Since 1952, I’ve never rooted harder for a U.S. Olympic basketball team than I am and will be doing for the 2004 version with three former Kansas University coaches in charge. It is a team some think is a cut or two below what it would be if all the candidates were equally patriotic.
The ’52 Yanks had seven Jayhawks on the all-victorious roster, and coach Phog Allen assisted Warren Womble of the Peoria Caterpillar-Diesels. The games were in Helsinki, Finland. The time difference was maddening, communications were lousy and there was no television to chronicle, even by tape delay, the feats of our guys.
Still, adoring fans found ways to keep up with Clyde Lovellette, Bill Hougland, Bob Kenney, Bill Lienhard, Dean Kelley, Charlie Hoag and John Keller.
The Soviet Union was the villain-in-residence then. While Boris, Ivan and Comrades gave the Americans problems, our folks came home with gold medals on ribbons around their necks. The other seven Americans on the roster were Bob Kurland, Marcus Frieberger, Frank McCabe, Ron Bontemps, Wayne Glasgow, Dan Pippin and Howie Williams.
Everyone in that illustrious group took massive pride from carrying the banner of the free world to victory against the Evil Empire, the Beast to the East, the Moscow Menace … insert your own epithet.
I’ll bet this year’s U.S. roster will prove to be more successful than some analysts think, because of the high caliber of the coaches and the fact the players want to show the world America’s still the best — despite defections by the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Mike Bibby, Jason Kidd, Jermaine O’Neal and Karl Malone.
Granted, Malone and Kidd reportedly need surgery, and Kobe Bryant is court-bound. But too many other guys who could help have slumped back onto their overpaid couches of convenience. I hope they choke when our guys take the victory stand.
First off, the head coach is the brilliant Larry Brown, who played on the gold medal U.S. team of 1964 under Hank Iba, won an NCAA title at Kansas (1988) and captured an NBA championship in Detroit (2004). With an Olympic title in his dossier, he’ll set a victory lap of 4-0 that may never be equaled.
Two guys who also have Kansas roots, along with Oliver Purnell of Clemson, are assisting Larry. Roy Williams became a 15-season legend at Kansas and will do famously at North Carolina. Gregg Popovich apprenticed here a year under Brown. Don’t shortchange the low-key Popovich. He coached San Antonio’s Spurs to NBA titles in 1999 and 2003; he was no mercy appointment. But Brown is the key, and he’ll have his guys ready.
Sometimes downrated by critics, the U.S. roster is a long way from being chopped liver. At the average age of 23.6 years, it will be the youngest yet of the four Olympic teams hubbed by professionals. Age be damned.
How’d you like the chance to throw out the ball to LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Lamar Odom, Emeka Okafor, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Richard Jefferson, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire?
OK, so you’re still irked that Brown and Williams departed Kansas under less-than-perfect circumstances, and maybe you aren’t too taken with the Iverson attitude. Forget all that. These are Americans, folks, and it’s them against the world! This is them and us, the red-white-blue against every color of the solar spectrum, a gang who can help bolster national pride.
Imagine the jolt that kids like James, Anthony and Wade will get if they can ascend that victory stand and gain the gold. Who among us except malcontents and misfits — old, young and in between — wouldn’t shed tears over being able to represent our country in such a way? Even Iverson, for gosh sakes, has been talking patriotically. You know these guys recognize what’s at stake.
Brown and Williams, as Americanized as you can get, won’t let them forget, for a second, their mission. Brown has the advantage of having lived with, survived and drawn the best out of the sometimes troubling Iverson. If Allen gets to wheeling and dealing in his best manner, a lot of opponents are going to be dazed. Who wouldn’t want a versatile, stable and brilliant guy like Duncan toting their chips?
Olympic basketball has given us a lot of local thrills. Former Jayhawk Hougland played in 1952 and then again in 1956, and roomed with the immortal Bill Russell in Australia. Jo Jo White was a mainstay on Iba’s 1968 team. KU’s Danny Manning got stuck on a 1988 team that was mismanaged by the overbearing John Thompson and had to settle for a bronze medal.
Then there was that 1972 travesty in Munich when the nitwit officials gave the Russians three extra shots to win. They finally did, after America had the game in the bag on two Doug Collins free throws. That team still refuses to accept its silver medals because of the rooking it took. You can’t fault them one whit.
The United States will enter the August Olympics with a 109-2 record, the losses being in the tainted ’72 and bungled ’88, with gold medals in 12 of 14 appearances. America is 24-0 since pro players have been allowed, and I don’t expect that zero to change when Larry, Roy, Gregg and the boys get done next month. Again, I haven’t been this pumped for a U.S. team since 1952.
¢
Nationally speaking, though, I find it hard to choke down the hot-dogging of sprinter Maurice Greene, a native of Kansas City, Kan. Sure he’s terrific, but I’m still embarrassed by that flag-swagging he and his relay guys did last Olympics. Want him to win but I hope he’ll show more class this time. Fed up with that flapping tongue and the pointing to the “GOAT” tattoo that stands for “greatest of all time.”
Fact is, he ain’t even close. Starting with Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens and Michael Johnson, I can quick-like name 10 guys more “GOAT” than Greene.
Mo should be less a showoff. I’d like to have Yankee baseball reliever Mariano Rivera give Greene some needed lessons in how to handle success with class and dignity.
