Well, the US national basketball team just lost its second game in a row in the World Championships, and can now finish no better than fifth in the tournament. It’s pretty shocking, given the fact that we have the best basketball players in the world by far, but it goes to show you what happens when you send second tier players who haven’t really played together at all against the seasoned national teams from other countries. Our national team is no team, it’s just the players they can find who are willing to get off the couch during the offseason to play in an event other than the Olympics, and the amount of practice time they have together is limited. There’s also the fact that the NBA rules and international rules differ. None of that is an excuse for losing to other teams simply because you don’t work as hard as they do. Personally, I think it’s a needed lesson.