I think the presence of Becky Hammon on the Russian team gives the USA a little extra motivation. I'm looking forward to a USA vs. Australia match-up Saturday morning!
She is 7th in scoring yet not in the top 30 in field goal percentage, yet she has two teammates (Wauters and Young) who are in the top 8 in field goal percentage. Maybe the thinking of the selection committee is that it takes her too many shots to reach that level of scoring.
I was terribly disappointed with Becky's decision to sell out our country. Once this decision was announced I stopped attending Silver Stars games. I'll go back when she retires or is traded, Da svedania Tovarisha!
I was also disappointed by this decision, which I think will haunt Hammon for a long time...she will forever be known as the American that played for Russia in the eyes of many basketball fans. To me, playing in the Olympics is about representing and bringing honor to your country in your particular sport. It is not about putting on a jersery for whichever country will allow you to play on their team. I have always thought Hammon to be a big of a ball hog and selfish on the court. She could be the assist leader in the WNBA if she would pass the ball a bit more. There are times that she will take a crazy shot with three defeneders on her instead of passing the ball to an open teammate. IMO, that is the reason she didn't make the team. And for goodness sake, quit chomping on your gum! She looks like she has gotten hold of a fatty piece of meat. OK...I admit it...not really a fan and never will be after this decision.
I understand she wanted the Olympic experience. I personally would not have been able to do what she did. However, the one aspect I think she did not give enoug thought to is the ability to market her now in the US. Driftwood not attending Silver Stars games is just one example. The WNBA players need endorsement deals to make any kind of significant money. Hammon would never get a shoe deal like Swoopes or Leslie. But if Taco Cabana wants a local WNBA player to appear in commercials, does she really think they'll come calling on her now? Beyond being unpatriotic it was a dumb move for her marketability.
Becky Hammond - Without her the Silver Stars(?) wouldn't be atop the Western Division. It's my understanding that there was nothing she could have done to be selected to go to the Olympics. She wasn't selected and that was that. If an individual's desire is to play in the Olympics, what other choices are there than to go where they can. That plus a very nice payment in 7, figures, yes, 7 figures, I think is a lot of incentive. I wish she had been on the US team, but it didn't work that way. Would she have received such demeaning commentary if she had played for Greece, Turkey, Egypt or even Spain? I doubt it. Do the people of the US of A have reason to HATE THE RUSSIAN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM? If so, I'd like to read your reasons.
She did not "sell out" her country, that's just hogwash....she wanted to play in the Olympics....her teammates understood, it was a viable alternative that other people have done before her....if they can be accepting, well, then....just chill.....she got a Bronze, she's happy, the American flag still waves...all's well that ends well. And as for her endorsements...well, she could do a stint for Stoli. Just too laughable, really.
It was a decision that Hammon made for herself and I hope that she can live with that decision as time goes on. For many years to come she will be remembered as the American who played for Russia. This will stay with her LONG after he playing career has ended. Regardless of which country she played for, I will never respect that decision and neither will many Americans. That's just the way it is. To me, the Olympics will always be about representing your country. I would not want to represent another country and could not. Not only does Becky have to live with this, but so does her family, and I have a feeling that deep down inside it has been very hard for them to feel proud of her participation.
The situation was that Becky not only wasn't going to make Team USA, she wasn't going to get a tryout. Only then, did she accept the offer from the country where she was spending a portion of the year playing pro ball. Becky's choices were either play for the Russians or watch on TV. How many of us can truly say if faced with the chance to actually be there and compete, would turn it down? Just FYI, this is not the first time this has ever happened. When Dorothy Hamil, won the gold in figure skating, the silver went to a skater from the US, skating for another country because she couldn't make the US team. And this year, the US had 37 foreign-born athletes at the Olympics, including the flag bearer, and another runner that medaled for his home country in the previous Olympics. So if it's OK for us, why not for the Russians - and Becky? Also, I think we'll find that this has a positive impact for Becky in the US as well as in Russia. Anyone who watched her will her team to the Bronze medal against China couldn't help but be proud.
Not all cases of not playing for the place you were born in are indentical. There's more to it than that. I don't know anyone's individual circumstance that you mentioned. If someone moved here, lived here, is a citizen here, considered herself/himself an American regardless of whether she/he made it in a tryout elsewhere, that's one thing. If someone from another country found out they weren't going to be on their own national team, so they just switched countries when we offered them enough dough, that would be wrong. [quot]If an individual's desire is to play in the Olympics, what other choices are there than to go where they can. That plus a very nice payment in 7, figures, yes, 7 figures, I think is a lot of incentive.
Wow, What interesting points of view on this subject. Scenario: (highly unlikely, but, hey....) Yau Ming does not make the b-ball team for China. He profits from playing in the US anyway, so he decides to play for the USA b-ball team in the olympics. In doing so, he would make the choice of playing b-ball for one summer for the US or face the fact of not being able to return to his own country. Becky Hammond had the opportunity to play in the olympics and still return to her country. Isn't this what the "Land of Opportunity" is about??? Although, i'd never do what Becky chose to do...i like to put myself in other people's shoes!!! Right or wrong????
I am sure that Becky is a fine young woman who made a decision that she felt was best for herself. I'm sure that she loves her country as much as the next American. Time will tell if she will be proud of the decision she made and let's hope that she doesn't look back with any regrets. For the record, her name is Hammon, not Hammond. The way I remember that is that she is not known for her "D."
I tend to think Becky's ultimate decision was based on money and money alone. As a kid, it was never my dream to be an olympian for any other country but my own and I suspect her "dream" was the same. So with respect to her checkbook, she made the right decision. This was not some noble action on her part for being snubbed by the US team. And to the argument that the USA allows foreign-born naturalized citizens on it's teams, I suggest that those athletes are in this country for reasons FAR more serious than just being an olympian. I doubt there's a single one of them that got their paperwork pushed through quickly for the SOLE purpose of qualifying them to be an olympian for the USA (as in Becky's case with Russia.)
