This is a great time of year for sports fans. You have the Olympics in London which, to me, seems more intriguing than ever, you have NFL pre-season kicking off, you have the blockbuster trade of the Lakers and for those baseball fans...whatever. So amidst all of this why so many negative views?
Olympics: Should NBA players play? If so, should there be an age limit? Why is Usain Bolt disrespecting Carl Lewis? Who is the best Olympian ever Bolt or Phelps? US Soccer women had t-shirts printed that celebrated their accomplishment--how dare they?
My answer? Money. NBA and its owners want to limit who plays in the Olympics. Why? They're not getting their cut. One of the most outspoken is Mavs owner Mark Cuban. Not sure why he cares since no one (not named Nowitski) on the roster is making the Olympics. Nowitski would be playing for Germany and good luck getting your "cut" from them. The NBA cares about lining their pockets even more. The pro's were criticized when D Wade suggested they get paid to play. Actually they do when they medal (25k for gold, 15k for silver and 10k for bronze). Hey it's gas money for the Maybach for a year. We can't go back to the college players for 1 VERY good reason...We don't have too many that stay in college! If you're NBA caliber talent (or even close to it these days) you're 1 or 2 years and done. Rarely do you see these guys stay 3-4 years. The age limit thing in the NBA will prohibit players who are beyond the limit after some have hit their peak. The olympics is every 4 years. You get a college player who stays until their Jr or Sr year (age 19-21), they go pro and 4 years later the Olympics rolls around again. They're possibly over the limit w/o a chance to play for their country. I'll concede it may not happen as often but no other country is considering doing this why would we? The talent in other countries is a lot higher now because of the NBA. Let the big dogs be The Big Dogs.
The Lakers trade for D12 is drawing some of the old arguments. Small markets can't compete. That's crap! Small markets shouldn't have owners send out inflammatory tweets about stars leaving. Small markets need to hire GM/HC better and make better long term decisions. See Pacers, OKC and Spurs as proof smaller markets can/do compete with the larger ones. The Clippers made the playoffs for the first time since Kennedy was president. Big Markets do have more room for error, but they have to be smart too.
Greatest Olympian ever? My two cents I say Phelps. Yes he has more opportunities in swimming than they do in track and field. But 22 medals and 18 of them are gold. 18!!! You STILL have to compete against the best of the best in every event and you do that to a clip of 18 first place finishes, 2 second place and 2 third place. I say Phelps. Doesn't make me right, because it's ALL subjective. Some people have to stop being so sensitive and thinking one group is voting for another because of race. Racism exists, it's just not in every decision made.
speaking of being over sensative the US womens soccer team getting grief over t-shirts they wore after beating the same team who beat them for the World Cup is just stupid! You have to wait 4 years to win an Olympic gold medal (summer olympics at least). No do overs. No mulligans. No 2nd chance next year, or the year after that. World Cup and Olympic gold are TWO VERY different things! You work at your craft that long to be the best and then prove it during the course of several days. Yea, you deserve to get loose! For all the "ugly American blasts" I say BLLLPPPPP!!!
then again, maybe it's just me...but I doubt it
