China offers warm embrace for Team USA

Damn! I went out of the crib for a not even a hour and the USA team already played and beat china. Damn! I wanted to see that game. But it seems like the Dream Team is getting some major love out there. Salute!!!

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
BEIJING – As the shine wore off the original Dream Team, as Michael, Magic and Larry weren’t around to save it, the popularity of the professional players on the U.S. men’s basketball team faded fast.

There are times when it feels half the country is rooting against it, even reveling in embarrassing performances such as the Larry Brown-coached bronze medal team in the 2004 Athens Games. It’s not clear Team USA could be an overwhelming fan favorite anywhere, even back in the States.

There are too many people who won’t embrace the players and who bristle at the concept of highly paid pros representing the country, or even, as absurdly unrealistic as it is, pine for a return to the “college guys” even if it would mean one humiliating defeat after another.

There are still plenty of fans back in America, of course. There just may not be as many as the team enjoys here in China, a basketball-mad nation in love with the NBA. read