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Team Argentina notes: All aboard the bandwagon!

Posted May 14, 2008 at 12:34 PM by Os Davis

Section: Beijing 2008, Events, Basketball, Featured Writers, Os Davis

olympic logo basketball If memory serves, the expression was born (or at very least heavily popularized to the point of entering common American discourse) in the mid-1990s: “Cheering for the Yankees is like cheering for the house in Las Vegas.” The expression has been most recently applied to the New England Patriots and was slapped all over the threepeat Los Angeles Lakers of the early 2000s.

(Funnily, similar complaints against Michael Jordan’s Bulls, perhaps the most consistently winning team in any American sport since the 1950s Yankees were rare. Again, if memory serves.)

An interesting thing happened on the way to Team USA’s current casino status on the international stage. While Team USA was going 71-0 in Olympic play up until the 1972 Munich Games, the red, white and blue was nearly as reviled as such a force would typically be. The Europeans ultimately emulated the American style of play, begrudgingly admiring of the beautiful way the USA played hoops; the finals were typically drawn up along strict Cold War lines.

After Team USSR bested the USA in the tainted gold-medal game in Munich, American basketball still didn’t draw the resentment. When Brazil offed Team USA in 1988, the story made international news to be sure and the once-dominant source was vulnerable and not nearly as feared.

When the Dream Team emerged in 1992, opposing teams asked Team USA members for autographs in the post-game. No one seemed to mind (well, maybe Lithuania and Croatia, a bit) terribly much that they’d lost to the great Air Jordan, Larry Legend, Magic,Sir Charles, Reggie Miller, etc.: It was just a joy to be on the same court. To some extent, the trend continued in 1996 with personalities such as Scottie Pippen and Shaq leading the way, and the inclusion of Hakeem Olajuwon endeared all of Africa to Team USA.

Today, however, no one believes Team USA to be the dominant force. And, make no mistake about it, the red, white and blues will be the heavies in Olympic basketball this time ‘round.

The plucky David to topple Uncle Sam’s Goliath? Argentina would appear to be the best bet, and the national team is making room on the bandwagon. (Incidentally, they’re the defending champs.)

Official news this week had Andres Nocioni “champing at the bit to play for Argentina again this summer.” Nocioni will be on the Argentine squad, an actual augmentation of the 2007 FIBA Americas team that took silver to … ah, you know the rest. You can hardly blame Nocioni for the excess antsiness, after all; Andres put in a solid 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for the lackluster 33-49 Chicago Bulls.

“We never played as a team, we didn’t play defense and we deserved to be out of the playoffs,” Nocioni said. “The only positive thing with the Bulls this year is that I had no injuries and I played 82 games, but from a team level it was very complicated.”

Keeping things in perspective, though, Nocioni continued with, “The good thing from having been eliminated from the playoffs is that I can rest to be well for the national team.”

Meanwhile, more good news for those wanting to see Team USA go down: The team’s sole possible weakness will be covered by a star. Nocioni, among others, is touting Pablo Prigioni (Tau Ceramica) to fill the vacuum left by long-timer Pepe Sanchez, who recently retired.

Looking for a spot on the team, too, is bandwagon tale fodder 32-year-old Roberto Gabini (Lottomatica Roma). Gabini will be starting for Team Argentina at the South American Championship in Puerto Mont, Chile, the late June/early July tournament FIBA calls “hugely important” for the baby blue-and-white: not because anything is at stake with Argentina’s Olympic berth assured and hardly likely to drop from its FIBA ranking of no. 2, but in order to set the Olympic roster.

Oh, and in case you needed it repeated, here’s Nocioni again, loading up the slingshot: “We don’t fear [Team USA] and I would really like to avenge the defeat to Spain.”