Does anybody else actively root against the USA in the Olympics?

I'll see you in HELL.

 

What basketball team is he watching that has nothing? All of the teams they're playing against are made up entirely of professional basketball players. They may not make the money available in the NBA but they're living comfortably.

 

Don't actively root against anyone but I do get happy when an underdog wins. And I agree with your other point, for USA competitors it's a sport while for others it's life.

 

I'll be honest... I used to enjoy watching Olympics basketball before the "Dream Team". Sure, I remember the shock and angst when the Russian team beat the US college team, but I still preferred watching the college players compete. Now? even seems the US team has trouble getting up to play other countries.

 

Rare, but rooted for Yao/China to beat team USA, and for Bolt to beat the Cheater Gatlin. If a true underdog like the Jamaican bobsled I might pull for that too.

 

You can't expect the US to destroy every country by 40 points anymore. Those days are gone forever. The competition has improved 100 fold since the original Dream Team.

All the other countries use professional players - many of them NBA players. Why should we send college players? A team full of college kids couldn't even compete with these international teams nowadays.

 

I wonder now...short of actually getting all the best NBA player to play for the US (now its kind of a halfway allstar team as guys beg out).

The biggest issue is these guys for the US are a collection of players and not a team. A lot of the other national teams play together for years and have systems...so they can compete because they play team basketball AND their level has improved (almost every national team has at least a couple NBA players now).

It would never happen, but I'd be interested to see something like the NBA champions get to be the US team. They would have their team, system and coaches in place. With free agency and the commitment in the off-season, it would be logistically impossible, but I bet they would perform better.

I also wonder if you took the NCAA Championship team, how they'd do.

EDIT: Of course I see now that there would be no guarantee that the complete team would play for the US if you used Championship teams.

 

There would be years where this plan would be disastrous. Think about the years that Dallas won, there would be no Dirk due to him being German. San Antonio? No Parker, or Manu. And what if stars still occasionally decide to sit out. How good would the Cavs be this Olympics without LeBron?

 

Inactively like Eric Gordon has been most seasons

Actually I am not rooting at all.

 

Good point. I think this was actually considered in the mid 90's when we won our championships.

I do think our team needs more continuity to match these other teams that play together all the time. Need more guys like David Robinson, Melo and LeBron who will commit to play more than just one Olympics.

 

i imagine that the rewards for winning medals in other countries would equate to the following:

Bronze Medal = $500K + 1 virgin
Silver Medal = $1million + 3 virgins
Gold Medal = $2million + 10 virgins + Water Buffalo for plow

 

Even back then there were complaints that the foreign (read: Russian) team used pro players. I still believe the move to "dream team" was an over-reaction. And while the level of competition has improved, there still is disparity. And personally I prefer to see competition.

Heck, in today's NBA we have the makings of a "Dream Team" and folks are saying the result is a lack of competition. Now ratchet that up at least tenfold... or do you honestly believe a team with Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills (backup PG), David Anderson, and two guys named Boomer are really competitive with the USA team?

 

That year in the world championships during the last NBA lockout is a good example of growing parity in the team sport.

People were impressed Rudy T scraped together a bronze with a rag tag group of scabs.

We invented football, only the greatest sport on earth.

 

You mean besides communists?

 

Always root for USA. But if they don't win an event, then oh well. Sports. That's competition.

But I never actively root against the USA.

 

I don't really actively root for anyone in the Olympics. It's awesome seeing so many talented people from all over the world compete, so if one gets the better of another, it's a good story either way. Now I can say that I was really rooting against Efimova, and that Sun guy in swimming, and I kind of wasn't too thrilled with Gatlin winning Silver, but oh well.

 

Give '12 a healthy Howard that year, they probably have a MoV near 40 (was around 32/33 ppg with a huge lack of defensive center presence with all due respect to Tyson). Which '12 was a very talented year for international basketball as well, unlike this years teams from what I've seen.

But you are right: I don't believe that will happen again (never say never...).

 

I only root for my country which is the U.S.

It's not about the individual athletes or sports, but as a team together they represent a nation. Some people who just look at athletes or have agendas against certain athletes probably will never see the meaning of what a national team is. To each their own.

 

No way. I just want America to be relevant again on the world stage.

 

The guy whose dick-riding Chump is rooting against the USA.

So much for "MAGA"