Team USA upset by Greece
This is kinda new to me. I follow sports very closely, and I draw conclusions all the time, but I never thought about writing about them. I mean, I've always wanted to be a sports journalist, and I've kept records of a lot of sports data that I found along the way, but I never really wrote anything "formal" about it. Right now, I have 45 minutes to kill, and I'm gonna write about how the USA Basketball Team just got kicked out of the World Championship by a little known Greek Team.
I won't lie about it. As anyone that comes from outside the US, I kinda feel happy that Team USA lost. I don't hate the US, don't get me wrong. It is my home, and the same way Argentina is my past, here is where my future lies, and I'll be forever thankful to this country. But the attitude of the American society in general does attract a lot of hate and resentment.
As I was watching the game, I realized how disrespectful Team USA was towards the rest of the world. They overestimated Greece. The Greek roster contains 1 former NBA player (Antonis Fotsis, a complete failure with the Philadelphia 76ers) and 1 player that just signed with Houston Rockets (Vassilis Spanoulis, who just scored 20+ pts). Team USA thought they could never lose to that bunch of unkown players. The Greek is not particularly tall, they are not even close to being as athletic as the american players, and they don't have any deadly 3-point shooters. So, how do you explain how they beat Team USA, a well-assembled team, with young and hungry players and a very capable and responsible coach (Duke University BB team coach, can't spell his last name). This is what I think:
1) Team USA lacks chemistry. For every new competition, they assemble a new roster. This time, they chose better players than at the Olympics or the last World Championships, but these players don't really know each other. They are superb on their own teams, but they couldn't blend with other players. The Argentinean, Greek, Spanish, Australian, Lithuanian and Slovenian teams have been playing together for more than 8 yrs. Ginobili, Nocioni, Oberto, Pepe Sanchez, Leo Gutierrez, Wolkowysky, etc have been playing for Argentina since who knows when, and most of them aren't even in their 30's.
2) EGOS. Not as big of an issue as it was in the past, but it's still is. Carmelo Antony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are 3 superstars. They earn a lot of money in salary, shoe endorsements, etc.
3) Lack of experience. Most of the players chosen are really young, most of them under 26 yrs old. EVERY SINGLE OTHER TEAM is either led by a veteran figure (Papaloukas in Greece, Garbajosa in Spain, Pepe Sanchez and Oberto in Argentina, Erdogan in Turkey, etc). Team USA should've included more veteran players.
4) Lack of nationalism by some of the best players. YUP, Unbelievable. In the most patriotic country in the world, one player after another bailed out of the roster citing different reasons (some justifiable, some not). Remember, they are a little bit richer than they need to be. And a good summer vacation always sounds better than having to train everyday, fly to a different country and play 10 games in a 20 day span. This is the difference between the US players and the rest of the world: to cite an exaple, this player, Piculin Ortiz, from Puerto Rico, played professionally till 42, for some really crappy teams, just so he could keep playing for the PR National Team. Players around the world keep challenging their clubs (those who pay their salaries) and risk losing their contracts just so they can play for their country. For any player in the world, playing for their National Team is above and beyond everything else. That doesn't appear to be the case for American players, despite fancy commercials like the TEAM USA one (the "I pledge allegiance to the game" one, almost made me puke).
So yes, that's all I have to say about it. Argentina vs. Spain is about to start in 15 minutes, and hopefully Argentina will beat the Spaniards, rout Greece in the finals and take the Gold home. The people in Argentina deserve it, they live for sports, and the economic/social situation over there doesn't really offer any hope to anyone. So I guess it would be kinda cool to win the gold medal.
That's it. Goodnight
PS: Another sports related stuff who happens to show that I'm not anti-American, but anti-certain-kinda-people: I really hope with all my heart that Agassi wins the US Open. It would be such an amazing feat, and it would wrap up his career the way he deserves it. If Sampras did it, why can't Andre do it too? Keep it up Andre, please write 5 more pages to the legend!
I won't lie about it. As anyone that comes from outside the US, I kinda feel happy that Team USA lost. I don't hate the US, don't get me wrong. It is my home, and the same way Argentina is my past, here is where my future lies, and I'll be forever thankful to this country. But the attitude of the American society in general does attract a lot of hate and resentment.
As I was watching the game, I realized how disrespectful Team USA was towards the rest of the world. They overestimated Greece. The Greek roster contains 1 former NBA player (Antonis Fotsis, a complete failure with the Philadelphia 76ers) and 1 player that just signed with Houston Rockets (Vassilis Spanoulis, who just scored 20+ pts). Team USA thought they could never lose to that bunch of unkown players. The Greek is not particularly tall, they are not even close to being as athletic as the american players, and they don't have any deadly 3-point shooters. So, how do you explain how they beat Team USA, a well-assembled team, with young and hungry players and a very capable and responsible coach (Duke University BB team coach, can't spell his last name). This is what I think:
1) Team USA lacks chemistry. For every new competition, they assemble a new roster. This time, they chose better players than at the Olympics or the last World Championships, but these players don't really know each other. They are superb on their own teams, but they couldn't blend with other players. The Argentinean, Greek, Spanish, Australian, Lithuanian and Slovenian teams have been playing together for more than 8 yrs. Ginobili, Nocioni, Oberto, Pepe Sanchez, Leo Gutierrez, Wolkowysky, etc have been playing for Argentina since who knows when, and most of them aren't even in their 30's.
2) EGOS. Not as big of an issue as it was in the past, but it's still is. Carmelo Antony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are 3 superstars. They earn a lot of money in salary, shoe endorsements, etc.
3) Lack of experience. Most of the players chosen are really young, most of them under 26 yrs old. EVERY SINGLE OTHER TEAM is either led by a veteran figure (Papaloukas in Greece, Garbajosa in Spain, Pepe Sanchez and Oberto in Argentina, Erdogan in Turkey, etc). Team USA should've included more veteran players.
4) Lack of nationalism by some of the best players. YUP, Unbelievable. In the most patriotic country in the world, one player after another bailed out of the roster citing different reasons (some justifiable, some not). Remember, they are a little bit richer than they need to be. And a good summer vacation always sounds better than having to train everyday, fly to a different country and play 10 games in a 20 day span. This is the difference between the US players and the rest of the world: to cite an exaple, this player, Piculin Ortiz, from Puerto Rico, played professionally till 42, for some really crappy teams, just so he could keep playing for the PR National Team. Players around the world keep challenging their clubs (those who pay their salaries) and risk losing their contracts just so they can play for their country. For any player in the world, playing for their National Team is above and beyond everything else. That doesn't appear to be the case for American players, despite fancy commercials like the TEAM USA one (the "I pledge allegiance to the game" one, almost made me puke).
So yes, that's all I have to say about it. Argentina vs. Spain is about to start in 15 minutes, and hopefully Argentina will beat the Spaniards, rout Greece in the finals and take the Gold home. The people in Argentina deserve it, they live for sports, and the economic/social situation over there doesn't really offer any hope to anyone. So I guess it would be kinda cool to win the gold medal.
That's it. Goodnight
PS: Another sports related stuff who happens to show that I'm not anti-American, but anti-certain-kinda-people: I really hope with all my heart that Agassi wins the US Open. It would be such an amazing feat, and it would wrap up his career the way he deserves it. If Sampras did it, why can't Andre do it too? Keep it up Andre, please write 5 more pages to the legend!