This is part of an essay I stumbled on that discusses America's position in worldwide basketball. The author thinks it's time for America to reassert dominance in the sport again. As a fan of America ascerting dominance everywhere this really rings true for me.
"So the object now must not be just to muddle through to victories. It has to be to maim, kill, destroy, and annihilate the competition. Reach down their throats and rip their hearts and lungs out. Then go back for the spleen, liver and maybe a bit of pancreas and stomp it all into atoms - in a sportsmanlike way, of course. It's time to put a little fear of the lord into the rest of the world, and I'm not talking about a little fear, like shying away from a daddy longlegs. This calls for Old Testament, fire-and-brimstone, Finger-of-God, Hammer-of-Thor, Thunderbolt-of-Zeus, fetal-position, struck-dumb, change-of-underwear fear.
The United States invented this game, even if the guy who did the inventing was Canadian. It invented the one-handed jump shot, the behind-the-back-dribble, the no-look pass, the two-handed reverse slam, trash talk, the college entry draft, the sneaker contract, the mid-level salary-cap exemption, and sumo wrestlers at half time.
It taught the rest of the world to play and has given the best international players an opportunity to make obscene piles of money to sweat in baggy underwear in public. Now it's time to show that world that, even though it may have produced some stars of its own, the United States is still the best in the world.
It's not just about winning. It's about making a statement, about climbing the highest mountain and roaring to the rest of the world, "We're back. We fell asleep a little bit, but we're awake and we're mad and anyone who gets in our way is going to be sorry."
Then go on the court and don't give anyone even a shred of a hint of a scintilla of a glimmer of a hope that they can beat you, not now and not next year in Athens. Take the lead early, build on it, and keep pounding and hammering until, at game's end, the janitors have to come out and sweep the debris that used to be an opponent off the court.
There's been enough talk about how much better the United States is than anyone else, and it's got a hollow ring to it. It's time to prove it."
The United States invented this game, even if the guy who did the inventing was Canadian. It invented the one-handed jump shot, the behind-the-back-dribble, the no-look pass, the two-handed reverse slam, trash talk, the college entry draft, the sneaker contract, the mid-level salary-cap exemption, and sumo wrestlers at half time.
It taught the rest of the world to play and has given the best international players an opportunity to make obscene piles of money to sweat in baggy underwear in public. Now it's time to show that world that, even though it may have produced some stars of its own, the United States is still the best in the world.
It's not just about winning. It's about making a statement, about climbing the highest mountain and roaring to the rest of the world, "We're back. We fell asleep a little bit, but we're awake and we're mad and anyone who gets in our way is going to be sorry."
Then go on the court and don't give anyone even a shred of a hint of a scintilla of a glimmer of a hope that they can beat you, not now and not next year in Athens. Take the lead early, build on it, and keep pounding and hammering until, at game's end, the janitors have to come out and sweep the debris that used to be an opponent off the court.
There's been enough talk about how much better the United States is than anyone else, and it's got a hollow ring to it. It's time to prove it."
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