Team Usa About To Lose

[Reed]

IT is 51-29 in the Usa vs Puerto Rico game. If we lose are we out of the olympics? This is just ridiculous this team is a shame to represent Usa. I am at a lost of words.....

[BillsFan]

Yeah they are getting hammered, it doesn't make any sense at all.

[cowboysfan]

Yes, doesn't make f** sense when they are earning millions.

[baj1dallas]

they're not getting paid for this though.


they look horrible.

[jimmy40]

IT is 51-29 in the Usa vs Puerto Rico game. If we lose are we out of the olympics? This is just ridiculous this team is a shame to represent Usa. I am at a lost of words.....It's just pool play right? Can't they still make the medal round? Not that they deserve it.

[Chief]

The problem is, this isn't a team.

It's a collection of all-star talent, but not a team.

The best players don't always make the best team.

This squad has three times more talent than any other team in the world, but it doesn't translate because basketball is a team game.

Instead of putting all these young dunkers on the team, they should have added some role players, especially some 3-pointer shooters. People may laugh at guys like Steve Kerr, but a guy like him or a veteran shooter like Reggie Miller would do this team more good than a guy like Shawn Marion.

I'm not saying they're better than Marion. I'm saying you need some gutty veterans who know how to play their roles in a tournament like this.

[jumanji]

they have sucked for weeks. except for duncan and a few others, they are not team players...they are all ball hogs who don't know the fundamentals of the game. the foreign players pass the ball to the open player for the best shot...what a novel concept?

[RatisBeast]

They're coming back.... Let's go Team USA. :D

[Woods]

Their hearts haven't been in this since the beginning . . . .

We should just let the college kids play in the future. I think it means more to them.

[Reef Engineer]

It's just pool play right? Can't they still make the medal round? Not that they deserve it.

Yes, they will still play the rest of the teams in their pool and can advance to the medal round ... they'll only wish they were eliminated because this is going to be a very humbling and humiliating defeat ... and Olympics. The team hasn't looked good at all from the beginning so this should come as no surprise.

Disgraceful.

[baj1dallas]

three point play here could put it out of reach..

[Chuck 54]

my comments from a post by Chief....I think the NBA is a hollywood league that we just think is good because they play each other...only a few rungs above the WWF in my opinion:

"As for the NBA, I think it's the joke league in sports...lots of great athletes, very few good teams. The NBA only looks great because they all play other sorry NBA "me" teams...very little defense, very little team...just guys running up and down the court jamming dunks and pouring in uncontested 3-pointers.

Everyone acts surprised when our Olympic teams stink it up, even though they've been doing it for a few years now. We send some of the elite athletes and scorers from the NBA over there, and today we're getting the hell beat out of us by.........Puerto Rico!!!! We're all aghast, shocked...it's because some of the players asked first turned it down...what a load of crap. Are you telling me that only the top 7-10 players in the NBA have any chance of beating Puerto Rico??? We're playing Tim Duncan, AI, LaBron, Carmello, and the scoring machine from Detroit, along with other all-stars.

No one wants to admit it, but I'm of the belief that very few of our NBA teams would do any better internationally if we sent them over there as a team. International basketball is a team game, requiring point guards, shooters, penetrators, rebounders, and most importantly, defense and patience. The NBA has become a more respected "Globe Trotters" team...Sometimes I think the And1 team would give these guys trouble. The USA is only home of the greatest basketball players in the world in their own minds.

There's no other explanation for the USA team playing poorly year after year in the World Championships and every 4 years in the Olympics....Yeah, Shaq and Kobe decided not to play, but holy crap, look at the players who are still on the USA team...Do they have any excuse for not dominating the Olympics on the hardcourt? Their only excuse is that they are seeing better basketball teams."

[Chief]

For a basketball purist, it's fun to watch the foreign players ... whether it be in the Olympics or in the NBA.

The American coaches that teach overseas have willing pupils ... guys who will listen and don't already think they know everything.

The U.S.A has gotten so far away from its basketball roots that it's now re-learning the game from foreigners. Amazing.

[Bizwah]

Excellent post by Chief.

I agree wholeheartedly.....

And I hate the "Dream Team" crap.....

There was only one "Dream Team"....the 1992 team. This, IMO, was the greatest basketball team ever assembled. And the played as a "team".

The quality of basketball play has been on the decline in the NBA for a long time. The conspiracy theorist in me says that all the players skipping, or leaving college early has something to do with it. There's no "team" play learned.

[jimmy40]

my comments from a post by Chief....I think the NBA is a hollywood league that we just think is good because they play each other...only a few rungs above the WWF in my opinion:

"As for the NBA, I think it's the joke league in sports...lots of great athletes, very few good teams. The NBA only looks great because they all play other sorry NBA "me" teams...very little defense, very little team...just guys running up and down the court jamming dunks and pouring in uncontested 3-pointers.

Everyone acts surprised when our Olympic teams stink it up, even though they've been doing it for a few years now. We send some of the elite athletes and scorers from the NBA over there, and today we're getting the hell beat out of us by.........Puerto Rico!!!! We're all aghast, shocked...it's because some of the players asked first turned it down...what a load of crap. Are you telling me that only the top 7-10 players in the NBA have any chance of beating Puerto Rico??? We're playing Tim Duncan, AI, LaBron, Carmello, and the scoring machine from Detroit, along with other all-stars.

No one wants to admit it, but I'm of the belief that very few of our NBA teams would do any better internationally if we sent them over there as a team. International basketball is a team game, requiring point guards, shooters, penetrators, rebounders, and most importantly, defense and patience. The NBA has become a more respected "Globe Trotters" team...Sometimes I think the And1 team would give these guys trouble. The USA is only home of the greatest basketball players in the world in their own minds.

There's no other explanation for the USA team playing poorly year after year in the World Championships and every 4 years in the Olympics....Yeah, Shaq and Kobe decided not to play, but holy crap, look at the players who are still on the USA team...Do they have any excuse for not dominating the Olympics on the hardcourt? Their only excuse is that they are seeing better basketball teams."If you want team ball back in the NBA bring back the traveling call. If you can take three or four steps without traveling why pass?

[ABQCOWBOY]

Any of these Puerto Rico players look familiar to you Chief?

[Reed]

****ing Pathetic, This Is Ridiculous. This Is All David Sterns Fault. He Has Ruined The Nba And American Basketball. Lets Let 10 Year Olds Play In The Nba Next Year How About That. Uneducated Morons.

[Chief]

Any of these Puerto Rico players look familiar to you Chief?

Isn't Santiago a former Lobo?

[ABQCOWBOY]

Isn't Santiago a former Lobo?

Santiago was born in NM but his parents are from Puerto Rico. Hey played at UNM but he also played HS ball here in Albuquerque. Del Norte I think.

I hate seeing us get smoked like this but nice to see a home town kid like Danny Santiago do well.

[jacs]

Arroyo plays for the Jazz and Santiago is a benchwarmer for the Bucks

[blindzebra]

It's not just the NBA, it's American basketball in general.

It's being marketed for stars. NBA, And-1, right down to corrupt AAU coaches. I officiate basketball in high school and JUCO and you see kids that think they can play in the NBA when 99.9% of them have no chance.

These poor coaches are trying to teach fundamentals, but they have to contend with SportCenter and the And-1 tapes.

I love basketball, but I have not watched an entire NBA game in probably 3-4 years, and have grown to hate it the past 10 years.

[Reed]

It is all Sterns fault. He embraced all this crap into the nba thinking it would reguvinate it. He is the worst commisioner.

[2much2soon]

I love basketball, but I have not watched an entire NBA game in probably 3-4 years, and have grown to hate it the past 10 years.

Amen, brother.

I grew up on Dr J but hate what it has become over the last 10 years. I haven't watch a full game for years. It seems like a bunch of rap music wannabe/dope smokin punks anymore.

It used to mean something to American basketball players to win the Olympic Gold. I don't think it does anymore.

[Intrepid]

Well, I'm proud of Puerto Rico. They are part of the United States, and it is quite an accomplishment to beat out professional players who play bball for a living. The US team has the best trainers, coaches, and infrastructure.

Puerto Rico is the US. Careful when calling them 'foreign players.'

[Eric_Boyer]

Well, I'm proud of Puerto Rico. They are part of the United States, and it is quite an accomplishment to beat out professional players who play bball for a living. The US team has the best trainers, coaches, and infrastructure.

Puerto Rico is the US. Careful when calling them 'foreign players.'
Puerto Rico isn't the US.

My sister in law is from Puerto Rico. She would throw a fit if she heard people tell her that her country is the US.

They are a very patriotic people and identify themselves as Puerto Rican's only.

[BrAinPaiNt]

Puerto Rico isn't the US.

My sister in law is from Puerto Rico. She would throw a fit if she heard people tell her that her country is the US.

They are a very patriotic people and identify themselves as Puerto Rican's only.


I used to get a kick out of some of the people when I was in the Army.


The quickest way to make a person mad that was from PR was to say they were Cuban...and the quickest way to make someone mad with cuban heritage was to call them PR.

[Eric_Boyer]

I used to get a kick out of some of the people when I was in the Army.


The quickest way to make a person mad that was from PR was to say they were Cuban...and the quickest way to make someone mad with cuban heritage was to call them PR.


I have visited PR and the small island my sister in law is from (vieques). It's a strange situation, they love America and American's but hate our military.

They have a distorted view of things. All they see is the people leaving base and getting drunk or hitting on their young daughters.

[BrAinPaiNt]

I have visited PR and the small island my sister in law is from (vieques). It's a strange situation, they love America and American's but hate our military.

They have a distorted view of things. All they see is the people leaving base and getting drunk or hitting on their young daughters.


While stationed in Korea I often wondered how some of the Koreans could even stand the soldiers.

If I went shopping in the village it was normally during the day and when sober lol.

Most of the time when the GIs were in the village at night it was because they were drinking, acting a fool and taking advantage of the rampant prostitution (not all but enough).

I happened to want to do some shopping one night and was by myself so I was not in the mood to go into the bars...hence I was sober. I think I was trying to do some shopping for gifts for the family as I was leaving the country in a month.

I was flabbergasted at seeing the village at night and the number of drunk GI's doing all kinds of stuff....Now I am not talking beating up people or harrasing women but still it was an eye opener and made me wonder how the Korean people who lived there felt.

Yet at the same time I realized they are making money off of these GIs...some families actually sell there daughters into prostitution for money to survive and some even had GIs going into their own house to have sex with their daughters....I also realized that the village would basically die if the Army were to pull out of that area as the GIs were their #1 source (and not a lose #2 anywhere) of income.

However it did still bother me about the whole situation there.


I have always told my friends that I would love to take people to korea and see some of the things I have seen over there....it truly is a form of culture shock when first arriving.

I remember the first night there me and some GI's went down to see the village and were badgered by MamaSons (madams of female pimps if you will) in the street to buy sex from a lady they managed.

We went into a bar, got a few beers and was playing pool when some of the prosititutes came up and just started rubbing some private areas on me...one bar we walked into the prosititutes came right up before we even sat down and grabbed certain areas....really culture shock.

The village was also a very interesting cross section of society.....some bars/clubs set up their own little niche. You had some that catered to the country music/cowboy type of person....you had a few that catered to the african american crowd and if white guys went in they(employees) would not even say anything to you...not even hello.....(of course that was about the same way some of my black friends were treated when we wondered into a country westeren bar).

Not that I care for that type of stuff but it was really interesting to see such things.

Shops where they made nikes and brand name tennis shoes right in front of you...stores where they had GQ magazines to find a style of suit they could make for you......not FDA to speak of so you had vendors on the streets with hotdogs and meat strips on a stick, fish jerky they would just through on a dirty half barrell with a flame under it......it was just crazy.

Sometimes you would be walking doing he street in summer and these korean guys would be whizzing down the small streets with mopeds that had some sort of smoking system on them to help keep the misquotos away.

You could only buy three types of alcohol....Budweiser, OB Beer (oriental beer was the name as I was told) and Soju ( a drink that was similar to a screw driver in taste but MUCH stronger and was served in various sized tea kettles).

The village was wall to wall shops and bars and none of them looked to be in good condition or care for cleanliness.
....

Wow we sure strayed from the original topic in this thread...sorry for rambling :eek:

[Intrepid]

Puerto Rico isn't the US.

My sister in law is from Puerto Rico. She would throw a fit if she heard people tell her that her country is the US.

They are a very patriotic people and identify themselves as Puerto Rican's only.


Exactly, so I'm even more proud of them for doing well. Because they have been colonized by the USA. The island is actually pretty torn about their feelings about the US. Beating them in basketball is quite an accomplishment.

I don't mean to turn this into a political thing. I was simply stating that I'm happy for them. Go PR! Certainly, it is hard to feel sorry for our b-ball players.