The Chat House
Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Sports Columnist
Monday, August 30, 2004; Noon ET
The 2004 Olympic Games are over. So, how did things turn out? And what's the status of all of those other sports stories, like the Redskins and the start of college football?
Join Post Sports columnist Michael Wilbon online Monday, Aug. 30, at Noon ET. He's back in Washington, D.C., and ready to take your questions.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
washingtonpost.com:
Good afternoon everyone. We'll be getting started very shortly. Wilbon is in transit back from Athens and he's running around to get to a phone to start. Thanks. --Mary
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Washington, DC:
Michael,
Did you happen to get to the finish of the marathon yesterday? I'm a little surprised that most of the TV coverage here has focused on the fan tackling the leader, but not on a brilliant race by an American to win the silver. Do Americans just not care about the marathon anymore?
Thanks!
Michael Wilbon: I don't care about an American finishing second. The leader of the race was tackled. HELLO? The leader. If the leader had been an American and was tackled, I guess you'd be outraged, huh? Is that all Americans do in sports is care about what happens to other Americans? Did you watch it? Did you not see a guy tackled out of nowhere? That guy should be given a gold medal. He was leading the stupid race and you're asking me about Americans caring about the marathon. If that was an American tackled while leading the race only to finish third, the Bush administration would open an investigation today. So, I don't care who finished in the other spots. This guy was wronged.
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Bethesda, Md.:
Michael
Thanks for the great column about USA basketball--not just the problems the group sent to the Olympics, but all USA basketball.And thank you for adressing the racial element as well.
So much of what we see pass for "basketball" in the US is little more than playground "hoops". The travelling in order to "sky", the hands on defense, the inability to consistently make a 15-18 foot jump shot. That's what beat the US team in Athens. You hit it exactly right when we confuse athletic ability with skill.
What will it take to return the US to international pre-eminence or does anybody care?
Michael Wilbon: Thank you for the feedback on my basketball coverage. Of course ,only Americans care. I don't think the Argentines are preoccupied w/the Americans previous basketball pre-eminence. I think it's going to take a fundamental overhaul of our appreciation for what skill is and how it's developed and nurtured. I think it's going through college basketball programs --good ones --- to learn how to play again. B/c athleticism and skill are 2 different things. There are hundreds of athletic kids in America....thousands... who can do athletic things with a basketball. But, do they have the skills of players 12 and 15 and 20 years ago? And the answer is a resounding no. So, what it's going to take is kids actually learning how to play again. I think of the kids who have come out of high school in the last 10 years that Kevin Garnett is the only one who I would call fundamentally sound in the way we used that phrase for the last 40 years. Kobe is spectacular and there is nothing he can't do athletically, but is Kobe fundamentally sound in the way Jordan and Magic and Bird and Mullin and Stockton were? Not in my mind he's not, as gifted and as spectacular as he is, the last 2 years have shown certain fundamental deficiencies in his game. And I think we definitely see that in T-Mac. And these guys are gifted and they are showmen that I would pay good money to see. But I think a basic lack of fundamental understanding of how to play the game prevents them from being genius which is what their predecessors were.
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Galveston, Tx.:
I lived in Greece as a child in the 50's and have returned many times, most recently in 2000. I am so pleased the games went off without a hitch. I don't know if this was your first trip to Athens, but I am wondering if the international assistance (new airport, new subway and light rail systems, etc.) proffered in connection with the games has in fact substantially reduced pollution and congestion. I hope to find this out for myself but have artificial hips and knees, so this may not be possible. Thank you for your time and for your always enjoyable chats.
Michael Wilbon: Yes to your question. A resounding yes. I took the subway and it was probably more efficient than anything we have w/the possible exception of BART. The light rail had problems, but it just opened 10 days before the Games started. The pollution was not noticeable for me. The airport, which was only finished about a year ago, is much more security friendly and manageable than any airport in the US except Detroit and Minneapolis which have brand new terminals geared to modern concerns. It was my first time in Greece, but it will not be my last. Athens is a big, exciting sprawling city w/some of the greatest vistas in the world. I'm looking forward to going back there in the next four or five years.
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Washington, D.C.:
Last week you wrote a column saying that the Athens
Games hadn't found a star yet. Were you kidding? He may
be a bit too skinny, a bit too foreign and a bit too buck-
toothed to be much a of a commercial commodity but
Hicham El Guerrouj's run in the 1500 alone would have to
have been amongst the greatest olympic performances by
any athlete ever. Throw in that apparently effortless win in
the 5000 and he has to be counted amongst the greatest
of olympic athletes. Surely?
Michael Wilbon: He had not won his 2nd race when I wrote that column. I wrote that column before he ran. When I watched him in person win that 2nd race, I thought he had become the athletic star. What he did was stunning. His finish of the 2nd race was one of the great finishes I've seen in 20 years of Olympic Track and Field.
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Washington, D.C.:
Here's my fantasy: after the NBA players got smacked around in Greece, NBA salaries take a nose dive as owners and GMs realize that they are paying way too much money to players who aren't significantly better than dozens of other guys around the world. Also, fans realize that too and become less willing to shell out hundreds of dollars to watch these jokers. Then in a few years I can afford to go to a game again.
Michael Wilbon: That remains to be seen whether those international players can succeed in playing in NBA game, which is set up entirely different than an international game. And if you don't want to go and see it, don't go see it. No one is forcing you. Do you go and see MLB even though American born players have in many cases been eclipsed by Dominican players? Do you go and see the NHL even though North American players have been beaten several times in recent years in international tournaments by Sweden and Finland? The NBA is about entertainment and if people feel they get their entertainment dollars by the style it embraces, then they will go and spend their money. If, they want another style of basketball then they won't go to the NBA.
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Charlotte, N.C.:
A question about the how of sports reporting. In a sport like gymnastics (substitute whatever description for 'sport' you prefer), the people reporting on results often have only a cursory knowledge of its nuances. Still, the very concept of fair play would make it clear that if you want to change how something is done you can't just change the parts that favor you. In Paul Hamm's contested gold medal, the only way to change the start value of the Korean's routine is to view the video, since the start value is actually set after the routine is complete (as it's possible an athlete will decide to skip an element). If you go to the video, you can see four holds where only three are allowed. Bottom line, if you use the video, the Korean not only doesn't get the gold, he loses the bronze. Commentators known for their expertise in a sport can supply this kind of information, but whose responsibility is it to get it? Reporters asking for it? Coaches or officials holding a press conference? I guess I'm just surprised that something that seems so logical and easily resolved is still so up in the air.
Michael Wilbon: You fail to understand one important thing which has nothing to do with nuances of gymnastics: use of the videotape after the compeition is not allowed. Period. What's hard to understand about that? If you are that familiar w/the intricacies of gymnastics, then you should know that the use of videotape is not allowed. As I have had it explained to me by gymnasts, start value is determined before the event. The videotape is not allowed so that's a moot point.
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Silver Spring, MD:
Dear Michael,
One thing missing from the US media coverage of the Olympics is the true spirit of the world coming together. For example, if another country wins the gold medal, it's not reported as "Country X wins gold!"--instead it's "The US was denied the gold, and had to settle for the silver medal, which was won by..." Can't we be more positive and acknowledge the other country's win, not just that the US did not win?
Michael Wilbon: Are you reading all of the coverage all over the country? How many papers are you reading a day to know that the US media across the board is reporting that way? As far as I'm concerned Argentina beat the US in basketball and won the gold medal which I believe was a headline in The Washington Post yesterday. I'm willing to bet I've read more media coverage than you and I'm not ready to make that blanket statement across the board. Look at the story about El Garrouj. That's not about the US losing and Country X winning. That's about this guy winning. The Greek woman who won the 400 M hurdles. That was about her winning, not anyone else losing. Having said that, I think there were not nearly enough stories and profiles about non American athletes, but that's in part b/c it's the American media outlets trying to assess what their readers, viewers and listeners want from Olympic coverage.
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London, U.K.:
Mike: I have always thought interviewing is a tough skill to acquire and have greatly admired your ability to lead interviewees to certain areas or issues. Has this always come naturally to you or have you had to work at it?
Thanks for answering my unusual question.
Michael Wilbon: No, thank you for posing it. It's hard. Natural curiosity, presuming you have it, will lead you to the common sense areas. But, part of it is just listening carefully and being able, while you're listening, to formulate follow-up questions that may take you away from what you orginally had planned to ask. There are certain people in my industry who I think are great at being able to, on the fly, put together a series of great questions and I admire those people b/c that is a skill. It's a skill that often has nothing to do with the writing, but curiosity and the ability to make someone feel comfortable telling you stuff in what might be an uncomfortable setting.
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Rockville, Md.:
They really need to do something with boxing. In the matches I saw, there was hardly any actual fighting going on, it seemed both sides had a strategy to score a few points for a lead, and then the leader would run around avoiding contact to keep the lead. It was like watching the boxing equivalent of the neutral zone trap. Somehow we need to get more knockouts into the Olympics.
BTW I saw some of the team handball matches and you're right. I don't understand why it isn't popular in the US, it's like the best of hockey and basketball in one game.
Michael Wilbon: I agree w/a large part of what you are saying about boxing, which I think has deteriorated overall as an Olympic competition since 1988. But you're not going to get knockouts in Olympic boxing. They don't want knockouts in Olympic boxing. They want it to be about scoring points and the art of boxing. Not prize fighting like in the US. I will say this that the last 4 days of boxing we had some great fights between really skilled boxers, most often from Cuba and Russia or former Russian provinces. Those guys really knew what they were doing. The first week of boxing didn't have much of that. It had just what you described. But the last four days, were damn good.
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Luv Beach Volleyball!:
Mr. Wilbon - great columns these past couple weeks! Your Olympics columns are always the best (like at Nagano when you noted the media center's repeated replay of Herman Maier flying off the side of the mountain - "I'm watching a man die" - and living to tell about it). My question - how many times did the (male) journalists ask to see replays of the American women celebrating their beach volleyball victory over the Brazilians?
Michael Wilbon: First, thank you. Second, is there something in the replay I should have noticed? No, I and I'll speak for one male enjoyed the athleticism and skill level demonstrated at beach volleyball. And yeah, I'm always going to enjoy athletic young women who look like 90 percent of those beach volleyballers. But, I hope we -- me and guys -- weren't too lewd about it. It seemed to be in the spirit of the venue, which remember, included the "Fun Girls," these 12 dancers in orange string bikinis who were the, shall we say, "entertainment" during time out.
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Arlington, Va.:
Two quickies, NFL...How long before Collins and E. Manning become starters? Miami, how much will their D suffer by not having Williams eating up clock all game?
One comment, Big Ten: Go Spartans!
Michael Wilbon: For 6 weeks, I've been out of the country. The last 24 days of it either preparing for or covering the Olympics. So, at the moment, I can't even tell you if the Giants play in New York or San Francisco. We'll talk about the NFL in a couple of weeks...make that next week..after I've had a full week to figure out what's going on.
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Volcano, Hi.:
There seemed to be an undercurrent of
anti-Americanism in this Olympics. Are
we the new Evil Empire, or am I just being
oversensitive because of the strains
elsewhere in international relations?
Thanks.
Michael Wilbon: The first 10 days I sensed very little anti-Americanism. But there seemed to be an increasing amount toward the end. I think it all came at venues where Eastern European countries were in battle with the US... venues like wrestling and boxing where the US was pitted against Russia (of course Cuba), places where there is already plenty of anti-American sentiment. I didn't find it coming from stadiums and arenas full of Greeks and other Western Europeans. I didn't find any in my travels in Turkey, Greece and Italy.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
Re: hoops
OK, I liked the Olympic basketball. Not because the US ONLY won bronze - it was just better to watch than the NBA. Instead of griping about our players or coaching, I believe the NBA might consider changing its game to be more like the rest of the world:
- consider changing the on-court rules to be more like the international game.
- consider changing the collective bargaining agreement to better allow teams to stay together longer.
And, no, I don't want to repeal Curt Flood. I want the players to keep getting all the money they get now, but I want them to be together long enough to know eachother's names.
Better shooting, more passing - think the NBA would be more attractive to me as a casual fan.
Michael Wilbon: I think it would be more attractive to a lot of people to have the international style. NBA owners and presidents may disagree w/us, but I love watching Olympic basketball, just like I much, much, much prefer Olympic hockey to the NHL's thug-fest.
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Arlington, Va.:
Mike, loved your comment about only one legitimate loss by the US basketball team in the Olympic tournament. I've got a great idea: Paul Hamm gives up his gold medal to the South Korean WHEN, AND ONLY WHEN, the 1972 basketball squad gets their gold medals back. Whaddaya think?
Michael Wilbon: Also, if and only if the same South Korean Federation awards Roy Jones that was stolen from him in 1988 in Seoul.....Jones was robbed and it was sinfully ugly and the beneficiary was an undeserving Korean boxer who got his butt kicked in that fight. It was a disgrace and the judges have since been suspended and I don't remember any great gestures by the South Koreans to Roy Jones.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
I enjoyed the article on the youth movement on the U.S. track team. It was important for you to let everyone know how special Devers, Moses, Ashford, Joyner, Kersee and Lewis were to USA track and field. These athletes were our Dream Team in track and field. You can only wonder how large they would be if they had been able to be around during the information age.
Michael Wilbon: I don't think they could have been much larger than they are b/c the lasted into the telecommunciations age. But they would have been larger had the US actually participated in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.
I have to go. It's been funny doing thse mini chats from the Olympics. It's my 9th time covering Olympic competition. And I never presume I will get another chance. If I don't, I will be grateful to have been assigned by The Washington Post to cover so many Olympic competitions. They are some of the highlights of my career, for that matter, my life. And, the funny thing about sports is no matter how grand something is, there is always something else to go on to. It is sometimes difficult for me to leave the Olympics and go to mundane things. But I'm glad that I got an NFL season to move into and I know we'll chat about that starting next week.
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washingtonpost.com:
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