Behind The Scoreboard - Claude Vinson


Thursday, July 20, 2006
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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson

Just a lull for U.S. on worldwide sports scene

Is there cause for concern? Maybe that should be rephrased: Is there cause for REAL concern?

How long has the United States been the power in world sports? Too many to really count.

Now, has there been a slippage that has gradually and surreptitiously eroded the dominance to bleakness?

There are some glaring supporting facts that are hard to ignore. Methinks that the bronze medal which was given (is that too demeaning?), to the U.S. in the last Olympics in Greece might have been the wake-up call that was brushed off. Me-thinks further that it was a complete shock which all Americans thought impossible. To lose on the hardwood, unfathomable.

Detractors are quick to point to the loss of the World Cup a short while ago. It is true that the U.S. made a great showing in the 2002 contest, but on the international scene the Americans have always been novices in the world soccer arena.

And recognizing that this is the world’s most popular sport and called “football” by all except us who inhabit the most powerful nation in the world, one would have to wonder how would a “world team” fare against one of our “real football” teams.

Hey, I am not trying to praise and bury Caesar at the same time. The fact is that the ’04 Olympics didn’t see the U.S.’s greatest men basketball players.

So we didn’t win Wimbledon, this year, and the Ryder Cup in September could be in jeopardy. We didn’t even make the finals in the World Championship of Baseball this past March, although baseball is All-American.

Should we worry? Naw, this is just a lull. You have them in hurricane, typhoon and tornado seasons. The best remedy for detracting comments is pointing to the positive.

There was no progressive outlook for a women’s basketball league called WNBA. It would be played during a time when the world would have had enough of basketball, having been completely satiated by March Madness and the NBA. Well, all that was 10 years ago. The girls are still packing them in and expanding.

There used to be a caricature drawing of Alfred E. Newman in the old Mad Magazine with the caption, “What, me worry?”

Who knows, in 2010 the U.S. just might have a player to head-butt someone in the World Cup.

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