becky hammon

- the obligatory explanation for a lack of recent activity -

There is really no good explanation, other than the fact that I have had a rather fluid schedule, with no time set aside for noting down what I have been doing or thinking. Now that I find myself settling down into a good rhythm of things, should be able to keep up better with the blog.

- and now, on to the content -

As I read the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, I came upon an article about soon to be naturalized Russian (naturally born American) "Big Shot" Becky Hammon, a guard for the San Antonio Silver Stars and CSKA Moscow. Her story is not too complicated: she was not selected to the US National team, and took full advantage of a clause in her CSKA Moscow contract that provided a six-figure incentive if she were to play for the Russian national team and medal in the Olympics.

She is of the mind, as per her quotes in the article, that she is merely fulfilling a life-long dream of playing in the Olympic Games. Hammon rejects the "mercenary" label she has been given by some critics who cite the traitorous nature of playing for a country that for the greater part of the past century was the United States' sporting (and Cold War, for that matter) arch-enemy. The 2007 MVP runner-up "wish[es she were] given the opportunity to turn down two million dollars, to play for [her] country, because [she] would've done it in a second."

Given the opportunity to turn down money, to play for your country? I'm sorry, but this is not a matter of opporunity. This is a matter of a professional athlete looking to make more money and using the Olympic Games, a once amateur-oreinted competition founded upon the principle world peace and understanding through international sporting competition. Hammon (and her turncoat compatriot J.R. Holden) along with their enablers CSKA Moskow and the Russian government/sporting autorities. I have no problem with professional athletes doing what htey need to do to get the money they are able to earn due to their God-given natural ability and honed talent. But to cite the chance to seize upon the unique opportunity of playing in the Olympics as a reason for playing for a different national team is dishonest at best and ruinous to international competition. Hammon is merely seizing upon a unique opportunity for her wallet.

National teams are supposed to be the best of the best from the country they represent. They are not meant to be yet another club team for which any player can suit up. If they are, such hallowed competitions as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup cease to have any special meaning and become second-rate tournaments to top level club competitions like the UEFA Champions League. International sporting bodies like FIFA and FIBA should clamp down on rules that allow players to be mercenaries and punish clubs like CSKA Moskow that tempt players to switch national allegiance through financial incentives.

And as for Ms. Hammon, I hope she and her Russian "countrywomen" come in a close second to the United States at the Games and that the playing of The Star Spangled Banner arouses in her the deepest of disappointments, too deep for any sum of money to fill.