Overlooked and Unappreciated in Beijing

If a dynasty isn't noticed, can it really dominate? Lisa Leslie doesn't think so. Leslie just won her fourth consecutive gold medal at her fourth consecutive Olympics--an unparalleled streak. If you've never heard of Leslie, you might think that she was master of the power walk. But Leslie has been the star of that most high profile of sports: basketball. But it's women's basketball which means, as Leslie has said, they are ignored, particularly relative to the various dream teams and redeem teams that men's basketball have produced.

Leslie has led the US women's basketball team since 1996 and in her last Olympics she led a trouncing of Australia, 92-65. "We weren't going to be the team to let Lisa lose," said new star Candace Parker, who scored fourteen in the final. "We wouldn't let her Olympic career end that way." The US has won thirty-three straight games in the Olympics and only lost once, in 1992 in Barcelona.

We should recognize the infinite dominance of the US women's team. We should appreciate the way women's basketball under coach Anne Donovan has continued to excel despite the improvements in the international game.

My one knock against Leslie, a brilliant athlete and representative of her sport, was when she took the time to call "Russian" point guard Becky Hammon "un-American". "Russian" is in quotes because Hammon is from Rapid City, South Dakota. She starred for several teams in the WNBA, earning the nickname "Big Shot Becky" for her ability to perform in the clutch. Despite her success, she was left off the tryout team for the US team.

Hammon wanted to play in the Olympics. Any world-class athlete would. When she became eligible for the Russian team after signing a contract to play ball in Russia, she leapt at the chance. For her efforts, Coach Anne Donovan called her out saying before the games, "If you play in this country, live in this country and you grow up in the heartland and you put on a Russian uniform, you are not a patriotic person in my mind."

The insipid Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times piled on this week saying that she was a "sports defector" and "I hope she enjoys her rubles."

Hammon kept her head up and led the Russian team to a Bronze medal scoring 22 points in a 94-81 victory over China. She did that after bouncing back in a dreadful semifinal game against the USA, where she went one for six in a fifteen point loss.

"I've never doubted my decision for a second," she said. "I'm here for the right reasons. To me, it's been an even better experience than I thought. The Village was great and the other girls have treated me so well. I'm anxious to get back home and re-join my team and then I'll be looking forward to returning to Russia."

Donovon to her credit said after the games, "Becky made a great business decision. I hold no grudge. From what I've learned since my first statement, at 46, I'm an old-timer. Generations have changed. The cold war is a memory. Borders have opened."

But it's about more than money. It's about being able to compete. Lisa Leslie of all people should be able to appreciate that.

Comments (3)

1. the sooner the world is rid of patriotism,

   the sooner we will be happier.

   who invents countries? rich folks.

   who invents flags to fight for? rich folks.

   who dies fighting for the flag? poor folks.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 08/24/2008 @ 11:36am

2. actually happy,

   it's just the opposite.

   i was born way to early for you primitive types :=]

   Posted by frosty zoom at 08/24/2008 @ 12:05pm

3. 2Happy: FYI -You have confused Lisa Leslie with Becky Hammon.

   Mr. Zirin - THANK YOU for writing this. I am constantly amazed and annoyed at how the women's basketball team is ignored while dominating the sport consistently for decades. I love the new-found humility of the "redeem team" as much as any other basketball fan, and appreciate their maturity (and now their success) but my admiration for the women of USA Basketball and the WNBA exceeds that for the men. Most of these women play all year long so that they can make a decent living while playing at the peak level -- and it's still usually a small fraction of what an NBA bench player would make. But since they're not in see-through, rain-soaked white bikinis, few people seem to care. Congratulations, USA Basketball. Congrats Val Ackerman and Anne Donovan and all of the coaches. And kudos for that 38-point average margin of victory. What was the redeem team's average again?

   Posted by TaraPolen at 08/25/2008 @ 2:41pm