Is Allen Iverson wondering where the rest of his boys are? Are they afraid of a little beheading, perhaps?
Rudy Gersten, writing for National Review Online, says some of the National Basketball Association (NBA) players selected for the Olympic team who’ve bowed out for “security concerns” are cowards.
In Basketball’s Girly Boys, he writes:
The list of perennial NBA All Stars that either declined invitations or withdrew after previously agreeing to play is quite impressive: Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby, Jermaine O’Neal, Vince Carter, Elton Brand, Kenyon Martin, and Ben Wallace — to name just a few.
Many of these players have not been shy about why they refused to play for Team U.S.A. Wallace and fellow NBA championship teammate Richard Hamilton quit the Olympic team for “security reasons,” according to the Detroit Free Press. Even though their own head coach, Larry Brown, is the head coach of the Olympic squad, both players were apparently not as brave. Same goes for Kidd, O’Neal, McGrady, and Wallace — all of whom cited “security concerns” as their primary reason not to play.
Several of these players will be in the basketball Hall of Fame one day. But there ought to be an asterisk next to each of their names, to let generations to come know that they decided not to represent our country in the Olympics while America was at war.
Whoa! I like it. Gersten is invoking an antiquated concept I often refer to on this blog: shame. I like this definition: “A condition of disgrace or dishonor; ignominy.”
Antiquated, as I said.
Gertsen notes that it is the Americans who have a “security concerns” issue, naming Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitski, Vlade Divac, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Manu Ginobili, and Pau Gasol among the players who are overseas playing for the U.S.
“[W]e have not heard of a single foreign-born player who declined to play for his country because of safety concerns,” Gersten writes.
You know what I think of men who are selected for a position of honor to represent their country but then back out because they’re afraid of anti-American sentiment. In my estimation, the sentiment is all the more reason to proudly represent your country, with the American flag in tow.
Hey, maybe their concerned about making their children orphans or their wives widows. Who knows?
