Originally this was supposed to be a column about the Olympic Qualifying tournament. Except we're still not certain there is one.
Surfing my TV dial the past two nights, I couldn't find any proof that the event exists. Fox Sports, TNT, HBO, ESPN, QVC.
Checked 'em all, and couldn't find a single NBA star putting a ball through a hoop. (I did see some stuff on MTV that would make Dennis Rodman blush, but that's another story.)
Turns out this year's Olympic Qualifying tourney is available only on pay-per-view, right there with the Jerry Springer special and World Wrestling Summer Slam on the cable á la carte menu.
"Too bad," said Mavs assistant coach Donn Nelson, an expert in international basketball. "If [these games] were on regular TV, I think a lot more people would be interested."
Isn't this Team USA thing supposed to be a big story? Isn't this America's chance to regain its lost hoops glory and reassert its dominance on the world stage? To erase the shame of last summer's sixth-place finish at the World Championships? Isn't this why Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady and Jason Kidd decided to give up sipping mai tais by the pool and cut short their summer vacations?
Hector Figueroa of HF Sports, a Puerto Rico-based company, apparently thought so. He's the guy who paid a reported $2 million to FIBA for the TV rights to this summer's tournament.
It was his decision to make the games available on pay-per-view, and not even an offer from ESPN could get him to part with any of them.
"We would have liked to have had the games [on free TV]," said USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller. "It wasn't our decision to make."
OK, so maybe this year's tourney, which runs through Aug. 31, is just a preliminary qualifier involving teams from the Americas. And maybe there isn't much competitive drama, with the U.S. squad (2-0 after Thursday night's rout over the Dominican Republic) expected to breeze to one of the three qualifying spots for the '04 Olympics in Athens.
As Blazers GM John Nash noted, in the eyes of most Americans, "we're still perceived as being Goliath."
But isn't that what the experts thought last summer, before Team USA got bushwhacked by Argentina, Yugoslavia and Spain? One would think, given the intrigue surrounding last year's debacle, the NBA would have bought the rights and shown the games for marketing purposes.
Unlike the pro game, the international version emphasizes ball movement, cutting and passing. Maybe it's not as compelling for most NBA fans as Lakers-Spurs, but it has to be more attractive TV fare than Rucker League action on ESPN2.
Even Team USA coach Larry Brown came out last week and said he preferred the international game to the NBA in some ways. "I wish we'd adopt some of their rules." he said. "International play is more appealing. It's more of a team game."
Nelson cites the fevered atmosphere surrounding international play as another attraction. Fans waving flags, singing and chanting, he said, bring a college-type atmosphere to the events. "It's almost like a soccer game, there's so much passion," he said.
Sounds like great basketball. Too bad so many fans won't get to see it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/marty_burns/08/22/usa.insider/
Surfing my TV dial the past two nights, I couldn't find any proof that the event exists. Fox Sports, TNT, HBO, ESPN, QVC.
Checked 'em all, and couldn't find a single NBA star putting a ball through a hoop. (I did see some stuff on MTV that would make Dennis Rodman blush, but that's another story.)
Turns out this year's Olympic Qualifying tourney is available only on pay-per-view, right there with the Jerry Springer special and World Wrestling Summer Slam on the cable á la carte menu.
"Too bad," said Mavs assistant coach Donn Nelson, an expert in international basketball. "If [these games] were on regular TV, I think a lot more people would be interested."
Isn't this Team USA thing supposed to be a big story? Isn't this America's chance to regain its lost hoops glory and reassert its dominance on the world stage? To erase the shame of last summer's sixth-place finish at the World Championships? Isn't this why Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady and Jason Kidd decided to give up sipping mai tais by the pool and cut short their summer vacations?
Hector Figueroa of HF Sports, a Puerto Rico-based company, apparently thought so. He's the guy who paid a reported $2 million to FIBA for the TV rights to this summer's tournament.
It was his decision to make the games available on pay-per-view, and not even an offer from ESPN could get him to part with any of them.
"We would have liked to have had the games [on free TV]," said USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller. "It wasn't our decision to make."
OK, so maybe this year's tourney, which runs through Aug. 31, is just a preliminary qualifier involving teams from the Americas. And maybe there isn't much competitive drama, with the U.S. squad (2-0 after Thursday night's rout over the Dominican Republic) expected to breeze to one of the three qualifying spots for the '04 Olympics in Athens.
As Blazers GM John Nash noted, in the eyes of most Americans, "we're still perceived as being Goliath."
But isn't that what the experts thought last summer, before Team USA got bushwhacked by Argentina, Yugoslavia and Spain? One would think, given the intrigue surrounding last year's debacle, the NBA would have bought the rights and shown the games for marketing purposes.
Unlike the pro game, the international version emphasizes ball movement, cutting and passing. Maybe it's not as compelling for most NBA fans as Lakers-Spurs, but it has to be more attractive TV fare than Rucker League action on ESPN2.
Even Team USA coach Larry Brown came out last week and said he preferred the international game to the NBA in some ways. "I wish we'd adopt some of their rules." he said. "International play is more appealing. It's more of a team game."
Nelson cites the fevered atmosphere surrounding international play as another attraction. Fans waving flags, singing and chanting, he said, bring a college-type atmosphere to the events. "It's almost like a soccer game, there's so much passion," he said.
Sounds like great basketball. Too bad so many fans won't get to see it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/marty_burns/08/22/usa.insider/
