Well the 2004 summer Olympic games are over. I watched the games occasional and kept my channel to NBC most of the time but I didn’t see many of the sports showcased at the games this year.
I mostly watched the track and field events with most of my attention being on the runners. I tuned in to swimming, gymnastics, and diving occasionally but not to the extent I have in the past. This is kind of ironic to me sense the Olympic games were broadcast on more US cable, satellite and regular channels than ever this year.
Despite more coverage I did not see wrestling, boxing, soccer, volley ball, badminton, or even the women’s, and men’s basketball competition among many other sports that I usually catch at least a glimpse of during Olympic competition.
I did read about the disastrous performance of the US men’s basketball team (Kudos to the women’s basketball players for achieving gold). The highly trained, handsomely paid professional basketball players of the American men’s basketball team were defeated by amateur or junior league teams from Puerto Rico and finally Argentina. This was the biggest shock of the games this year. Maybe the NBA should recruit some of these foreign players for less handsome salaries.
The NBA might want to look at its criteria for good basketball players. I did here one Argentine player say soon after there victory against the US team that they (US team) may be the best players but in the Olympics basketball is a team sport (???). So, I guess he’s saying American professional players do not play as a team but instead engage in individual ‘showboating’ (I think that’s the term).
In any case someone needs to kick Iverson, Marion and the rest of the crew for their lousy performance. They really seem like a bunch of overpaid and unskilled self-promoters now.
I do want to congratulate Phelps and the swim team and the men and women of the track and field team for their overall excellent performance.
Congratulations to all the Olympians and the host country for putting on some excellent games.