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Bad to be good? No way. We should embrace Dream Team dominance
SYDNEY, Australia -- Microsoft founder and gazillionaire Bill Gates has been rubbing elbows -- and probably comparing stock portfolios -- with the Dream Team over the last few days, which makes perfect sense when you think about it. Gates and the U.S. team both know a little something about monopolies. The American juggernaut continued its inevitable path to the gold medal on Tuesday, grinding a spunky Italian team into little pieces with a 93-61 victory that, believe it or not, was achieved with a rather ragged performance. As the game droned on, more and more of the bored sportswriters, including this one, began flipping channels on the press-table televisions, which bring in a closed-circuit feed of all the events at other venues. Fencing, team handball, tennis, volleyball, field hockey and other sports flashed by, all looking more compelling, or at least more competitive, than the game we were covering. There is a sense at Dream Team games that the real Olympics are going on without us.
Once the gold has been won, detractors of the Dream Team concept will surely call once again for NBA players to be banished, or for the U.S. at the very least to dilute the squad with college players. Once again, their only reason will be that our pros are just too good. Since when did the Olympics become about punishing excellence? Should the Kenyans and Ethiopians not send their best distance runners? Should the Australians keep their top swimmers at home? With the concept of amateurism long since demolished, the Games are about the best athletes in the world testing themselves against each other. If the American men are so dominant in basketball that the games aren't sufficiently entertaining for us, that's our problem, not theirs. "People who don't like us say that we're here because America can't stand to lose," says center Alonzo Mourning. "I don't think that's true. We're here because America wants to see the best, wherever they may come from." So appreciate the Dream Team's talent. It's not the worst thing in the world to be the best thing in the world. Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor is in Sydney covering the men's basketball competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read Taylor's behind-the-scene reports from Down Under.
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