America's Broken Rings

A good chunk of the blogging universe has had its say on the US Olympic basketball team’s humiliation versus Puerto Rico yesterday in Greece. Eric McErlain mentioned this morning that he’d gladly trade a basketball bomb-out in Athens for a 2006 World Cup, and I have to agree with him — partially because of my hatred for pro basketball, and partially because our soccer players would actually care about the accomplishment.

It’s been strongly rumored that the NBA’s marketing department played a large role in selecting the US team, even as many of the best players in the league declined invitations for medical, personal or security reasons. Whatever the reason, the result of the selection process, according to ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons (the only NBA writer I read, and the sole reason I know anything about that league at all), was a doomed collection of big names rather than a team geared to win in the international game. The run of play Sunday revealed the team’s complete lack of outside shooters and its consequent reliance on the NBA’s signature one-on-one drive-the-lane game, while each whistle showed us star players that couldn’t come to grips with not getting the deference they’re used to from NBA referees.

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Kobe and Druck

I wasn’t even going to bother with the Kobe Bryant case, until one of Eric McErlain’s commenters began to analyze the legal/political logistics of the case.

Then I started having flashbacks… to the summer of 1999.

Michael Vick-era Tech fans don’t know him at all, and some older Tech fans may not remember much. But quarterback Jim Druckenmiller may have been the player most responsible for getting Tech to a position where VT could compete for a recruit like Vick, and then make the jump into the brightest part of the national spotlight. Druckenmiller took a team with a modest two-game bowl streak (1993 Independence win over Indiana, post-1994 Gator mauling by Tennessee) and piloted them to two straight Big East championships, getting us to the 1995 Sugar Bowl win over Texas (sealing Tech’s first-ever national top-10 finish) and a post-1996 Orange Bowl appearance against Nebraska. With Druck under center, Tech beat Miami for the first time ever in 1995, and repeated the feat in 1996. He led a tremendous comeback in the 1995 UVa game at Charlottesville, and then beat them again in 1996. He was drafted in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers.

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BTN Weekend Roundup

Just checking in with some quick takes on the weekend’s events.

First expansion: we got nothin’. Not even any really good rumors or wild ideas out there. The usual suspects said expansion was still on; other usual suspects said not so fast. All we know is that there wasn’t a successful ACC conference call on Monday. (By the way, BTN would like to thank Eric McErlain for the ACC coverage compliments on Friday — and to apologize for the 404s some of you probably got following his link. Hopefully we didn’t lose you permanently.)

(Newport News) Daily Press columnist David Teel suggested Saturday that the ACC and Big East form an alliance. Although he was actually responding to another compromise plan, I think TSL’s Capitol Hokie’s description of it as a “non-aggression pact” would be appropriate here, both in intent and in potential for long-term success.

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