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...China wearing the uniforms of the U.S.'s former Cold War rival. Russia may possess oil and nukes, but it is sorely lacking in point guards. In 2004, Vladimir Putin personally authorized the passport granted to J.R. Holden, a journeyman American guard who never made it to the NBA but who has been a catalyst for the Russian national team. But the real sniping began with the "defection" of Becky Hammon, a WNBA star who signed a contract with a Russian club that helped her gain citizenship and a spot on the national team for these Games. Like Holden...
...nervousness about competing against a national hero, stood no chance. The crowd mercilessly booed the Malaysian, while a troupe of Chinese cheerleaders dressed in skimpy ethnic-minority costumes whipped the audience into a frenzy. It was the kind of atmosphere one might imagine at the deciding game of an NBA final, but this was badminton Chinese style. And no one attracts more fervent shrieks from female fans than Super Dan - especially when he has just won his first Olympic gold medal...
...Team USA in the Olympic basketball competition. Tonight's 119-82 destruction of Spain, the 2006 World Champions, was more like a throwback game: a throwback to the days of the Dream Team, when the US seemed to play a different class of hoops than its competitors. Spain has NBA star Pau Gasol, slick point guard Jose Calderon, and an established style of success in international ball. Yet tonight they got obliterated, wilting against the absolutely withering defense the US team has brought to Beijing...
Once the U.S. team qualifies for the Olympics, go for the pros: take that group of NBA players who've always wanted to be Olympians, put them in a summer camp before the Games, and bang, the U.S. has a medal contender. That's ridiculous, you say. What sports executive would let a multimillion-dollar investment play some silly sport in the off-season? Well, if basketball general managers let their guys play Olympic basketball in the summer and hockey bosses permit their stars to play in the Olympic tournament during their season, why wouldn't they let them hurl...
...what happens to those poor guys who qualified for the Olympics but got supplanted by NBA stars for the real Games? Cruel but necessary. This is an arms race. Plus, have you seen those Chinese sports schools? Next to them, this strategy is saintly...