Monday, August 30, 2004

Dreamy: Despite our political differences in this country, all of us as Americans can unite behind one idea. Liberal, conservative, and moderate, we're all openly happy that the U.S. Men's Basketball team got their asses handed to them at the Olympics.

Of course we all support our American athletes. And the U.S. teams kicked major tail this year. But the men's basketball team, now made up of a "Dream Team" of NBA players, fell short and won the bronze. And just to top it all off, the women's team won the gold.

We started sending NBA players to the Olympics in 1992 because our amateur team lost the gold to the Soviets in 1988, settling instead for the silver. That first team Dream Team ran into no competition and easily took the gold. Eventually, the millionaire players became cocky and arrogant, barely putting in any practice time at all.

This year's NBA team almost didn't get a medal at all. And to be honest, I'm also glad they got the bronze and didn't leave empty handed. If they didn't get any medal, then the players would have shrugged it off and went back to sleep on their yacht. But by winning the bronze, they had to stand on the bottom rung of the medal stand and listen to some other country's national anthem, their token of failure dangling around their neck.