Unpatriotic or Just Business?
 

MOSCOW -- Becky Hammon dreamed about the moment as a young girl growing up in Rapid City, S.D. Someday that would be her on that Olympic podium, tears welling up as she hears the national anthem, quivering with emotion as a gold medal is placed around her neck.


"I love my country," Hammon said last month in her Russian apartment. "I love our national anthem. It absolutely gives me chills sometimes. I feel honored to be an American, to be from America because of what we stand for."

But if the 5-foot-6 point guard from America's heartland does ascend that medal stand in Beijing, she won't be wearing America's red, white and blue. And if Hammon does win gold, it won't be the U.S. anthem she hears. It will be the Russian anthem, a melody she says she has come to enjoy since signing a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal last year to play for CSKA, a Russian professional club.

In April, Hammon signed with the Russian national team, about two weeks after receiving her Russian passport. "I'm going where they really want me and where I have an opportunity to win a medal," Hammon said at the time.

But Hammon -- who's averaging 13.6 points and 4.4 assists for San Antonio (2-3) this season -- says she would have given up "any amount of money" for the opportunity to represent the United States in the Summer Games. Though she finished as the runner-up in the WNBA's MVP race last season, Hammon asserts she never has been on the short list of candidates for the U.S. Olympic team.



"When their list of 23 players came out last year, we're talking about 23 players, and I was not on it, that's a pretty strong statement that 'we're not considering you,'" Hammon said.


"It's unfathomable to me that that would happen," said Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman, who placed calls to USA Basketball inquiring about Hammon's status. "How can you not? She's earned the right to be on the stinking list!"

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3427182


I was just watching her on ESPN....hey...you have to do what needs to be done if you want to make money.

But what do the rest of you think? is she wrong for playing for another nation?

She's hardly the first American who qualified for another country's team and used that to his/her advantage. I don't blame her a bit.

As AGDee said, this happens all the time at the Olympics. Same as in the Miss America pageant, when, say, a girl from California may be elligible to compete as Miss Oregon because she goes to college in Oregon.

She wasn't even selected for the US team, so she went with the team that would take her.

I don't see any problem with this. The US team didn't want her, and she had played in Russia. Good for her for getting to play in the Olympics.

It is pretty ridiculous that she didn't get an invite to the US team. She's easily one of the top 10 US players.

How can the runner-up MVP in the WNBA not be on the original list of invitees? When I lived in Manhattan, her picture was on every other bus stop and billboard you saw. Whether it's political or personal, there's something wrong with that picture and probably more here than meets the eye.

"It's unfathomable to me that that would happen," said Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman, who placed calls to USA Basketball inquiring about Hammon's status. "How can you not? She's earned the right to be on the stinking list!"

I agree with Nancy on this one.

Adding a few more to "the list," three days before the opening of camp, including Hamons, smacks of damage control to me.

Finally, Hammons isn't getting any younger and this could be her last chance to play in the Olympics for any country.

This whole situation isn't as much politics as it is stupidity -- at least in my opinion.

I have no problem with it. She went were she had an opportunity. Good for her. Plenty of people have competed for countries other than the one where they were born.

I can think of several members of the US Olympic track team that were not born in the US.

Should she really be denied a chance to compete in the Olympics because her home country did not select her but another country saw her talent and skill? She's using her gifts the best way that she can. If you make me choose, this is about business.

If you insist on looking for patriotism in this, consider that she's being 100% American like the forefathers by going into another land and taking full advantage of another opportunity thanks to the "natives" of Russia. :D

If you can't beat 'em.........