From: mattb@ctron.com (Matt Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: US are piss Poor Losers
Date: 30 Jul 92 16:58:27 GMT
Reply-To: mattb@olympus.ctron.com (Matt Brown)
Organization: Cabletron Systems INc.

lund@noao.edu (Rich Lund) writes:
>neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite) writes:
>: Having just watched the first round of the Olympic basketball, I think the
>: American Olympic Basketball selection people are a pretty piss poor bunch of
>: bad taste loser fuckers.
>: So they got beaten by the USSR in Seoul. Net result, the NBA *Pro* players
>: get drafted into the US Olympic Squad and wipe Angola off the face of the
>: earth, and the team were very cocky aswell.
>: 
> Hey, maybe we are just sick of our amature athletes competing against 
> professionals and decided to give the rest of the world a taste of
> their own medicine.  The U.S. is sick of being Mr. Nice Guy and it
> is about time we put our team on even ground with the rest.
>
>: What happened to the 'Olymic Spirit'. Out the window. WE MUST WIN !!
>: As Agt Albert Rosenfeld would say 'Get a life Punks'.
>: 
> Olympic spirit was lost when politics became part of it anyway.
> Go ahead Dream Team.  Kick some butt and let's enjoy.

Neil, you might want to check the history here.  The NBA, the player's 
association, and much of the US Olympic establishment was against sending
the pro's to the Olympics.  Even still a great deal of debate is going on
here on the issue, and it is not a lock for future Olympics.

And the only thing that kept past Olympics close was that there was no 
23-and-under rule like in soccer.  If the world teams were all college or
jumior age players like the US has been, the US would have 0 losses ever.

They are there because FIBA and the Olymic Organizing Committee wanted them
there.  They didn't muscle their way in, nor did the US committee strongarm
the Olympic people into this.  FIBA has been trying to encourage and heighten
US intl participation for several years now.

Oh, I guess the opposing players in the qualifying tournaments and the Olympics
have been gushing over playing the Dream Team because American players are
such no-talent assholes just out for revenge against the world.  Hell, the
other teams' players are complaining because the US squad played only at
75% speed and beat thme by only 30 points!  They want the chance to use the
US pros as a yardstick, to improve their play and improve the intl game. I'm
not saying this as a conceited Ami; it is just a fact. Read it yourself in 
the newspapers, if you can make it past Diana's swimsuit pictures (well, this
is alt.flame, isn't it?). 

Personally, I want to see more intl players in all sports in the US: hockey,
hoops, baseball, soccer, even NFL football.  I would like to see more US
participation and fan interest in the various World Cups.  I hope the 94
Soccer WC advances this cause, and I hope NHL and intl relationship grows to
the point where a hockey WC comes to North America.

What I enjoy is watching Magic, Larry, Michael, et al on the same team, 
probably for the last time. I think it is bogus for Americans to act arrogant
about the Dream Team.  And I applaud the excellent sportsmanship of the 
opposing players who are gamely taking their shot at beating the best. I hope
some team gives them a scare with a close game (though I hope they don't lose).

Matt
By the way, did the UK miss the plane to Barcelona?
Is that why Neil is ragging it?
Newsgroups: alt.flame