As the Summer Olympics begin in Paris, it’s all about the U.S. of A. It will be fun following along over the next 2 weeks cheering on everyone from this same place that I am from. Well, not sure how many of the Olympic athletes are from Chicago; I’m sure there are a handful from Illinois. City and state aside, they are all from the United States of America. I don’t know any of them personally; in fact, outside of the US basketball team, I’m not sure I’ve even heard of most of them. It doesn’t matter though; I’ll still be rooting for them.
The US will send more athletes to these Olympic games than any other country. When trying to compare that to the MLB, we’re like the Yankees or Dodgers… more resources at our disposal; strength in numbers. I don’t like the Yankees or Dodgers… I’d rather root for the little guy; I’m definitely an underdog guy, unless of course you’re talking about MY Chicago teams… although I haven’t had to worry about any of them being a dominant favorite in the past number of years. In fact, Chicago sports is going through a pretty brutal stretch; stay focused here. OK, so MY team in these games will be the USA, so I will still root for them, even though we’re walking into France like that school that has more kids than anybody else, the big bully if you may? I don’t know.
Where the real conflicting feelings come in, is when I look at the US basketball team; the athlete that they have chosen to be the face of the team is the athlete I hate the most in professional sports. Talk about feeling queasy… So you’re telling me I’m going to have to cheer on LeBron James??? That’s a tough one, sorry. I’m not going to root against the USA basketball team by any means, but… will I be heartbroken if they don’t win it all? Understanding the current state of the NBA and the game I grew to love in the late 80s & 90s… it’s possible. Of course, I see the excuses already being lined up… “there are more NBA players spread across the other countries than any other time”… You know why that is right? You remember who took this game to the next level globally, right?
Surely nothing will compare to the Dream Team back in 1992; not sure what you would call the team this time around. And just like I won’t actively cheer against the White Sox because they’re from Chicago, I won’t actively cheer against the USA basketball team either; this is MY team these 2 weeks, remember? Yet, pardon me if I’m not clapping every time LeBron bullies his way to the rim to make a layup; maybe I’ll try not to watch too much… maybe I’m secretly hoping they lose… that would be a real hater move on my part. Besides all the USA teams, the other country that I tend to root for is the home country, because of all the support they will have throughout the games. I see Wemby and Gobert with the France bball team; do they have a chance? Canada has a pretty good squad too. Of course, during the Olympics, I’ll be more interested in all the other sports, besides basketball; I see basketball all the time. How often do I get to see fencing? Table tennis? Ready to lock in on the games. USA, USA, USA…
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