Sports Meets Politics

Don't worry. I don't care enough about baseball, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, etc. to write about the steroids scandal being hotly pursued (at taxpayer expense) by the U.S. Congress.

Instead, this is about U.S. basketball, specifically the Olympic team. I was listening to an espn.com podcast that included an interview with Chris Sheridan, an ESPN NBA analyst who is their leading contributor when it comes to Team USA. He was discussing the three major concerns that the guy running Team USA has right now as we head into the Summer Games in Beijing - 1) Kobe's pinky (makes sense), 2) the fatigue factor (given most top NBA players play a pretty grueling schedule well into April, May and even June, this makes sense too), and 3) money. WTF?! This came as a complete shock to me.

I'm no expert on Olympic sports and how they're funded, but I always assumed that they were entirely funded by the federal government. I can't be the only one that thought this, right? Where else can our 30+% be going? OK, that's an entirely different debate.

I haven't bothered to do the research, but I'm now figuring the basketball team is sort of self-funded (through ticket/merchandise sales) with contributions from the government and private sources. Seems kind of ridiculous.

What really bothered me, though, was when Sheridan pointed out that Team USA was considering playing an additional exhibition game in Taiwan during the summer, pre-Olympics, to raise some cold, hard yuan. The issue with this, of course, is that this only adds to the fatigue concerns. While one exhibition game in Taiwan might not seem like a big deal, Sheridan noted that it's not that simple, including the fact that it involves a non-direct flight through Hong Kong. We all know how tiring stop-and-go travel can be when all you're doing is sitting in front of a computer or lying on the beach. These guys have to play ball, make media appearances, etc., etc.

What it all comes down to is competition. As anyone who has followed Team USA basketball since they started using professional players in Barcelona '92, the team has seen much better days, and international competition is only getting better. Now our players, representing you and I and every other American in the biggest, most-publicized international competition in sports, are under-funded and over-worked? Explain to me how we have billions upon billions to support an endless, fruitless war (not to mention millions, or at least hundreds of thousands, to investigate steroids in baseball), but we can't come up with cash to ensure our Olympic basketball team can compete at the highest level. How much can it cost to fly these guys around in a charter plane, house and feed them and their wives and maybe even some of their entourage for a couple months? To sew up and wash some shorts and jerseys? To hire some translators to make sure they know what they're ordering at the local KFC?

Absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Go Team USA!

Theoretical Debate

As I sit here on Sunday night, sober for the first time at 8:30pm on a Sunday since probably sometime in 2007, I'm left wondering - does "not getting wasted" count as an accomplishment for the day?

For the Record

You all know by now that Shaq has been traded for Shawn Marion. You've all read the mostly negative comments that the analysts have made regarding the Suns' side of the trade. I was the first guy on that bandwagon. Within minutes of reading about the trade, I was google-chatting with a friend and compared this trade to the earlier trades of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics for Al Jefferson and change, and the trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers for just the change. Below is a part of that chat transcript:

10:24 PM rishi: NBA execs are retarded
me: this one is beyond retarded
rishi: Wade must be ecstatic
me: the gasol and KG deals were at least somewhat defensible

So, clearly, I had a strong initial opinion on the trade, and it wasn't positive on the Suns or The Big Diesel.

Over the last couple of days though, I've heard A LOT of interviews with analysts, the Suns' coach, the Suns' GM, and, of course, I watched parts of Shaq's introductory press conference. And now, I'm singin a different tune.

For the record: Phoenix WILL win an NBA championship in the next two years.

Why? Call it a gut feeling. For anyone that follows the NBA, I obviously have no "fundamental" reason to think this was a good trade for the Suns. It can't be argued - right now, Shawn Marion is a better basketball player than Shaq. How, then, can I make such a crazy prediction?

Two words - chemistry and motivation.

Though everyone publicly denies it, there's been no doubt that Marion and Amare Stoudamire dislike/hate/don't get along with each other. Amare is gonna play like he's never played before (and will DOMINATE opposing PFs in the 20 or so minutes a game that Shaq plays). And, on motivation, well, we've seen what a hungry Shaq can do (a la, helping D-Wade lead Miami to a title just 2 years ago). Call me crazy, but I think the opportunity to prove all the critics wrong, the opportunity to maybe go against Kobe and/or arch-nemesis Tim Duncan in the playoffs - all those opportunities will motivate Shaq to stay in shape enough to at least contribute 20-25 minutes a game when it counts. Throw in a still top-flight PG in Steve Nash, a healthy, pumped-up Amare Stoudamire, and spare parts such as Leandro Barbosa, Grant Hill and Boris Diaw, and the result: your 2007-2008 (or 2008-2009) NBA Champion Phoenix Suns!

Note: If they lose to CP3 and my Hornets in the playoffs, I will be happy. My prediction will be wrong, and I'll eat the proverbial crow. But of course, I'll be happy.