Team USA loses, pigs are flying
When I woke up Thursday morning, everything seemed normal. I drank my coffee, ate my Cracklin’ Oat Bran and heard the Oakland A’s had won again, courtesy of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.
Then I turned on the radio as I drove to work and heard words I thought would take decades to be heard: Team USA was beaten at the World Championships.
Not in field hockey. Not in water polo. Not even mixed pairs tennis, my friends.
Team USA was soundly defeated in basketball by those juggernauts from Argentina, 87-80. Argentina?!?
This game wasn’t even close: Team USA never led, and trailed by as many as 20 points. Needless to say, a Bart Simpson “Ay caramba!” was the only thing I could think when I heard that note.
For certain, I, as many other basketball enthusiasts, knew the world was catching up. You don’t need to go too far in the Metroplex to see the likes of Dirk Nowitzki (who is the best player at the World Championships) showcasing the rapid rise of international basketball talent.
Plus, it’s not as if Team USA has not had scares before with NBA players in winning 58 games in a row in international competition since 1992. The Lithuanians lost by only two to Team USA in the Sydney Olympics and Brazil succumbed in overtime during the Goodwill Games.
And one can point to the fact that this is certainly not America’s best and brightest, with a team sans Shaq, Kobe, KG and Duncan to name a few. The team packs no first or second All-NBA team members and only one third-teamer, Paul Pierce.
But never, in all my wildest dreams, would I ever have believed that a Team USA, with its depth, athleticism and physical play, would lose to any team; let alone Argentina, that played a few potential NBA-caliber players.
The Argentines weren’t even on the radar screen a few years ago, with the Yugoslavians, Germans and Brazilians thought to be the biggest threats to U.S. supremacy at these World Championships.
But with newly acquired San Antonio Spur shooting guard Emmanuel Ginobili and former Temple Owl point guard Pepe Sanchez leading the way, the Argentines controlled the game.
Even big men like Spur Luis Scola and former Maverick Ruben Wolkowyski helped match the Americans blow for blow in the paint.
In short, a nightmare occurred for the not-so-dreamy Team USA as the foreigners outshot, outplayed, outhustled and outmanned the Americans on their home turf.
Who would have ever thought that in the year 2002 Team USA soccer would have a better showing at the World Cup than Argentina, and Team Argentina basketball would dominate the Americans at the World Championships in basketball?
Now if that’s not a sign the apocalypse is upon us, I don’t what is.
