sportsblog

As I have already written, I have been complely captivated by the Olympics thus far. I can’t get enough of them. Each event has had its own excitement and I just can’t stop watching. I have been especially taken with the basketball tournament and certainly the US squad.

Leading up to the tournament, the US team earned the moniker “the Redeem Team” and really no name could be more apt for this bunch. USA Basketball has seen a sharp decline over the past 5 or so years and there are a few players that are holdovers from the 2004 squad that took Bronze in Athens. So, on the court, they are certainly looking to redeem not only the fortunes of USA Basketball, but also redeem themselves for shortcomings over the past few years. You can see the desire in players like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to take this one all the way. They are working hard and taking each game one at a time. It is a refreshing change of pace from the apathy that had seemed to engulf the team and program over the past few years (something I blame enitrely on Larry Brown; seriously, the man disgusts me).

Their style of play, coaching, work ethic and overall on-court performance is hardly the only thing that is renewing my interest and faith in USA Basketball. Obviously, the fact that it is a real competition this time around and the level of play has been elevated helps, but this goes way beyond the court. Yesterday, LeBron James, Jason Kidd and Chris Paul were sitting with Jason Lezak and Amanda Beard at the swimming cube to watch Michael Phelps. LeBron has also been at a tennis match. At the opening ceremonies, the basketball players didn’t walk by themselves and some of them brought cameras. In other words, they were treating the Olympic experience with respect and reverence. They weren’t larger than the moment. The moment was larger than them. Talk about a change of pace. To have NBA players truly value simply being an Olympian and not acting above the event means a lot. It shows that the event really means something to them and that really does play a role in their performance in this tournament. They care about the event. That is huge. It even makes rooting for Kobe Bryant palatable.

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