Whats Wrong With America??

ng>Derek Fisher and many others have spoken about this. But I am foucusing on Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

With Kobe, you can love him or hate him. Many people love him(me), and even more love to hate him. From what happened in Colorado, to him talking about his teammates, to his problems with his teammates, Kobe doesn't exactly have the best reputation. But more than love or hate, you have to respect the guy. It's not just respect as a basketball player, because I do have a lot of respect for him as a player; the guy is amazing. But I can't help but to respect him for speaking out about this.

And what happens? The next time they were asked about it, they weren't talking about it. "We're not politicians. We're not government officials" said Kobe. "We're here to play basketball" said LeBron. What?!?! What happened to what they were saying before? Well, obviously something happened. And I'm going to guess that the USA Basketball Committee had something to do with it. Why else would they suddenly stop talking? What probably happened was that some of the guys who call the shots sat down with Kobe and LeBron and said something to the extent of "We want to win a Gold Medal. We need to win Gold at these Olympics. So don't talk about other things anymore, alright?". That might not be the situation, but it has to be something with the USA Basketball Committee talking to them. Why?

Let's face it; Darfur is a huge problem. People are dying everyday, and something needs to be done. LeBron speaking about it would be a huge help. This guy is the most marketable athlete in the world. He is a superstar who is still young. He is well liked. He's got deals from Nike, Coca-Cola and other big name, worldwide companies. They made a shirt that says "WITNESS", and they made a ton through it. When LeBron talks, people listen. When LeBron does something, people follow. So you better believe that is LeBron is making a big deal out of this, other people would make a big deal about it.

This isn't a small stage, either. The Olympics are one of the biggest events in the world. It isn't through the United States, North America, or even more. This is a worldwide event. It was seen and heard by millions. People in South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, everybody would know about it. It could turn out to be one of the biggest things in the world this year. Instead, it will probably turn out to be nothing. Why? Who knows? But why is this happening like this? What is wrong with the United States of America?

"What they say is entirely up to them" says Jerry Colangelo. Yeah? For every Deron Williams assist, someone is going to die. For every Chris Paul steal, someone is going to die. For every Dwight Howard dunk, someone is going to die. Coach Mike Kryzweski is a great coach, and he lead Team USA to a Gold Medal, but he certaintly won't be leading an outspoken group of athletes.

As the picture says, "WE ARE ALL WITNESSES". What we are witnessing is something much bigger than LeBron James. It is much bigger than basketball. It is much bigger than sports. Things happened, and more things happened to change the course. The Olympics are happening, and I can bet that somehow, something will be made of this. We need to make something happen, because if not, it defnitely will be regretted. Regretted by how many? I don't know; but it will be regretted by many. So if actions are not taken, we will be witnessing much more than a worldwide superstar growing up. We will be witnessing the wrongful death of numerous more people. 

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VSN Writer - Xavier Hill, 0x NBA/NFL

www.virtualsportsnetwork.com

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