Five Things For USA Sports Fans To Take Home from China

The Olympics in Beijing were certainly a spectacle. If you are an American sports fan, here are the five most important things for you to remember (in no specific order).

5. Swimming Is the Next Big Thing:

And NBC is banking on it. Michael Phelps put on one of the most dominating athletic performances in history, and the response has been insane. NBC has already invested tens of millions of dollars in airing the world swimming championships and US national championships, all of which will air on network television for the first time. Also noteworthy is the fact that NBC is currently selling a Michael Phelps DVD. Michael Phelps by himself is enough of a ratings draw. But if that weren’t enough, it has been shown in that past that if you hype something up enough and give it strong and relentless coverage, strong ratings will follow suit. Factor in the records that are being shattered every year as well as the insane athleticism that it takes to be a swimmer, and you have yourself a sport that American sports fans will salivate over for years to come.

4. The Chinese Women Did Not Win The Team Gymnastics Gold. The US lost it:

In one sense, I do care that there wasn’t a single member of the Chinese girl’s team that has hit puberty. There is most definitely a psychological advantage if you don’t have the cognitive ability to even fathom the magnitude of what is taking place. On the other hand however, we would not even be reporting this story if team USA did not botch the team event big time. There were falls, out of bounds stuff, and mental errors. The bottom line is, had team USA gotten the job done, these Chinese girls would not be a story. If you don’t believe me, keep in mind what happened a few days later when Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson became the first two Americans ever to finish 1 and 2 in the Olympics.

3. A Bolt set US track and field back at least 4 years:

After watching nearly four months of Olympic trial nonsense, I can say with 100% certainty that I (as well as every other non-track fanatic) have never heard of Usain Bolt. The speedy Jamaican then shattered both the 100 and 200 world records, multiple times in the same Olympic Games, and made the 400 relay look like a joke show. Here’s the kicker, if he really wanted to, he could have beaten both the records and his opponents by even more, but was so thrilled about his curb stomping episodes that he slowed down literally seconds before even winning.

Especially in Bolt’s case, I wouldn’t be concerned about a positive drug test. The majority of Olympic sprinters that I have seen test positive are much more muscular in frame. Bolt is a scrawny dude who just ran fast, nothing fancy. Especially in a sport like Track where there usually isn’t more than 6 years of spotlight per athlete, I would not be stunned to see a complete makeover of US track athletes to make up for the revenge of the scrawny runner. Goodbye beef cake hello rice cake.

2. If you put on a good show, you get home court advantage.

I’m not a career philanthropist, but it doesn’t take one to say that China has a ton of problems. The US does too so I won’t hate, but the bottom line is the following… The IOC set a number of standards for the Chinese when the Olympics were given to Beijing. Apparently, the Chinese coordinators closed the book after rule 1a): put on the most unbelievable opening ceremony of all time, because they didn’t follow through on much else. Not only did the IOC turn the other cheek on China, but they also conducted one of the most ludicrous investigations of a team I have ever seen. Investigations of an individual athlete usually take at least days if not weeks. It has even taken years in some instances (just ask Marion Jones). There is absolutely no feasible way that the IOC investigated the entire Chinese women’s gymnastic team, IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS. I don’t even care that they said they found nothing, the games are in China, and they care about these things. But for the love of god, at least say that it took more than a day and walk away without muck all over your dome piece.

1. Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player in the world:

And as much as I’d like it to be, it’s not even close. When you are on a team of game closers and you are unanimously selected to close out the gold medal game against Spain, it means one thing: Your teammates think you are the best player in the world. When you take the ball and basically one man show the last 5 minutes of the game, scoring at will and notching two monster assists, adding to your total which already led the team, it means another thing. If you were like me, and you watched this game live, you know exactly what I was talking about. From the 2nd quarter on, I was legitimately convinced that Spain was going to come back and win this game***. Kobe Bryant turned up the D, even when he was in foul trouble, and scored a number of huge buckets. These whole Olympics were a team effort. The play of LeBron, Bosh and Wade was particularly exceptional. But Kobe Bryant was the absolute king of these Olympics from opening game in China to the closeout of team Spain. He was the biggest star at these games, and the new world standard for all around play.

***. (Consider this a bonus one) The Portland Blazers are going to win an NBA championship in the next 5 years.

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with the do with the Olympics.The *** before represented my fear that the US was going to lose to Spain. There was one reason that I was afraid, and his name was Rudy Fernandez. Rudy Fernandez single-handedly kept Spain in the game.

I don’t care about Juan Carlos’ floaters in the paint. I care about the insane D, great shots and the vicious dunk that Rudy had over the course of the championship game. And there was one man on the USA sidelines that was absolutely thrilled about it. Nate McMillan, the assistant coach of team USA and more importantly, the coach of the Blazers, can for all intents and purposes start celebrating. Rudy Fernandez will be joining the Blazers this year. And with his arrival, the Blazers go from a phenomenal young team, to a phenomenal young team with depth. This team now boasts Bayless, Aldridge, Diogu, Fernandez, Frye, Oden, Outlaw, Webster and of course Brandon Roy.

Every single one of those players is 25 or younger. In fact, the oldest member of the team is Steve Blake, who has only been out of college for 6 years. This team is going to be absolutely phenomenal. They have so many great young players and a smart head coach. They are going places.