Rally Around the Flag, Rally Around the Flag!!

USA! USA! USA! Nothing like some International sports compeition to get my American spirit boiling HIGH!! This is especially significant coming from someone who hates the site of every Support the Troops sticker or American Flag. Like my good friend and self proclaimed best dancer in Latin America, Scott Francis, once dead panned, "Who doesnt want to support the troops? No, I want them to DIE!!" Also, my liberal leanings are taking a back every time I hear God Bless America during the 7 inning stretch at Camden Yards instead of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. I feel the Bush Administraion has successfully used patriotic phrases and symbols to masquared their failed domestic and foreign policies ever since 9/11. Thus this makes me suspect to show any USA pride but give me an event where I can go after some foreigners to make fun of and in teh meantime, beat their ASS in the game we evented? I am Bleeding Red, White, and Blue, Baby.

I am your typical American sports fan who really doesnt like soccer too much, however, during my 3 week world cup fever spell, I wanted to beat some Italian Flopping ASS!! Let me tell ya, You come across the middle in OUR real football and have to go off on a stretcher after one of the 3 best young safeties in the league, Sean Spit Taylor, Troy P, Bob "the Hitman" Sanders lays some wood on ya? I will Guarantee you will be re-entering the game cuz you will be in a coma. No matter how much "Spray" you get blown over your greasy long hairded A$$!!

Back to the Fiba World Bball Championships in Japan as US downs Germany 85-65 to set up a Final 4 Match against Greece. Other side of bracket is world powerhouse matchup of Spain/Argentina. All teams are a combined 28-0. I hate Ginobli, Nocconi, and pretty much all of Argentina. I want US to crush them in the final, but I would like to see Spain beat them too. I am torn.

First things first, lets break down what US needs to do in order to beat Greece. What I do know about is Greece that they lack the big name NBA star firepower, the other 3 remaining all star squads have. They are team oriented and the defending 2005 Eurobasket champs. By far will be the most formiable team the US has faced so far.

However I am not buying into the Doom and Gloom underling storyline of most American sports pundits. They can not wait to bury this team as spolied underachievers or another failed experiment. I am still confused about the overall apathy and downright hatred of USA basketball by americans. If they win and do not blow some out like what happened against Italy, everyone rips them. Close Call, we are going to get beat by the better teams. And if they struggler for spurts in games likes they did against Germany, Slovenia, or Puerto Rico,picks apart their faults. Even though the beat every team handily. I do not undertand it at all.

Here is a newsinternet flash real quick, its 2006, not 1992. Dream Team is over and the wolrd has caught up. Paging bitter American Sports white male sportswrite, Get Over it. Ming, Dirk, Gasol, Ginobli, Parker would probably Compete for a NBA title, if not win it. The Days of us acting like its an And 1 video, and still taking home gold are LONG over. Talent alone will not win it anymore, the last 2 world contests have proven this. We all know this but for some reason, the media and the sports fans stubborn GBush/Rummy egos have a hard time accepting it. Instead of taking Rasta Marleys advice and Rallying around the flag/team, we pessimestically attack them.

Can anyone please comment on their thoughts of why the think this is?

Am I the only one excited about whats going on with the USA team? Mello playing defense and becoming a go to big time leader? DWade, selfishly coming off the bench, even though he is the baller with the most trash talking power by his finals MVP trophy. How bout becoming an all around playmaker, and finding his teammates shots over his own? Or the youthful frontline rotation of DHowardand CBosh, crashing the boards? Or the willingness to play defense at times and oversome adversity?Or the Suns style of running and gunning? Suns O with Duke D has been a great mix. I see more positives than negatives with this team. They still crushed most teams and have only had a month of playing together compared to other teams bheing together most of their lives!!
Here is a role breakdown of each player, highlighting the invidual needs in order to Taste some Gold.

Cp3 has been a fresh change at the point, compared to the of the last american PGs we rolled out. Baron Davis, Andre Miller and Marburry killed our teams in international play. Either Took too many bad shots(BDavis in 02)or just couldnt hit a shot at all(Miller in 02) or plain sucked at being a true ball distributing PG(Starburry 04) CP3 needs to continue to aggresive attack the rim. He has stuggled at times in over passing and not taking open looks. He can hit open 3 but rather see him is at his best going to the riml, either hitting 10 foot floater or dishing it off. His hesitation dribble and court vision, especially in transition are lethal. He must keep pushing the ball, limit his turnovers against expereinced guards and make sure to play some defense. I am still having a hard time getting that Arroyo torching out of my head, even though his defense has been average to solid since.

Kirk Hinrich. I am biased and still believe Gilbert Arenas could play his role and is twice the player, but Hinrich has played solid. He has hit open 3s, pushed the ball effectively up the court, and limited turnovers. He played his best overall game against Germany, starting in the second half. However, his defense was atrocious during the pool play, bottom line, it sucked more than Snakes On a Plane. The Key for Kirk "on the Mother Fn" Hinrich will be stopping stop dribble penetraion against the tougher guard competition he will face in the Final 4.