A Heavy Dose of Thought

I can't believe that I'm about to write this post. I've battled back and forth in my head about the backlash that I might receive from this post. I'm really that angry right now, extremely pissed. But I also know that I'm about to write somewhat passionately (and disjointedly) about something that nobody cares about (including myself about 99.99% of the time). And while the subject of my rant is something that not many care about, the theme is something I think we can all get behind. So...let's get started.

I'd like to introduce you to Becky Hammon. Becky grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota loving the game of basketball. She became a pretty good, if slightly undersized 5-6 point guard, with a gorgeous jump shot and the tenacity that comes from being undersized. Her work ethic (As befits a resident of South Dakota) is exemplary, and she earned a basketball scholarship to Colorado State. While at Colorado State, Becky managed to earn All-American honors, as well as holding scores of records (all-time leading scorer, assists, steals), and her number was retired in 2004. After her Colorado State playing career was finished she managed to get signed by the New York Liberty of the WNBA in 1999. From 1999-2006 she played for the Liberty, initially backing up Teresa Witherspoon, then starting for the Liberty. She was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2007 and led that team to a second place finish in the Western Conference, finishing second in the WNBA MVP voting. Since the WNBA season is during the summer months (non-basketball season), Becky, like most professional women's basketball players played for European teams overseas, starting with a Spanish team, eventually playing for CSKA Moscow, a large Russian club. This summer, the successful Becky Hammon, a quality point guard born in Rapid City, South Dakota, the MVP runner-up in the WNBA, will play in the Beijing Olympics in the women's basketball competition realizing a dream that many young boys and girls have growing up in the heartland. And if she wins the gold, she will stand with her teammates on the top of the medal podium listening as the eloquent bars of her team's national anthem plays. Not the Star Spangled Banner mind you, Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii (State Hymm of the Russian Federation). Becky Hammon will be playing for Russia at the Olympics, not for the United States. And I can't think of a bigger endemic problem in American sports then the fact that Becky Hammon is playing for Russia.

I'm pissed. Really angry. And not at Becky Hammon. Becky Hammon is trying to fulfill a dream that is denied to her by her own country. You see, Becky can play for Russia because she has never appeared for the United States in any competition, ever. Not the World University Games team, Pan American Games team, Under-18 National Team, Under-19 World Championships team, Under-20 National Team, Under-21 World Championships team, or the Senior National team. Because of this oversight, she can play for any country in the world. She plays for Russia because they actually want her to play for them, they want to use her skills to help them win a medal. USA Basketball seems to want to market their players, not necessarily win the gold medal (though that is just assumed at this point). And just to hammer that point home, Becky Hammon was not named to the list of 23 players invited to try out for the Senior National team for the 2008 Olympics. She wasn't even named on the list, the MVP runner up and WNBA veteran wasn't even named on the tryout list. It actually took several phone calls from Hall-of-Fame member Nancy Lieberman to finally get her on the list, after they had expanded it to 30, in September, a few days before tryouts began, while Becky was preparing for her season in Russia since she wasn't on the initial list released earlier in the year. Given the choice between playing for CSKA (and their 4year/$2 million contract) and heading to a tryout after being left off the initial tryout list that she needed a Hall-of-Famer to use her reputation to get her on, she took the contract offer from CSKA and began to play. As part of her contract, the Russians threw in a passport, allowing her to become a member of their national team. And now she's being called "unpatriotic" by the USA coach, Anne Donovan and blasted for not sitting at home again while players she is better than walk into the Olympic Stadium and compete for a medal.

I'm not pissed at Sue Bird (or any of the other 8 players who have already made the team). I went to watch her UCONN team win the Midwest Regional final in Milwaukee during her senior season (and I think that UCONN team is one of the all-time great basketball teams ever, the only women's team to make my personal list). I'm extremely pissed at the following people: Renee Brown, head of the selection committee (WNBA Chief of Basketball Operations); Jennifer Azzi and Teresa Edwards (former players), athlete representatives; Carol Blazejowski (New York Liberty General Manager/President), Roger Griffith (Minnesota Lynx Chief Operating Officer), Kelly Krauskopf (Indiana Fever General Manager/Chief Operating Officer), Penny Toler (LA Sparks General Manager), WNBA representatives; and Pat Summitt (University of Tennessee Coach), NCAA representative. These eight people are to blame for the horrible treatment that Becky Hammon received. Especially since five committee members work for the WNBA. These people place marketing ahead of winning without seemingly understanding their own league and pool of players. I want to know what the excuse is for not having Becky on the list. Is it because they didn't think that she was good enough? She was the MVP runner up and an accomplished collegiate and professional player. Is it because she might not be more well-known? Her jersey is the second most popular jersey in the WNBA. Is it because she might not have the right "look" (has to be acknowledged that the sport needs to be sold to men and Corporate America, so a certain look is preferred)? Go find a picture of her, she's the freaking poster child for middle America wholesomeness (heck she did some sideline work for ESPN at NBA games in 2006, and we know how looks-driven television is). Is it because she hasn't been there before, and doesn't fit in with the more marketable names you can select? Or is it a pure basketball decision that is an extreme mistake? I want answers!

The reason I'm really just so pissed off is a simple one. I have a wonderful girlfriend who I love dearly and live with. Some day we're going to be married and (hopefully) have children. I happen to be 6' tall, and she happens to be 5-2. I would like to have a daughter (as well as a son, but I want to scare the BLEEP out of a guy like me who comes to take my daughter out on a date, that would be really, really fun), and thinking purely athletically, the best I can hope for is a daughter who is 5-6. And if she inherits some of my natural athletic ability, some of my girlfriend's intense work ethic and drive, and the bulk of our brains, she could end up being like Becky Hammon. And I don't want her dream of playing in the Olympics dashed by politics and reasons bigger than winning. You see, it used to be that women's sports in America at the Olympic level were about winning only, not marketing, or branding, or name recognition from a focus group in a mall in Des Moines. Look at our women's senior national soccer team. From 1991-1999 the first three women's World Cups were held, and we won 2 and finished 3rd in the other, most famously in 1999 when Brandy Chastain scored the winning penalty kick and ripped off her uniform top. From the moment that Chastain fell to the ground in joy at winning until the present day, the women's senior national team has headed downhill in competitions. We have finished 3rd the past two World Cups, which is respectable if you're Norway or Brazil. Our team was originally built to win, not built to make money and sell things to people. The biggest and best case in point of the decline in our national team's attitude was reflected in the last World Cup. The starting goalkeeper for the USA was Hope Solo. After a difficult 2-2 draw against North Korea, the United States won their next three matches to reach the semifinals against Brazil. Solo was riding a 300+ minute scoreless streak heading into the match against Brazil, having played not only every minute of the World Cup, but the vast majority of minutes in all the friendlies, qualifications, and tune up matches leading up to the World Cup. Inexplicably, manager Greg Ryan decided to bench Solo in favor of Brianna Scurry, reasoning that Scurry had a better record against the Brazilians, pointing to her beating them in 1999 at the World Cup. Of course, the United States took their worst defeat ever losing 4-0. Afterwards Solo blasted Ryan to the media citing her non-playing as a decision based not on winning, but on favorites. Solo was then benched for the third place match, and was asked to take a different plane home, not the team charter.

Decisions like Ryan's, inexplicable decisions to go with the more recognizable face instead of the winning player, make me wonder if I should already be mentally preparing for difficult decisions about where my daughter should be playing, who she should be playing for, and how I can make her more marketable. And that's why I'm pissed about the Becky Hammon story, as it seems that it is no longer the policy of this country to organize teams that will play in front of a world television audience on the basis of winning, but on the basis of who is going to sell the most shoes, diet soft drinks, fast food, and cars to the rest of the world. And that is a sad development for all of us.