From: speednut@csource.oz.au (mark jose)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: The Olympics
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 92 15:51:24 +1000
Reply-To: speednut@csource.oz.au
Organization: Unique Computing Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia

G'day all.
 
The other day I saw the press conference of the USA Basketball team in
Bar'th'elona and would like to comment on a couple of things that were
said there.
 
Firstly, I think it is a shame that so many people hold the likes Mr. Jordan
in such splendour and glory as to be almost god-like. The actual question to
Mr. Jordan was something like "What is it like to be thought of as a God?".
What an astounding question to ask a sportsman or anybody for that matter.
 
Sure Mr. Jordan is an excellent exponent of the game of Basketball and maybe
he is held in high esteem (perhaps as a God!) by many fans and supporters. The
problem (to me) is that this leads to them becoming role models in our society
and this can have disastrous consequences.
 
I am not attacking Mr. Jordan personally - he is just a focus point (at the
moment) for all the adulation that is given to sportsmen and women all around
the world. From the little I know of him he is less of a "God" than a lot of
people would like to believe.
 
Anyway, it is obviously the good marketing of him and others, together with
his sporting ability, that has put him in this position.
 
Flames welcome. :->
 
Secondly, I would like to discuss the attitude of both the USA and Australia
towards each other in the field of Basketball. Obviously the past comments
of Phil Smyth (Captain) hit a raw nerve of the USA Basketballers.
 
Now before I go any further I have to say I understand his concerns (him
having a young family et al) and the threat that AIDS places to an individual,
I also understand that the chances are slim (statistically - and very hard
to prove either way) and that for every player you know has AIDS another 2 you
may not know of. (That is a figure plucked from the air and not necessarily
true but nonetheless you get my gist). I personally would be concerned, enough
so to not play my best game but nonetheless I would still play.
 
Anyway, apart from the fact that Mr. Smyth's original statement was taken
completely out of context and the fact that they should NEVER have been
released to the public anyway, it irks me to see it used as some sort of basis
for a grudge match. It is almost like the USSR has been replaced by Australia
as the arch vilains, the perpetrators of evil, the "commies"!
 
I know people should not take statements from Charles Barkley (spelt correct?)
seriously but people do take Earvin Johnson's comments seriously. I admire the
man as a good basketballer and an advocator of AIDS awareness but he too seems
to be taking a high and mighty approach to the whole issue. Sure he says he
will sit out the game if he has to (now keep in mind only ONE Australian said
he had hesitations about playing against (not on) Mr. Johnson) and then in the
next breath says that the USA will beat them anyway. That may be so, but it
sounded vindictive to me. Then again maybe I am biased!
 
To me the possible match between Australia and the USA may end up as a grudge
match and like so many other games of Basketball the USA has competed in in the
modern olympics, it too may end in controversy. I hope not, at least for the
sake of the olympic spirit - If there is any left!
 
Again flames are welcome.
 
Email if you like.

.........................................................
mark jose
speednut@csource.oz.au  Unique Computing Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
The opinions expressed above are that of the author only.