USA Basketball

I really hope our men’s USA basketball “team” loses to Greece this afternoon. ESPN is a gold mine of funny articles and quotes about the debacle that is USA hoops. Their writers share my sentiments exactly:

“They want to sell jerseys and T-shirts. They want to promote current superstars (like Duncan and Iverson) and introduce the world to the next generation of younger studs. They don’t care if the team is fun to watch, or if they play well together. Deep down, they’re praying that the BMW (‘Bron, ‘Melo and Wade) makes a big splash. And if things go wrong, Side B has a built-in excuse — they can just blame all the stars who refused to play (KG, Kidd, T-Mac, K-Mart, the O’Neals, Allen, even Bibby).” (Bill Simmons – ESPN)

I’ve been saying I hope the USA team loses to Greece:

“Here’s how I rationalize it: My ultimate goal is for the USA Committee to start picking true 12-man teams with shooters, rebounders, role players and energy guys, as I wrote last Wednesday. There’s only one way this happens: We get embarrassed in Athens, followed by a week of columns and TV/radio shows around the country questioning this entire selection process. In the long run, it’s better for us to get walloped over these next two weeks. It’s for a greater good.” (Bill Simmons – ESPN)

Exactly.