Traitor or Player?

supergg2k

Shared on Tue, 09/11/2007 - 11:17
I just read this story on ESPN about an American basketball player who could potentially lead a Russian team to the Beijing Olympics.

This seems so odd to me because there has been a lot of history between the former Soviet Republic and the United States when it comes to basketball on the Olympic stage. The controversial 1972 gold medal game is still debated 25 years later.

I don't have a problem with Americans traveling to Europe to playing pro sports. But something about playing as a representative of another country as an American just doesn't ring right to me. What about you?

Comments

gigatrix's picture
Submitted by gigatrix on Thu, 09/13/2007 - 14:42
I don't know the official rules of contestants that enter the Olympics, but I assumed you had to have been born in, or be a citizen of the country you are representing? I did a quick wikipedia search and didn't see any non-American's (different ethnicities and races of course) competing for America. I would like to see some actual competition to the U.S. team, but even if the Russian team won (or competed) I would just think in the back of my mind "yeah, because they had an American playing"

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