USA Basketball: Don't Let Us Down Again!

Watching Dwayne Wade's interview on Sportscenter last night, I felt mixed emotions as he discussed the Olympics, and his hopes and expectations for this summer.

As always, the 2008 squad is absolutely stacked. But then again, the 2004 edition wasn't so bad either. As a basketball fan and true patriot, it was thoroughly depressing to watch the team lose to it's supposedly weaker, foreign counterparts.

Hearing Wade talk about the Olympics made me flash back to those days, giving me a bad feeling in my stomach. I liken it to watching a baseball game with a bad bullpen handling the late innings. Yeah, your team is supposed to win. But we've seen this story before, and it's not a happy one.

I'm talking about when Wade said this team might be one of the best to ever play. That upsets me more then when people compare Kobe "Tell Me How My A** Tastes" Bryant, to Michael Jordan.

I wanted to get all fatherly on D-Wade, like Charles Barkley in a T-Mobile commercial.

Dwayne, no disrepect, but this is not the Dream Team. The Dream Team will never be duplicated. That is not the humble, determined outlook the team needs to regain global dominance. That sounds a little like the same cocky attitude that landed the Americans a third-place finish.

But, wait.

I seem to remember a guy by the name of Mike, having a little bit of swagger too? I think guys like Barkley, Bird, Malone, Pippen, etc. having a decent amount of confidence?

Well...here's hoping I guess.

That's the key to this year's Olympic team. There is really no telling how they'll fare until the medals are handed out in China. There are only three true big men on the team (not to mention ZERO WHITE GUYS!), but any member of this team could make a case as a perennial All-Star.

Hopefully, a more experienced and hungry team will show this year, as opposed to the young and uncertain team of 2004. With leaders like LeBron, Carmelo, Wade, Kobe, etc., will one ball be enough to go around? Or will they gel as a unit, and destroy any team in their path?

Please guys, don't let us down again.