If you're not at least 37 years old (myself included), then you probably have no idea what happened in the 1972 Olympics in the gold medal basketball game between Team USA and Team USSR. However, hopefully, as educated individuals (myself included), we know know that when you think of the year 1972 between USA and USSR, we think of the Cold War. Here's a bit of a refresher on what happened in this unbelievable Olympic game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKn8jTCkTr8
And if you're too lazy to watch this 9 minute video (even though I urge all basketball fans to watch), here's a bit of a breakdown:
If any of you are fans of NBA on TNT, then former broadcaster now turned Philadelphia head coach, Doug Collins, makes two crucial free throws to give the US a one-point edge with 3 seconds remaining in the ball game. USSR takes the ball out and hurriedly runs the stretch of the hardwood. At the 1 second mark, they call a time-out. As bizarre as that sounds, that's what the Russians did. They should have called a time-out to diagram a play for the length of the 3 seconds; however, they decided to burn 2 seconds and diagram a play for 1 second.
One quick interjection: Yes, I am American. But I'm keeping a very unbiased viewpoint and explaining the game as any typical American or Russian would describe it if watching it for the first time on YouTube.
Obviously, with 1 second left, your team is not left with much to convert. And that's what happened with the Russians, as it seems that USA had won gold and maintained its place as the athletic powerhouse during the Cold War. After 30 seconds of celebration, the world discovers that the game is not decided and Russia has the ball with 3 seconds left. And probably to the referees' dismay (sure the Americans were upset, but the refs should have been worried sick to have Russia win after the US had celebrated thinking they won gold), Alexander Beloff of Russia receives a hailmary pass that probably only gets completed one out of a million times in basketball, and makes the easy lay-up over two Americans to give USSR the gold medal. And the bronze went to Cuba. Oh, the silver? Team USA decided not to accept.
Hopefully by the drama you receive from these two paragraphs, you're inclined to watch the YouTube video for yourself. And when you do, pay attention to the crowd at the end - a very accurate depiction of the world's reaction: stunned, shocked, what the hell just happened...
Now fast forward 38 years into the future. US and Russia will meet again on the hardwood once again on such an infamous or famous (whichever perspective you look at it) day of any given year, September 9. Of course, the subplots aren't as heavy as it was in 1972. The Cold War is over. The USSR has since become Russia. And it's pretty much fact that US dominates in the game of basketball. And it's pretty much a guarantee the US will win tomorrow's game. Don't believe me? Well, it doesn't help your case when your best national player is a flake. Kirilenko's absence in the FIBA games leaves Russia's chances in the hands of Timofey Mozgof and Sasha Kaun. No, I don't know who they are either. But the name Sasha Kaun does ring a bell.
If you're David Blatt, coach of the Russian national team, and all of the odds are against you to win tomorrow's game, why would you publicly comment that the Soviet Union was the rightful winner of the '72 Olympic gold medal game? You know Coach K, as the mastermind at Duke who's been in plenty of altercations like these with rival UNC, will not only embarass you, but he'll use this to fire up his US squad that is hungry for some motivation, since coming off blowout victories, including 37 and 40 point victories against Iran and Tunisia.
The media has been eating all of this up. It's been able to do its job, by creating some hype for this game, even though when you just look at the skill level between the two teams alone, US stands atop easily.
- Leather Head
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