Conference 7.286::sports_90

    
    I'm not a baseball fan but to the best of my knowledge Japan is the
    only other country that plays baseball on a major level. Japan's level
    of play is roughly on par with the US minor leagues. To back that up,
    look at the US players that go over there and become enormous stars
    where as over here, they are either over the hill or just never were
    good enough to make it in the majors.
    
    American Football:
    
    There is absolutely no doubt that no other country's American Football
    teams have a snowballs chance in Hell at competing with the NFL teams.
    Canada is a very distant 2nd.
    
    Basketball:
    
    The US teams that go into international play consistently win
    championships. These teams are thrown together from college, and
    sometimes high school, kids. They don't play together all the time like 
    the rest of the world's teams do. The US teams sent to international
    play wouldn't stand a chance against the NBA champions. If the US sent
    the NBA Champions to these international tournaments noone would come
    close to beating them. Also, these kids have to go in and play by
    different rules than what they are accustomed to where as their
    competition always plays by those rules.
    
    Those are the three main American team sports. Until some other country
    comes close to their level of play; NFL, NBA, MLB; they have every
    right to call their champions, World Champions. As it stands right now,
    no other country's teams can compete with them.
    
                                                   HOOT
    

    Wait a sec...let's look at this a little more closely:
    
    Sport		Event			Title
    --------------------------------------------------
    Baseball 		World Series		World Champs
    Hockey 		Stanley Cup		Stanley Cup Champs
    Football  		Super Bowl		NFL or SuperBowl Champs
    NCAA  		Final Four		NCAA Champs
    NBA 		NBA Championship Series	NBA Champs
    Little League	LL World Series		LL World Champs 
    
    Tennis and Golf are multi-national and I don't know if they actually
    have any kind of championships other than winning major matches.
    
    So, Aside from Baseball (which involves the US and Canada), what's your
    problem?
    
    JoJ
    

    Take a look at note 52.0   for example!!  (There are others)
    
    PJ
    
    (but point taken)
    

    >College World Series:  Do any other countries play baseball at the
    >college level as it is found in the U.S.?
    
    Not yet maybe but in the little leagues the Korean kids seem
    to always beat the US kids.  I think the US won the last one tho.
    
    It may be just a matter of afew years before other countries can
    compete with the big leagues.
    
    Cowboy
    

    Sure in little league the Asain representative usually wins, but
    they've been winning since the early 70's, surely their kids grew to be
    men. WHERE ARE THEY??? All other countries will take years to even
    approach the level of play in the bigs. Same wif football and hoop.
    

        One of the reasons Asian teams have done exceptionally well is the 
    advantage they get from their large metropolitan areas ie : they had
    such a large talent pool to choose from. During the seventies and early
    eighties when they won umpteen champeenships in a row, their team was
    almost a national team, were as all the other teams were a collection
    of local allstars. I believe there are now restrictions on how teh
    teams are put together as far as the size of the talent pool. I
    remember reading an article in Si that stated the tremendous pressure
    put on the kids to win it for Taiwan. 
    
    
                                   My .02 worth
                                   Stan 

    .5
    Who's better out there?  Italian league?  Spain?  Don't think so...

    If US hoops is the best in the world, why haven't they consistently
    won the Olympic basketball title??
    
    Just thought I'd ask.....
    PJ

While I haven't followed the last several Olympics, they pretty
much have.

Prior to 1972, no one ever beat them.  In 72 was the controversial
year, and even if that was played fair and square and the Soviets
won, it would have been a fluke.

I know they took bronze in the last, and came someone fill me in
on the ones in between?

Finally, realize that the talent we are putting up against the rest
of the world is mainly college kids, which for all intents and
purposes can be thought of as our minor leagues.

If the Olympic committee let us send a team of NBA All-Stars, do
you think anyone would stand a chance?  When the guys that don't
make it in the NBA go to Europe and excel, that really tells me
something...

JMHO,
'Saw

    
    'Saw,  I thought the Olympic committe did vote to allow some pro's to 
    complete in the next Olympics..  However, maybe I'm confused.  
    
    

    
>    'Saw,  I thought the Olympic committe did vote to allow some pro's to 
>    complete in the next Olympics..  However, maybe I'm confused.  
    

 	Yes, they are going to be allowed to play next time around but if
any restriction are applied like say they classify players and Greg Kite
is a b player and Jordan is an A player and A players aren't allowed to 
compete than Stern says none of them will compete....

	I hope none of them compete. It makes it that much sweeter when
the college kids win it against established teams and proves the real 
dominance the Americans have over the game. 

	As much as it pains it me the coach was the root of the problem at
the last olympics....

mike
    

    First of all, you can't win an olympic championship with John Stompshin
    as the head coach. Just ask T.
    
    Secondly, the US fields amatuers against professionals in the olympics.
    
    No way we'd ever lose an olympic hoop gold if we put the likes of
    Jordan, Johnson, Ewing, etc...out there.
    
    JoJ

    Would Akeem be allowed to play for the U.S?

    Well, PJ, technically you are correct.  Nobody should call
    themselves *world* champions if they don't play the world.
    
    However, let me pose this question to you:  Do you think
    anybody in the world can beat the professional *US* champion
    in baseball, basketball, or American football?  Or are you
    just stirring the pot?  :^)
    
    Claybone

    Olympic Basketball recent history ...
    
    1972	Munich
    
    Give the Russians enough "do overs" and sooner or later they'll win it. 
    A blatant rip-off and a sad day for the Olympic spirit.   With the
    Israeli massacre, the whole 1972 Olympics were a flat bummer.
    
    1976	Montreal
    
    Dean Smith coaches the USA back to the gold medal.  The team was loaded
    with ACC players as you could expect.
    
    1980	Moscow
    
    Jimmy Carter put the entire USA contigent on the sidelines in protest
    of Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.   The Yugoslavia team upset the
    Russians to win the gold medal.  I believe Dave Gavitt, the new VP of
    the Celtics, was supposed to coach the American team.
    
    1984	Los Angeles
    
    Bobby Knight's home-cookin' blowout.  Jordan was phenomenal. 
    Interestingly enough, Knight cut both Charles Barkley and Karl Malone
    from the final squad.
    
    1988	Seoul
    
    John Thompson's "my way or no way" approach brings home a very
    disappointing bronze medal.  The American team lost to the Russians in
    the semi-finals.  The Russians were obviously superior only in their
    understanding of the international style of play.  Thompson insisted on
    a Georgetown style of defensive pressure and the offense was left with
    nothing to respond with.   His team had *NO* capacity for a "catch up"
    style and lost convincingly.
    
    1992	Barcelona
    
    The NBA professionals can play.  In a purist sense, I'd like to keep
    the Olympics restricted to the college-level amateurs but for revenge
    motives, I'd like to see the NBA stars play in 1992.  I'd love to see
    Jordan, Barkley, Magic, Malone, Ewing, Bird, Robinson and the rest walk
    onto the court and toss it up.  Just once.
    
    Bob Hunt

    
    I don't understand how they've been able to call the soccer
    championship the World Cup when they US of A hasn't been allowed
    to play in it for a number of years.  Are these ferreners THAT afraid
    of people who possibly have played American football as kids?
    
    BOSS  (Bruce On Sissy Soccer)

    re:17
    
    			Eye of Toad,
    			Leg of Newt,
    			Blood of Rat,
    			Ball of Bruce,
    			And the Stinger
    			From a Honey-Bee..
    			What more can I add
    			To this pot-pourri???
                                          
    
    I thought about: 	'saw's orange jock,
    	       		Cowboy's tutu,
    			and MikeJN's sheep??
                        
                     				but it doesn't rhyme!!
    
    PJ
    

           
    re .21
          
    I wish you soccer players would leave my privates out of this. 
    Keep that kind of stuff among your own kind.
         
    BOSS

   	I thought that in regard to the Olympics, that professional
   athletes were going to be allowed to compete, but NOT in the sport for
   which they were being paid. Did I thunk it wrong again?

   Mike JN 

    That's correct Mike....Isiah Thomas (aka Princess) will be
    competing in the women's slap-fight competition...;^)
    
    Claybone

    >>That's correct Mike....Isiah Thomas (aka Princess) will be
    >>competing in the women's slap-fight competition...;^)
    
    >>Claybone
    
    
    isn't he our best guy in the pee-pee smooching competition?

Basically, the olympic committee gave up and now allow anyone to play, since
they really couldn't determine who was a professional.  (i.e. Athletics who
train and practice their sport all year even though their "listed" profession is
a private in the armed services).  

In a legal sense, no, the NBA champions are not the WORLD champs.  but let's get
real.  If and when NBA players play in the olympics, it may be boring for the
rest of the world for 10 or more years but it will improve the quality of play
around the world.  Look at the olympics now.  For years the scratch college
players would destory everyone, now they have to be a team as well as good.

Oh yeah, look at it now, the power squad of Barkley, Malone, Ewing, Magic and
Drexler etc..   Tired? send in the speed squad of Kevin Johnson, Thomas, Rodman,
Worthy and Robinson etc..  NBA action fantastic!!

			Bob 

    RE:256.20
    The reason the US of A hasnt been in it the last 40 years is that
    they always get thrashed during the qualification period.You've
    got to earn your way into the World Cup. If these guys did play
    American football as kids,it's no wonder we suck.
    
    BOSS (Bruce on Soft Sofa)