My Country ‘Tis of Thee by Alex Paramo
Alex Paramo
The injury to Indiana Pacer’s Forward Paul George has reignited the debate regarding whether highly paid professional athletes should be “allowed” to play for their respective countries during international competitions like the Olympics and World Cup respectively. George suffered his injury during a scrimmage as the US National Basketball Team was preparing for the FIBA World Cup.
Smoking Cubans
The most vocal critic of the arrangement between the NBA and FIBA is the Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban. Cuban had been critical of the toll that playing for a national team takes on NBA players, specifically Dirk Nowitski who represents Germany. Cuban centers his concern on the fact that he views players on his team as a financial investment. Cuban pays tens of millions of dollars in payroll and as such is governed by the bottom line. Cuban argument centers around the fact that organizations such as FIBA and the IOC are reaping in billions of dollars at the expense of his players, while not paying him, his fellow NBA owners or the players. Furthermore Cuban states, “The greatest trick ever played was the IOC convincing the world that the Olympics were about patriotism and national pride instead of money.”
Times are a Changin’
Bob Greene in his article for CNN.com informs us that the beginning of the radical shift of the Olympics, from an all-amateur tourney to a money-making endeavor began 20 years before the 1992 Dream Team. By most indications, the Olympics were a patriotic tournament and many athletes became national heroes after representing their country. Even today, their is a semblance of that national pride but how much is manufactured and how much is sincere? My mom always makes it a point to discuss the Colombian teams’ players in any international competition that they are part of. Of course Mark Cuban would probably say that this is all drummed-up patriot jingoism to attract attention and boost-up TV ratings/revenue.
Pecking up the Pieces in Pacer-Land
Indiana Pacer‘s President and Dream Teamer Larry Bird is left to pick up the pieces after the terrible injury to his most talented player. Mark Cuban is left to pick up the pieces of his argument against allowing NBA players and reviving former Commissioner David Stern‘s suggestion to have players 23 and under represent their respective countries in international competitions. During the London Olympics players like Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul came out against Stern’s 23 and under suggestion. Both players felt like it should be an individual choice. From all accounts, players are choosing to represent their respective countries due to national pride. Bryant stated that Cuban is and the rest of the owners are just trying “to protect their investments.” And that of course is the crux of Cuban’s argument.
Leaving it to the Amateurs
There is no doubt that the Olympics and other International competitions are huge money-making endeavors. Perhaps we should have two sets of international events, one coordinated by the professional leagues of the individual countries, and the other, handled by International Athletics governing bodies. For folks interested in watching millionaires compete the latter would be the viewing choice. The former would apply for the sake of rooting for the home team (national teams). In that case, perhaps we should leave it to the amateurs.
What do you think? I would really like to know.
Alex Paramo is an Author and Co-Founder of Community Publishing. Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as multimedia eBooks while promoting literacy in our communities.
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