From the Mail Bag:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040827 Q: Could you please write a rebuttal to
Jason Whitlock's Column on Page 2 this week? I never thought I'd read such unfounded crap by a Page 2 columnist. He called you and every other white person a racist for cheering against the U.S. hoops team (because, of course, there were no African-Americans who filled out the Page 2 poll asking whether you are cheering against the U.S., right?), ignoring the fact any fan of the NBA and basketball in general would want the U.S. team to lose so that Stern and company chose an actual team for the next Olympics ... and make it so we don't have to watch Marion chucking up airballs, or hear Carmelo bitch about his lack of PT.
--Jay Detsky, Toronto, Ontario
Sports Guy: Wait, you're telling me that you didn't expect that column from someone this week? I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner; you had an all-black team taking heat for three solid weeks before someone finally played the race card. Geez, Ralph Wiley would have written that column before the Nightmare Team even arrived in Athens.
I thought it was a good column, actually. Whitlock took a controversial position, argued it and made a solid case. That's what a columnist is supposed to do. My biggest problem was how he played the "Shut up and support your country" card, which is fine and all, except this is how we ended up spending 13 years in Vietnam. He also ignored the bigger picture, something I tackled nearly a month ago -- how USA Basketball wasted yet another chance to build the best possible team from scratch, choosing to slap together an All-Star team strictly for marketing purposes. This resentment towards the Nightmare Team wasn't a black/white thing; this was about an unimaginative style of basketball that fans don't like watching. They had a chance to change this -- for the better -- with the 2004 USA team. And they didn't. That's why we're ticked off.
Am I rooting against them? Yes. I want them to lose. It's for a greater good. If they win the gold medal, we'll be back here in four years with another All-Star team. And besides, the Olympics aren't about following your country, they're about following sports. Five years from now, I won't remember how many medals the United States won, but I'll remember watching that Greek hurdler standing on the podium -- her eyes filled with tears, her body quivering, the gold medal pressed to her chest -- as the entire stadium belted out Greece's national anthem. Now that was a moment.
Best of all, she was white.
Just kidding. I couldn't resist.
(Quit cringing, I was just kidding. Really.)
