Do Jason, Jordan, Adam et al regret not playing the Olympics?

[Jon Wiggett]

Jeff,


When it comes to basketball?  Yes!

Hell most NBA D-league teams could have won the Olympics!

And yes I'd much rather watch the Lakers and C's play in the NBA finals...two teams I despise. 


P.S  And yes, the Players chammpionship is the best full field event year in and year out...it should be  a major!

But Kalen,


outside the US basketball is a fringe sport at best so no wonder the rest of the world is not as good.

[Mike Sweeney]

outside the US basketball is a fringe sport at best so no wonder the rest of the world is not as good.

I have a former coach Tom McCarthy that has been in China for over twenty years now and if he comes back- it will be with a big pile of money:
http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/spring_2009/works/trifecta.html


I have seen estimates that 300 million people actively play basketball in China:


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1271992-basketball-in-china-part-ii-the-evolution


Basketball is one example of the power of The Olympics- it used to be a fringe sport outside the USA.

[Jon Wiggett]

Mike,


I think you should not believe all the hype in the press. I would take 300 million Chinese playing basketball with a big pinch of salt. You might argue Serbia is a country where it has taken off but it is still not a mainstream sport there, only football (soccer) is. Basketball is still definitely a fringe sport for most countries.

[George Pazin]

That's interesting. I've read and heard in many places that basketball has surpassed soccer worldwide in terms of participants. It was on the internet, it must be true! Maybe they didn't count people who responded they played football...

[Mike Sweeney]

That's interesting. I've read and heard in many places that basketball has surpassed soccer worldwide in terms of participants. It was on the internet, it must be true! Maybe they didn't count people who responded they played football...

Well I doubt that soccer/football is not #1 but I doubt that basketball is NOT the #2 or #3 team sport world wide depending on which Google search you use for Cricket - http://www.totalsportek.com/most-popular-sports/

Rugby and baseball don't have much of a following in China and Jon can cut that 300 million estimate that play basketball in China 3 or 4 times and it is still a HUGE number! China is 20% of the world population and I have no doubt that they will win a Gold medal in basketball in my lifetime. And yes it counts if Stephon Marbury's son plays for China!!

[Kalen Braley]

Jeff,


When it comes to basketball?  Yes!

Hell most NBA D-league teams could have won the Olympics!

And yes I'd much rather watch the Lakers and C's play in the NBA finals...two teams I despise. 


P.S  And yes, the Players chammpionship is the best full field event year in and year out...it should be  a major!

But Kalen,


outside the US basketball is a fringe sport at best so no wonder the rest of the world is not as good.

Its actually not, but thats really not the point here.
The point is, the Olympics is not the best of the best.  In most Olympic sports its a handful of good atheletes from prominent countries going up against woefully undermatched opponents.

[Jon Wiggett]

Mike,


interesting survey. I was surprised that of the eight countries with a professional league Serbia was not among them as they were one of only three countries to win a medal. I think the fact that Formula One is the seventh most popular sport puts it into context as I cannot imagine very many people actually participate in it. The fact that it is so high up has to do with the money and TV viewing figures but to suggest it is a major sport is stretching it a bit. That Basketball is at 2/3 is perhaps partly to do with this though it is certainly a sport that is cheap to play at a street level like football, cricket.


Who's the guy in the photo? and who is Stephon Marbury?

Jon

[Mike Sweeney]

Who's the guy in the photo? and who is Stephon Marbury?

1) Stephon Marbury and his son;


2) SM is the greatest export in the history of the USA in ANYTHING (arguably) to China. He literally had a museum built for him-


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/world/asia/stephon-marbury-china-basketball.html?_r=0


Very few would know about Tom McCarthy and China but Stephon Marbury's path to re-glory in China is a well known story in basketball.

[Mike Sweeney]

In most Olympic sports its a handful of good atheletes from prominent countries going up against woefully undermatched opponents.

That may be true in the BIG revenue sports like basketball/golf/tennis, but it simply not true of the "traditional" Olympic sports like badminton/track/swimming/wrestling/judo.

[Kalen Braley]

In most Olympic sports its a handful of good atheletes from prominent countries going up against woefully undermatched opponents.

That may be true in the BIG revenue sports like basketball/golf/tennis, but it simply not true of the "traditional" Olympic sports like badminton/track/swimming/wrestling/judo.

Mike thats actually not the case,


Go look at the times for each swimming stroke in the US trials and compare that to finishing times in the Olympics.


If the best swimmers were allowed to attend based purely on finishing times, and not just the top 3 from each country, I'd bet over half of the swimmers in the Olympics would be from the US.


And its not just the US, if all the best Ping Pongers were allowed to play, the Olympic competition would be almost exclusively Chinese players.  It just is what it is...

[Kalen Braley]

For example Mike, I randomly picked the Mens 400 IM in swimming.


Based on the finals at the US trial, and the finals at the Oylpmics if the best times were allowed.


6...yes 6 of 8 swimmers would have qualified from the US to swim in the 400 IM finals at the Olympics

[Mike Sweeney]

For example Mike, I randomly picked the Mens 400 IM in swimming.


Based on the finals at the US trial, and the finals at the Oylpmics if the best times were allowed.


6...yes 6 of 8 swimmers would have qualified from the US to swim in the 400 IM finals at the Olympics

The history and legacy of the Olympics is international competition between countries. The USA gets one basketball team same as everyone else. If you want to field multiple teams from the USA in basketball- run for President break up the country and field more teams. The former USSR is now multiple countries so it is not an unreasonable statement in terms of the Olympics

In addition the qualifying times of Olympians can't be compared against one another unless they were in the same qualifying race. Besides speed of the pool- lane assignments and altitude adjustments- the USA qualifiers had the advantage of competing against Michael Phelps in the USA. He is always going to bring out the best in performers.

There is not one international competition in the world- to my knowledge- that does not make some sort of concessions to the less than qualified. Yes- even the mighty US Open in golf has multiple exemptions:

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/qualifying/exemptions.html


Please show me the one PURE international sporting competition before you tell me more about the Olympics??!!

[Terry Lavin]

size=87% threadjack size=100% threadeuthanasia

[jeffwarne]

size=87% threadjack size=100% threadeuthanasia

Possible post of the year


(emoticon 78% omitted)

[Mike Sweeney]

size=87% threadjack size=100% threadeuthanasia

I was posting from an NSA Computer in the Federal Republic of Vermont. I have received clearance from President Bernie Sanders and have now updated!

PS - The New GCAcom does not love the Safari browser and there are Doak 7's in Vermont!!

[Jon Wiggett]

Who's the guy in the photo? and who is Stephon Marbury?

1) Stephon Marbury and his son;


2) SM is the greatest export in the history of the USA in ANYTHING (arguably) to China. He literally had a museum built for him-


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/world/asia/stephon-marbury-china-basketball.html?_r=0


Very few would know about Tom McCarthy and China but Stephon Marbury's path to re-glory in China is a well known story in basketball.

Thanks for the reply Mike. I had never heard of him.