Dream Team vs. Redeem Team

After yesterdays win all any basketball fan wants to talk about is how great the US Mens basketball team is. Some people are saying that they are the greatest team of all time and they are better than the Dream Team from '92. To those people I say put down whatever you are smoking and come back down to reality.

I don't want to take anything away from the '08 team because they came together and played hard and beat some excellent competition but a comparison to the Dream Team is just not fair. Before we start the comparison just know that it is strictly about basketball and basketball only. The rosters alone speak volumes but I will go a bit more in-depth.

Dream Team vs. Redeem Team

Pos.	Player	Pos.	Player
G	Magic Johnson	G	Jason Kidd
G	Michael Jordan	G	Kobe Bryant
G	John Stockton	G	Chris Paul
G	Clyde Drexler	G	Dwyane Wade
G/F	Scottie Pippen	G	Deron Williams
F	Larry Bird	G	Michael Redd
F	Charles Barkley	F	LeBron James
F	Karl Malone	F	Carlos Boozer
F	Chris Mullin	F	Carmelo Anthony
F	C. Laettner	F	Tayshaun Prince
C	Patrick Ewing	C	Dwight Howard
C	David Robinson	C/F	Chris Bosh

Margin of Victory

This is usually the best way to compare teams and in this particular instance it is not even close. The Dream Team won by an average of 43.8 points per game while the Redeem Teams margin of victory was only 27.9. This clearly shows that the Dream Team was far more dominant and absolutely destroyed their opponents. Now I know that the level of competition is higher these days as basketball is more of a global game and foreign countries produce much better players but the stats cannot be ignored.

Best All-Around Player

The best overall player on the Redeem Team was LeBron James (in the '08 NBA season it was Kobe Bryant). The best overall player on the Dream Team was Michael Jordan who is much better than Kobe and LeBron at both offense and defense. The reason I bring this up is because when times are tough teams draw strength from their best player and when your best player is Michael Jordan you are going to draw a lot of strength.

Interior Players

If these two teams played each other the game would be won and lost in the paint. Dwight Howard would foul out in the first half trying to stop the likes of Patrick Ewing and David Robinson. Also Charles Barkley and Karl Malone would have no issues imposing their will on Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. The Dream Team brought true centers who could dominate inside and win games single handily if the guards were having an off game, which they never did. Howard was a force in Beijing but his skills would look amateur compared to some of the greatest big men of all time.

The Point

Here is where the debate will get interesting because many people love the point guards on the Redeem Team and with good reason. Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams are amazing point guards and can run the offense with 0 issues. However the Dream Team had Magic Johnson and John Stockton who are two of the best point guards ever. The Dream Team also had players like MJ and Scottie Pippen who could easily run an offense that was more versatile than the Redeem Team.

Defense

The '08 team played very hard on defense (though it had few answers for Spain in the final), but the Dream Team was better at that end of the court. If you saw Jordan shut down Lithuania's Sarunas Marciulionis or Pippen put the clamps on Croatia's Toni Kukoc -- both of the international players were world-class at the time -- you would have to give the advantage to the '92 team in a close game. And that's not even to bring up how Robinson and Ewing would protect the paint.

Once again this is not intended to bash the Redeem Team who played amazing and were a great team. In this day and age its hard to bring massive egos together and make them work as a unit. It is merely to say that it would not beat the once and future kings who set a standard that will probably never be matched.

Making it Look Easy

It is now official that Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the entire world. Bolt broke the world record for the 100m dash by posting a time of 9.69 and did so while coasting for the last 20 meters or so. At 21, is the youngest man to break the 100 record and at 6'5 is also the tallest man to hold the record.

Bolt looked to be in a class all his own as throughout his semi-final heats he was letting up after 60 meters and simply coasting to victory over his fellow competitors. He took this same mentality to the finals where he dominated the competition and put his name in the record books forever.

Many people after the race wondered why Bolt didn't go hard all the way until the end and so far there have been many theories. One theory is that he let up for financial reasons. Every time you break a world record you get a cash bonus, sometimes up to $1,000,000, so some people felt Bolt just wants to keep breaking the record by a bit so maximize cash value.

A second theory is that Bolt simply knew he was going to win and break a record and wanted to celebrate the moment. When you are that fast you know you're the best so Bolt simply showboated for the crowd and really enjoyed himself during the race.

Whatever theory you believe in you can't take anything away from Bolt who not only wowed fans but also some former competitors as well. “It’s amazing, and I’m not sure I’ve wrapped my mind around it yet,” said Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist turned television commentator.

One thing to take into account with track and field is the wind assistance. The consensus is that every meter per second of following wind subtracts approximately five one-hundredths of a second from a sprinter’s time. “You put the wind he had in New York behind the 9.69 here, and O.K., now we could be down in the 9.5s except that he shut down with 20 meters to go,” Boldon said. “So now, I’m like, O.K., is that in the 9.4s? It’s mind-boggling.”

What makes Bolt's accomplishment even more amazing is that he only recently started running the 100m. He is a 200m sprinter who felt that he could compete in the 100m and decided to try both. He has only been running the 100m for four months and managed to qualify for the Olympics and break the world record twice in that time frame.

Some people have questioned the validity of the race and think that Bolt must be taking something. This is not too far of a reach however as within the last decade both Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin have been suspended and stripped of the record. However Bolt has never failed a drug test and has been smashing records his entire life. He is the the youngest male world junior champion ever in the 200 as he won the event at the age of 15.

The comparisons will now begin between Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt and people will start to argue who's achievement is more impressive. Phelps will win more medals but Bolt simply dominated while holding back a little. I don't want to take anything away from Bolt but I think the nod clearly goes to Phelps who had more races and is competing in a much more competitive field. Ato Boldon tends to disagree with me however.

“Swimming has their LZR suits and their deeper pools,” Boldon said. “We have a 6-foot-5-inch guy that’s running 9.6s and beating the rest of the Olympic field by two tenths of a second. He’s our new technology.”

Which ever achievement you believe to be better there is no denying that what Usain Bolt did was truly incredible and he deserves nothing but the highest praises. I only hope that he continues to push himself and maybe go a whole 100m running full speed.

Michael Phelps – The Greatest Olympian

On Sunday August 17, 2008 a 23 year-old swam his way into the record books and into immortality. Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals in a single Olympics and set 7 world records in the process. Phelps mastered 8 different events and made it known he was the best in the world at all of them. He now holds the record for most gold medals in a single Olympics (8) and most gold medals won in an Olympic career (14) and he is only 23 years old.

Michael Phelps may be the most discussed name in the entire world right now as his attempt at 8 gold medals in a single Olympics has been all everyone is talking about. People who know nothing about swimming or even watch the Olympics know what Phelps was trying to do and now know what he has accomplished.

In the summer of 2004 Phelps attempted to break the Olympic record for most gold medals won in a single Olympics (7 by US swimmer Mark Spitz in 1972). Phelps came up short in 2004 however winning 6 golds and 2 bronzes. This “failure” as Phelps called it urged him on as he vowed he would attempt greatness again in 2008.

Phelps came into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing highly publicized about what he was planning on doing and that anything less than 8 golds would be considered a monumental failure. He had 17 swims in 9 days and very few people believed that he would be able to do it as they believed everything would have to go right for Phelps and luckily for him it did.

There were numerous close calls however as every gold didn’t come quite as easily as Phelps would have liked. In the first relay event it took a miracle swim by Jason Lezak to ensure that Phelps would not fail early. In the 200m Butterfly Phelps looked sluggish and barely managed to win as he claimed afterwards that his goggles filled up with water. However the closest call was in the 100m Butterfly where going into the final 5 meters Phelps was behind and managed to barely win by just 0.01 seconds.

The magnitude of the accomplishment was not lost on some of Phelps’s competitors. "I just don't think there is a perspective for him," said Simon Burnett, British anchor of the 4x100 medley relay freestyle, when asked to put Phelps in perspective. "He's beyond everything we know. In Athens when he was going for eight golds, I said it would never happen -- not in this day and age with semifinal swims and the competition level. Phelps has taken every expectation and broken it. He seems to be the only guy who sees the impossible as possible, and that's what makes him the best. Once he crosses the threshold, other people are able to foresee it happening. If he can do it, we can do it. But he's always one step ahead of us."

Phelps now has the honor of being called the greatest Olympian of all time a title and maybe even the best athlete of all time. His 14 career gold medals absolutely shatter the old standard which was 9 and in 2012 at the Olympics in London England he could add to that total. But for now Phelps claims that he is just looking forward to going back home to Baltimore and relaxing.

Michael Phelps was able to achieve what some people thought to be impossible. He broke world records and set new standards of excellence for all athletes. He did it with pure talent, some help from his teammates, and a little luck but he managed to accomplish what he set out to do.

Phelps can now let the spotlight shine on someone else for a change as he sits back and reflects on one of the greatest achievements in sports history.

Bonehead Move

This is the team photo of the Spanish Mens Basketball team that is currently competing at the Olympics in Beijing. The photo was taken to be used in a promotion for a courier company that sponsors the Spanish Basketball Federation and was used in a full page ad of the popular sports daily newspaper Marca.

Jose Calderon, a member of the team, said that the sponsor asked the team "to pose with a 'wink' to our participation in Beijing" and that "we made an Oriental expression with our eye." Calderon also said, "I want to say that we have a great respect for the Orient and their peoples. Some of my best friends in Toronto are of Chinese origin." I personally like Jose Calderon and I feel that he is telling the truth when he says that the photo was not meant to be racist.

The Spanish team have said that this photo was not meant to be offensive but clearly it has offended some people. Asian rights groups in the United States, China, and all over the world are very upset about the photo and it has been called "disturbing" and "divisive."

The trouble that I have with the photo is whether it was meant to be innocent or not the players and team officials should know that in this day and age people are easily offended and that "jokes" like this are always misinterpreted. Plus what kind of a joke is making a simple wink? No one looked at this photo and thought 'oh hey they are winking that is funny'. Everyone assumed that they were making a racist gesture and that is why the photo is so offensive.

Pau Gasol, the team captain, made a public apology to the media on behalf of the team the other and said, "If anyone feels offended by it, we totally apologise for it." While I feel this is a decent enough apology many people feel it was half hearted and that Gasol missed the real issue. He never said that he was sorry for doing it only that he was sorry if he offended anyone. People are getting stuck on the details and are asking for a more sincere apology that I can promise you will not be coming anytime soon.

To make matters even worse Spain is currently in the process of making a bid for the 2016 Olympics games and do not need this kind of negative publicity. This incident added to other numerous incidents of late are not casting a positive light on Spain. Spanish sport has been placed under severe scrutiny for a number of recent incidents, including the monkey chants aimed at England's black football players by football fans at a November 2004 friendly in Madrid.

The controversy has not affected the team on the court however as so far they are undefeated in the tournament with big wins coming over Germany and China. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

Olympic Report

Michael Phelps

It is now official that Michael Phelps is the most successful Olympian in history. Yesterday Phelps earned 2 more gold medals to push his career total to 11 golds surpassing Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Paavo Nurmi, and Larysa Latynina.

"I'm almost at a loss for words," Phelps said. "Growing up I always wanted to be an Olympian. Now to be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it just sounds weird saying. It started setting in a little bit after the butterfly. I was just trying to focus on my next race, but I just kept thinking, `Wow, greatest Olympian of all time.' It's a pretty cool title. I'm definitely honored."

Not only has Phelps dominated these races by winning gold but he has also broken a world record in every race as well. Yesterday as part of the 800m US Freestyle Relay team Phelps beat the old world record by just over 5 seconds, which is an eternity in swimming. Phelps is now over the halfway point on his quest to earn 8 gold medals in a single Olympics (the current record is 7 by Mark Spitz). Phelps attempted to do this four years ago but came up short only winning 6 gold and 2 bronze.

Phelps has just 3 races left and they are all events that he won gold at in 2004 while in Athens so things look good for the American. The events are 200 individual medley, 100 fly and 400 medley relay.

Faking

It was recently discovered that China used digital technology to enhance the fireworks display from the opening ceremonies. CGI was used to add more fireworks for televisions and make the ceremony seem more impressive than it really was. This is probably the dumbest thing to do ever as it makes your country look so bad that you are so desperate to look impressive that you basically lie to everyone around the world. Not a good way to start off the games there in China.

To add to the whole mess it was also reported that the little girl who sang the Chinese national anthem wasn't actually singing. The girl who actually sang the song was deemed not cute enough for television and so she was replaced by a better looking girl who was then forced to lip sync. This fake singer went on numerous talk shows afterwards and went along with the whole thing until everyone found out she wasn't any good. China was are you doing? This is worse than Brittany Spears and Ashley Simpson combined.

ID Please

I don't care what anybody says those female Chinese gymnasts are not more than 10 years old. Li Shanshan (16) is 4-foot-9, 79 pounds. Yang Yilin (15) is 4-foot-11, 77 pounds. He Kexin (16) is 4-foot-8, 73 pounds. Jiang Yuyuan (16) is 4-foot-7, 71 pounds. But the prize goes to Deng Linlin (16), who's listed at 4-foot-6 and a strapping 68 pounds. No 16 year old in the world is 68 pounds. Who does China think that they are fooling with this stuff? Its sad that a country is this desperate to win that they lie to the whole world and cheat to try and come out ahead.

Canada

Canada still does not have 1 medal to its name. To make matters worse 17 Canadian records have been broken in the pool so far these Olympics and yet there are 0 medals to show for it. That means that these athletes have swam faster than any other Canadian ever has and it still isn't good enough.

Here is a Day 6 recap of how Canada did:

ARCHERY
Jason Lyon, advanced to the round of 16. The other two Canadians were eliminated after first-round losses.

BASEBALL
Men - Scott Thorman hit a three-run home run and Mike Saunders added a solo homer as Canada opened its preliminary round with a 10-0 rout of host China.

CANOE/KAYAK
Women's singles kayak - Sarah Boudens, Pembroke failed to advance after placing 19th in qualifying.

CYCLING
Men's individual time trial - Svein Tuft placed seventh in the 47.3-kilometre event; Ryder Hesjedal was 16th.

Women's individual time trial - Alexandra Wrubleski completed the 23.5-kilometre course in 39 minutes 15.42 seconds to finish 24th.

DIVING
Men's synchronized three-metre springboard - Alexandre Despatie and Arturo Miranda placed fifth in the competition with a score of 409.29.

FENCING
Men's individual foil - Joshua McGuire went to overtime in his opening match to defeat Tomer Or, Israel (11-10), then was eliminated with a loss in the round of 16 to Salvatore Sanzo of Italy (15-3).

ROWING
Women's eights - Canada earned a berth in the final by winning their repechage race.

SHOOTING
Women's 25-metre sport pistol - 41. Avianna Chao scored 558.0 points to finish 41st in qualifying and did not advance.

SHOOTING
Women's 25-metre sport pistol - 41. Avianna Chao scored 558.0 points to finish 41st in qualifying and did not advance.

SOFTBALL
Melanie Matthews and Jennifer Yee each drove in three runs as Canada improved to 2-0 after a 9-2 win over the Netherlands.

SWIMMING
Men's 100 freestyle - Brent Hayden finished sixth in his semifinal and did not advance.

Men's 200 backstroke - Keith Beavers and Tobias Oriwol both earned semifinal berths after finishing 15th and 16th repectively in qualifying.
Men's 200 breaststroke - Mike Brown clinched a berth in the final after winning his semifinal (2:08.84).

Men's 200 individual medley - Keith Beavers tied for eighth in qualifying and will race in the semifinals; Brian Johns was 18th did not advance.

Men's 4x200 freestyle relay - Canada set a Canadian record but finished fifth in the final.

Women's 200 butterfly - Audrey Lacroix placed sixth in her semifinal and did not advance.

Women's 200 individual medley - Julia Wilkinson placed seventh in the final.

Hopefully Canada can get a few medals out of our rowing team and maybe women's softball as well but with countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan beating us things are starting to get ugly.

Team USA Drops the Ball

The 2008 Summer Olympics are already marked with controversy as ever since Beijing received the news that they would be hosting the Olympics there has been public outrage on a global scale. The outrage is over China’s recent track record when it comes to human rights. Not only has China been heavily criticized for its role in Tibet but also for aiding the Sudanese government with weapons and financial aid in its military actions in Darfur.

With all of this political controversy the games have so far had a very negative shadow cast over them as people have taken it upon themselves to try and shed light on the political situation. Numerous times during the running of the Olympic torch protestors attempted to try and stop the torch and several times riots were close to breaking out. Some athletes have claimed that they will not be attending the Olympics in a show of support for Tibet and the people of Darfur.

However many of these athletes are unknown and do not possess the star power to make a real difference in the awareness level of the average viewer. This is where Team USA Basketball comes into the picture.

In both the Summer and Winter Olympics there is no team or group if people who get more publicity and are more well known on a global scale than the US Men’s Basketball team. People everywhere in the world known who Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are and the basketball tournament regularly gets more ratings than any other event during the duration of the Olympics. These players have the best chance out of anyone to speak up about any issue and more people will listen. But what do they do with their opportunity to make a difference in this world? Nothing.

In March of this year Kobe Bryant took part in a PSA (Public Service Announcement) that made clear what his feelings about Darfur were. Bryant, like many other celebrities, condemned what was happening in the Sudan and urged everyone to do everything that they could to try and help the cause. In an interview just months before the Olympics LeBron James spoke on how the injustices in Tibet and Darfur should not be allowed to continue and this was all after he refused to sign an open letter written by Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Ira Newble condemning China for its actions.

Team USA have decided that their stance on the Tibet and Darfur issues is that they’re their simply to play sports and not to be politicians. I personally feel that this is a cowardly stance and that these players have a responsibility to speak out on these pressing issues. The only reason that they don’t is for fear of losing fans and losing endorsement deals. I’m pretty sure that even if LeBron spoke out against Darfur Nike would give him his money. I don’t want to come off as saying that every player should speak out but if you are doing PSA commercials like Kobe than here is a golden opportunity to do more.

Dwayne Wade is another player who is keeping his mouth shut when it comes to the whole political aspect of the Olympics. Wade told reporters that, "We are going into uncharted waters. It's not our home. We are going to go over there and respect China. This is a business trip for us. We'll let the politics take care of itself. That's not for us to worry about. There might be some people that get into it, but that's not my focus. I'm focusing on basketball."

Wade could not be more wrong. When you go to another country and take part in a global competition it’s not a “business trip.” You are there to represent your country and not simply to be a gracious guest. However in times such as these you are not simply representing the USA but representing the human race. These athletes have a chance to change the course of history if they would only stand up for what they claim to believe in. These basketball players need to stop thinking of their money and themselves and need to start thinking about how they can help others.