Hardcore Commentary...from a Die-Hard Sports Fan
Straight, No Chaser!
By Mark Thomas
Hey, folks! I have a couple things on my mind and want to vent a bit, if that’s okay. If not, oh well, I’m going to do it anyway.
First and foremost, if anyone you know ever refers to them as the “Dream Team”… slap them on both cheeks with all your might! I am thoroughly disgusted with their performance. I know some of you are think/saying, “But they won the gold!” They did and should have, but let me tell you why I’m disgusted.
- Team USA attempted way too many three-point shots. I know the three- point line is shorter than the NBA line and is really enticing to the NBA players, but jacking up three’s all day is no way to play. Team USA attempted 293 three-point shots and attempted 336 two-point shots! Yes, you read that right! They attempted just 43 more two-point shots than three-pointers for the entire tournament!! THAT’S DISGUSTING!
- Team USA allowed their competition to shoot 52% from two-point range! There were only three other teams that allowed a higher two-point shooting percentage: Nigeria (59%), Great Britain (56%), and Tunisia (57%), a country with only one basketball! THAT’S DISGUSTING!!
- Team USA was sixth in blocked shots with 19! Sixth!!! If that’s not bad enough, look at the countries that had more block shots than the USA. Tunisian (21), China (21), France (30), Spain (31), and Russia (40). THAT’S DISGUSTING!!!
- Team USA drew 167 fouls, but they committed 168. That pretty much evened things out. However, when they got to the free throw line, they shot just 72% as a team!! THAT’S DISGUSTING!!!!
For the most part, Team USA led most statistical categories with the exception of the aforementioned blocked shots, where they ranked seventh overall, but the only category that they dominated was points-per-game. I know most of you are asking, “Well, isn’t that all that matters?” Not to me! These players are the best in the world, but they could only manage to out-rebound the second ranked rebounding team by nearly two rebounds per game? They only had five more assists per game than Russia, and only five more steals per game than Australia?! Really?! A gold medal is not enough for those of us who know and appreciate good basketball. Coach K put together a horribly unbalanced team and did a poor job of coaching! There were games that were simply too close. Team USA beat Lithuania by a mere five points and won the gold medal by a measly seven points? Given the accomplishments and legacy of the Dream Team, taking the position that a win is not a win – and tarnishing the gold medal in the process – is unacceptable, people! In case I haven’t made myself clear, I’ll say it again. The performance of the USA Men’s Olympic Basketball team was DISGUSTING!!!!!
I want to make one last point on this subject, and it concerns the notation that Kevin Durrant surpassed Michael Jeffery Jordan (MJ) for the most points scored in an Olympic tournament, with Durrant scoring 156 points to MJ’s 144. Let’s put this in perspective.
- Durrant put those numbers up by jacking up three-point shots! MJ scored his 144 points in 1984, and the three-point line wasn’t implemented until 1986.
- MJ was a college player when he put up 144 points in the Olympics. Durrant has five years under his belt as a pro-player.
- MJ put up 144 points in only five games!! Durrant played eight games, so he had three more games to amass those numbers and only managed to score an average of four more points per game.
I like Durrant, but what he did can’t compare to MJ's accomplishments!
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Rory”
Next up, Rory McIIroy and his second major win on the PGA tour.
It’s not so much the comparisons to Tiger Woods that prompted me to share my opinion, as much as the thought that Rory is on his way to being better than Tiger. Yes, Rory managed to win his second major at a much young age than Tiger, but I like to concentrate on the real comparisons.
Tiger turned pro in 1996, and his first major win was 1997 when he won the Masters! Yup! Out the gate, Tiger won the Masters. Tiger was also named PGA Player of the Year in 1997, his first year as a pro. Rory turned pro in 2007, yet did not win ANYTHING for three years!
Rory has been on the pro tour for five years now and only has four PGA wins (2 Majors), and one of his wins came at the Honda Classic, where Tiger finished second. In Tiger’s first five years as a pro, he had 26 pro victories and eight majors, which included three wins at the Masters. I would also like to note that Tiger won the Masters back-to-back, in 2001 and 2002.
In the first five years of Rory’s pro career, he has missed a total of 24 cuts. Tiger has only missed 12 cuts in his 16-year pro career. Tiger also holds the record for most consecutive cuts made with 142. Rory’s most consecutive cuts made add up to a grand total of…..seven.
The long and short of it is this: Tiger is a victim of his own success! Tiger can only be compared to himself, and when he doesn’t play as well as people remember him playing, he is immediately written off and fans of the sport start looking for the next big thing. The problem is there is no one with a golf bag, even now, that will ever come close to what Tiger has done in his career.
Tiger Woods photo source: Angela George
Permission: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
No comments:
Post a Comment