humor put the Mission Impossible theme on the P.A.
Is it fair? Life isn't fair.
Is Ian Thorpe fair?
Are Michael Johnson's legs fair?
Does anyone feel sorry for the Americans in, say, team handball? We get killed in team handball. It's tragic.
What's the problem?
If the world can't stay with American basketball, that's the world's problem. There are 1.25 billion Chinese. Shouldn't one of them be able to guard Ray Allen?
I hear you. Where's the competition? Where's the sport? Get 'em out. Stop the Dreams at the metal detector. Tell them to remove their gold fillings. Throw some human growth hormone in their urine samples. The other day, a foreign writer asked the Americans about performance-enhancing drugs. Why? So they can win by 140 instead of 75?
“I even marvel at what we have on the court,” Allen said.
The Dreamers remain stuck in a no-win place. Win or else. Win and so what? Win or be known as the biggest choking dogs in the history of the world.
Even their compatriots can't resist a dig.
Said women's team member Dawn Staley: “For the men, it's like a vacation. It gives them the opportunity to play with the best in the NBA, get ready for training camp. For us, it's more like a job. We practice three hours a day.”
Said U.S. assistant Larry Brown, a member of the '64 Olympic team that won gold, “We were 12 to a room, ate in the mess hall, practiced 31 straight days. If we played in the morning, we practiced at night. If we played at night, we practiced in the morning.”
Great, coach. Do you want another medal?
Wanting to fit in
This group of Dreamers wants to fit in at the Games, in a five-star hotel kind of way. They even showed up at the Opening Ceremony. They play hard, they appear to enjoy the games.
And really, what would you rather watch, synchronized diving?
The rules allow pros. The pros agreed to play. Did Alonzo Mourning need this? His wife is due to have a baby any day now. When the time comes, Mourning will leave. And then he will come back, to finish the job.
Given the high-profile pros who blew off the Olympics as an inconvenience, I have no problem with Mourning and his friends playing a little pick-up on the rest of the world's head.
It's getting harder to find someone to agree with me.
Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.
Complete Olympics coverage at Cincinnati.com/olympics
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