I'm sorry. Am I the only one who sees what a truly disastrous Olympic games this has been for the United States of America?
In the past two weeks, our country could've gone to war, changed the Constitution or raised gas prices higher...and that still would've been better than what actually happened in Athens.
Yes, the US will end with the most medals, the best story from the games (Carly Patterson winning the gold in all-around gymnastics) and will continue its domination in sports such as women's soccer and basketball.
But, man, everyone is blind to the worldwide debacle that has become the United States' Olympics. We've had drugs, debate and debacle and in two short weeks the USA has become the US-Nay.
Since Michael Jordan retired from the NBA last year, we've been looking for an athlete to live and die with. Lance Armstrong has become that athlete to some degree and Marion Jones looked as if she would become his female counterpart.
With a strong showing at the Olympics, she could have been the person we rallied behind. At this point, I'd have settled for any showing at all that didn't shame the country.
Instead, she has reaffirmed her stance that she has not used performance-enhancing drugs...even though every bit of evidence has linked her to the BALCO investigation. In fact, our national hero will likely retire in the next year as she will almost surely face an investigation from the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
But it's all okay, because Patterson's feel-good story outweighs the disastrous Jones saga. Almost. Directly linked with Patterson's glory is the debate surrounding Paul Hamm, who won the men's gold medal in the same event.
Hamm was rightfully due the silver medal, however because of a judges' error, he ended up winning the gold. He now finds himself surrounded by a cloud of controversy calling for him to return his gold medal, something he has refused.
So, the dual excellence of American gymnastics is tainted. Along with just about everything else the U.S. did these past two weeks.
While Jones and Hamm have tarnished the reputation of the US, nothing can be worse than what has happened with the men's basketball team. Formerly known as the "Dream Team", Team Nightmare stunk up the gym and limped to the bronze medal, not winning the gold for the first time since NBA players have been allowed to participate.
Now, it has been said that the NBA players don't care and should have come, but the United States Olympic Committee faced a tough set of circumstances. Jason Kidd's injury, Kobe Bryant's legal problems and Shaquille O'Neal's costume change took away the starting point guard, shooting guard and center.
However, the absence of players such as Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Webber left coach Larry Brown with starters like Richard Jefferson, Lamar Odom and Stephon Marbury...also known as still the best team in the world.
But, because of a lack of shooters and team chemistry, Team Nightmare lost four times since they began their time together.
At the medal ceremony, our anthem didn't play because our egotistical superstars couldn't put their stats aside for the good of their country. I'm not sure who's at fault, but it's some combination of the coach, the players who did go, and the USOC.
People complain about guys not going because they're scared of security reasons. Fine, if you don't want to play for your country, we don't want you.
The problem is not people declining invitations, but rather people accepting them and not living up to their supposed expectation. A bronze medal in men's basketball is shameful.
Guys like Carlos Arroyo of Puerto Rico and Manu Ginobili or Argentina ran circles around the U.S. however they haven't made an NBA All-Star team.
While we didn't send our best, we had the opportunity to send a team that should have won the gold.
Amidst all this failure we must recognize Michael Phelps' four gold medals in the pool and the real Dream Team, our women's softballers, who came within four outs of shutting out the world...literally.
And Kudos to our women ballers like Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Diana Taurasi, who took home their third straight gold.
Too bad their male counterparts were too busy dreamin' and not doing nearly enough teamin.
