« How Cute | Main | More Than Toast, Less Than a Staplegun » We're In02 Sep 2007 11:12 am Okay, Team USA Basketball got the job done in the FIBA Americas Tournament, and we're now guaranteed an Olympic berth. That we had to play for the spot at all is, however, a mere testament to how far the program has fallen after its disappointing performances in '02, '04, '06. To celebrate, a clip from the glory days, Vince Carter's dunk of death: Onward to Beijing. Basketball's one sport they won't need to cancel due to air quality concerns. Comments (18)
Wow, the illustrious Fredrick Weiss. I swear to this day that as bad as the Isiah's, Billy King's and Kevin McHale's are as GM's, that no single man will ever eclipse the sucktitude of Scott Layden. I'm surprised that the Knicks were left standing as a franchise after his reign. 
Bring back Doug Collins (the TV commentator in this YouTube clip) or Hubie Brown. AND THROW BILL WALTON IN THE GARBAGE!! (Excuse me for shouting).
I'm just glad Garnett, Pierce and Allen weren't good enough to make the team.
Justin X: You are an absolute disgrace. Ever before the dawn of man, when mammoths and saber-toothed tigers roamed the vast savannahs, there has been basketball and its right-hand man, the color commentator. I do not belong in the garbage; the great coach, the Wizard of Westwood, the illustrious John Robert Wooden once told me that he thought I was more than a simple color commentator, I was the greatest sidekick in the history of sidekicks. Why, I'm better than Ed McMahon, J. Fred Muggs, Tonto and Andy Richter combined. Play-by-play men line up around the block to kiss my enormous size-16 genuine Chuck Taylors...
The best part of the dunk is that Carter is looking straight at Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton and Vin Baker, *all* of whom are standing unattended under the basket . . . and he decides to go over the defender, anyway.
Yes, that is an amazing dunk. But is that really the glory days of USA basketball? Wouldn't the glory days involve the Dream Team? You know, the real one.
Good game by the Americans tonight - was a 30 point blowout by midway through the 2nd quarter. Best part about it was the 49% shooting from 3-point range. If they bring these shooters to Beijing, it doesn't matter whothe Argies, Spaniards or anybody else shows up with.
Is there in hoops a sterner rebuke3 than to rake one's junk on the defender's head during a tomahawk jam?
Why wasn't that a foul on Carter?
1) Absolutely that was a charge. Weiss had position. 2) I was almost convinced that poster above *was* Bill Walton until, "Why, I'm better than Ed McMahon, J. Fred Muggs, Tonto and Andy Richter combined." How could you not put Bobby Weir in that group? That was an almost perfect imitation.
1) Absolutely that was a charge. Weiss had position. Interesting question, since Carter barely touched Weis - after all, he jumped over Weis.
Barely touched Weis? He temporarily sat on his face. If Weis doesn't duck as much as he did, he and Carter are doing time in a Georgia prison.
Aagh, Michael. I forgot the obligatory Grateful Dead reference. Sorry. - Bill W.
Pointing to a meaningless dunk as a high point of USA basketball nicely points to the problem with basketball in the USA. Everybody wants to dunk. Perhaps if passing, shooting, and defending were what got the glory our basketball teams wouldn't suck so much. Personally, I'm sick of dunks being followed by frighful Maori exhibitions. Just looks stupid to me to get all excited cause you managed to stuff the ball in the basket from point blank range. Wow. How amazing.
Vin Baker! On the national team!
Also, it's funny that given the anti-dunking sentiment from your readers (which always has a vague sense of racism about it--"basketball was so much better when it was ten six foot white guys spotting up from 15 feet for three hours!") that the article you linked to was titled "Anthony, Team USA use outside shooting to clinch Olympics berth."
1) No, that wasn't the glory days. Notice the scoreboard had the U.S. only beating a rotten French team 71-54. The U.S. very nearly lost that year but were saved by the heroics of ..... Antonio McDyess. Really. 2) Walton was surreally bad. He actually talked about Gatorade sales in Mexico during the U.S.-Mexico game without ever talking about the fact that, oh, the U.S. was outscored for large stretches by a bad team. And at the very end of the game, he lamented that he didn't have time to talk about the change in starters -- after he spends most of the broadcast dispensing facts about Mexico's culture, economy and politics. Even by his standards, Walton was horrible.
Comments closed September 16, 2007. |
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Heads in the Sand
Ugh. Nene hurt his leg and will likely miss at least part of training camp.
Abolish international play before Melo gets hurt.
Posted by Petey | September 2, 2007 11:26 AM