August 17, 2004
Cuban On The U.S. Failure
Mark Cuban, a pronounced opponent of having NBA players in the Olympics, has put together a very cogent analysis of the situation over at Blog Maverick:
None of this changes my mind that we shouldnt have NBA players in international competition. As big a story as the TeamUSAs problems, are the attendance problems and the ratings of the Olympics. This is a business event that is marketed to our patriotism. Congrats to NBC for what they have accomplished in their marketing and results, turning a profit on a billion dollar investment. A smack in the head to the NBA for providing our most valuable players , at risk of injury and full subsidy by our teams, to enable a competitor to sell to the same advertisers that could be buying from the NBA and our partners.
In a business sense, Cuban is exactly right, and he also points to another possibility. Isn't he really saying that the NBA ought to forget about the Olympics altogether, and produce an international tournament of its own, with the profits lining the pockets of NBA players and owners?
Back in the 1970s, the NHL started the Canada Cup as a way to funnel cash to a players pension fund (well, that was the plan, anyway), and today, the World Cup of Hockey is essentially an NHL-owned and operated event.
Just one other thought: back in 1988, when Team USA lost to Russia in the semifinals, head coach John Thompson was tagged for not brining a weak-shooting team to the Games. Funny how history repeated itself.
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But hey, we squeaked by Greece today 77-71.
Freakin' Greece.
Posted by:
at August 17, 2004 05:18 PM
Basketball is still a team sport. The WNBA'ers play it that way, and they're pros too. I've long stated that the professional game in America has too much style and not enough substance. It doesn't translate well to the FIBA game. We've taught the world basketball, but taught it poorly at home. One of the many ironies is that it was a U.S. loss to Puerto Rico (college kids Laettner, Mourning and Jimmy Jackson at the 1991 Goodwill Games ) that prompted the use of U.S. NBA'ers in the first place. (Interesting that when the American baseball team lost a few international contests to Cuba, we didn't send Bonds, Jeter and Clemens to Sydney, and when U.S. boxers get shut out by Cuba, we don't ask Roy Jones and Oscar DeLaHoya to again don the red-white-and-blue. I address this topic in my blog (bijanbayne.blogspot.com)
BCB
Posted by:
at August 17, 2004 07:55 PM
Slight digression, but what's up with Del Harris coaching the Chinese national team? Talk about shameful! Hmm, I wonder if Harris realizes that, were it not for the Tiananmen crackdown, numerous human rights abuses, and an authoritarian contempt for freedom, his employer just might be out of business.
As coach of the Lakers, Harris showed that he was a pretty dim bulb, but coaching for a thug regime against the teams of the West wins him the stupidity gold medal.
Posted by:
at August 18, 2004 03:35 AM
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03:37 PM