I’m hesitant to say this, but aren’t the FIBA U-whatever tournaments for women's basketball a bit silly? Certainly not totally silly, the girls get to be celebrated as the best 12 in the country. They get to travel, make new friends, have parades when they get home, but, seriously, it’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for all the other countries and participants, for the fans who aren’t relatives of the U.S. girls, for the idea of parity, and even for the girls themselves, who work so hard after being told this will be seriously tough competition. I’m not sure what I am proposing, (and, full disclosure, somehow we did take a bronze medal at one time), but couldn’t some changes be made so that the games are more competitive? (Mill stones come to mind.)
Secondly, and this is related to the first, if they are to be more-or-less scrimmages against vastly inferior opponents, can we slack off on the cold, militaristic manner of deportment. I’m talking about the U17 approach here. Nary a fist pump from Baby Brunelle, nor jubilant jumps from Azzi or Paige or the rest of the team. We saw they were told to have fun, but did not hear the restrictions. It must have been hell for Sam to swallow her exuberance and passion. I understand that Coach Carla Berube was trained in the break-em-down school of UConn methodology and I revel in the incredible job she did in whipping the team into place, but, perhaps, these tournaments could be more touristy than torturous, given the competition.
I don’t know. That’s just what I’m thinking today.