2012 Olympics

How awesome this is.
First of all, how can you not be excited about the 2012 Olympics being held in London.  Not excited for the fact that they are being held in London in particular, but the fact that they are being held at all.  This is perhaps the crowning achievement in sports history, one that stretches back to the furthest annals of recorded history.  The first records of the Olympics were dated in 776 B.C, but it is almost certain that the games were held prior to that.  After being banned in the year 393 A.D, the modern day Olympics were revived and started back up in 1896 in Athens, Greece.  The Games have united us ever since, a chance for countries to set aside their political differences and agendas for some good old fashioned competition.  Although some major sports such as baseball, football, soccer and others have championships such as the Super Bowl or the World Cup that are more valued then the Olympic Games, there is no substitute for the Olympics in the global sense.

Now I'm going to watch as much of the games as possible, but I will be 100% sure to watch each and every USA Men's Basketball game, just as I have watched each and every exhibition game thus far.

For those who would like to join in supporting our national team every step of the way to gold, here is their schedule.

So, if you haven't already noticed in reading our awesome blog, I love watching basketball.  Especially the NBA.  So the idea that all of our best players (not including Drose, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh & Dwight Howard, due to injury) from the best basketball league in the country, come together as one team to take on the rest of the world gets me pumped.  No matter the result of each game, whether its a blowout or a close game, having Chris Paul throw an alley-oop to LeBron or Kobe kicking it out of a double team to a wide open Carmelo Anthony is the sweetest thing that could happen to me this summer. ( sorry Euro 2012).  These guys also look to be enjoying playing with each other, and why wouldn't they?  It isn't often that you get to team up with the guys you compete against. (unless you are LeBron James)  Anyone who has played sports knows that playing with guys that are equally as talented as you is a whole lot of fun.  These players go from being the superstars on their respective squads to taking on different roles on a team full of star power.

Now we have the most talented squad in the world, and we are and should be heavy favorites to win the Gold and defend our #1 ranking according to FIBA. 
We cruised through our exhibition schedule that included a 22 point win over our closest competition in Spain, and a squeaky 6 point win over a sneakily good Argentina squad that beat us in the 2004 games.  As my friend Davis pointed out, we beat Spain the first time in 2008 by 34 before a close 11 point victory in the gold medal game.  So obviously, exhibition results don't really matter much, especially vs. Spain when MARC (with a c) Gasol sat out with a vagina ........ummmmm wassup I mean shoulder injury.  Side note.  Marc (with a c) Gasol was quoted as saying the following: "On a bad day for the '92 team, the current team would lose by just 15 or 20 points against them."- Marc (with a c) Gasol.

First of all, as I stated with my article comparing the '92 dream team to our current squad, it is ridiculous and impossible to compare teams/players/coaches from any sport in different years.  But such is the nature of sports, people are always trying to define who is the best ever and comparing different ages etc.  However, this is mostly done by the talking heads in media who have nothing else to do during the dog days of summer when Sportscenter's top 10 plays are flooded with baseball highlights.  Apparently, Marc (with a c) Gasol considers himself to be a Philosophizer ( scroll down to the bottom, but all are fantastic quotes.  I couldn't find a youtube clip sadly).  Does anyone know Marc (with a c)'s age when the Dream Team played?  I do, and the number is 7.  So obviously, he knew a lot about basketball as he watched far and away the best players in the world play each country's who's who of gym-class heroes.  Lesbi-honest, international basketball was trash back then, and has gotten a lot better, but still is not even close to the US team.  So shut the hell up Marc (with a c).  There is no reason for you to say that in the first place when your current team can't even hang with our injury depleted team.

That rant being over with, let's talk a little about Spain's chances of beating us.  They have a roster full of NBA talent, with the Gasol brothers, Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, and Serge (3 goaltends in the first half) Ibaka.  They have a definite advantage of size down low.  The only way they can win is if they keep the game in a half court setting, and knock down a couple of open 3's when their bigs kick it back out.  They are capable of doing this, but this strategy depends on them being able to score almost every time they have the ball.  If they turn the ball over or miss a shot, the US gets to do what it is best at: transition basketball.  Our athletic guards are great at pushing the ball upcourt, and they are also great at creating turnovers by harrassing other nations guards.  So look for the US to keep up their defensive intensity to create easy buckets.  One thing that Fran Fraschilla has said during his color commentary is that teams will try to play zone to stop the penetration of the US.  This is a retarded strategy, especially when you have sharpshooters like Kevin Durant and Melo prowling the perimeter.  One thing I love about this current team is our scoring versatility.  In at least 4 of the 5 exhibition games, we have had a different leading scorer each game.  So even though Spain might make it a close game in the final, the USA will win every game by a landslide.

Another Side Note: Carmelo Anthony is far and away my favorite player without a title, and might (but definitely not) surpass King James as my favorite player.  Actually, until James does a chocolate Milk commercial, Melo is my favorite.  So everyone set their alarms for 9:25 Eastern time Sunday morning, and get ready to witness a ruthless march to the highest podium by our national team, starting vs France.

MELOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

******A couple of changes now that the guru(Davis Willaims ladies and gentlemans) has pointed out to me
1.The Gold Medal game vs Spain in '08 was a 2 point game with 2 and a half minutes left
2. This current team (2012) has played against more NBA players in their first 2 exhibitions then the Dream Team of '92 played in the whole Olympics (exhibitions included)
3. This one is my own.  These guys genuinely seem to like each other.  The whole decision with the BIG 3 in the Miami Heat was started when LeBron and Bosh and Wade started playing with each other and developing relationships when they spent time playing internationally.  We all know what happened from there. Melo, CP3 and the rest are all good friends due to the Redeem Team of '08.  If you follow players like Melo, Kevin Love, CP3 just to name a few, they have been sharing quite a bit of photos on instagram(gay) and tweeting at each other a lot.  Now even if Kevin Love is bullied (probabable) for being the only white guy with skill on the roster, it looks like the '08 core is meshing pretty well with the Kevin Durant squad of new guns that won the FIBA World Championships in 2010.  Like I said earlier, these guys look like they are having a genuinely good time.  And if they aren't, they are faking it pretty well.  This is a big deal, as teams such as Argentina have been playing together for almost a decade and have had time to build up some chemistry and teamwork.  If our program continues to progress at the level it is, we should be dominant for a long, long time.