🚀 go-pugleaf

packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes:
: I've never paid much attention to the Olympics, but
: have always known they are for =amateurs=, no
: professional athletes need apply. Now comes a front
: page story in the NY Times about the "Dream Team"
: of professional basketball players. There was no
: background explanatory material in the story.
: Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?

I heard a lot about these people before the games, and then nothing during
them. Did they actually play anything ??? 

Again, with professionals, we have all the tennis players too at the Olympics.
The IOC were saying that they need to reduce the size of the games - there
were 15000 sportsmen and sportswomen there anyway - if they got rid of the
tennis that'll be a good start. Theres enough on tv as it is, without having
it at the olympics.

--
Glyn Simpson, Systems Officer,  //  Voice: +44 (0) 21 414 6575
University of Birmingham        //  Fax:   +44 (0) 21 414 3952
Email: G.Simpson@bham.ac.uk     //  NIC Handle: GS56

In article <10AUG199222593503@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes:

[About the Dream Team]

>There was no background explanatory material in the story.
>Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?

No wonder this guy never thinks anything in the news is real!

How could _anyone_ not hear about the Dream Team even once over the past
year?! Incredible.

Get your head out of the sand, Packer. Stop trying to debunk everything in
the New York Times long enough to read something else for awhile. You
might learn something.

-- 
|~~\ rian        2000 Powers Fy Rd. |  "In all systems of theology the devil
|--< _____       Suite 200          | 	  figures as '_Mr._ Tro*.' 
|__/   |         Marietta, Ga 30067 |  -Mutlu, talking about me. 
       | roxell  (404)933-7600      |   No, I don't understand it, either. 

In article <10AUG199222593503@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes:
>I've never paid much attention to the Olympics, but
>have always known they are for =amateurs=, no
>professional athletes need apply. Now comes a front
>page story in the NY Times about the "Dream Team"
>of professional basketball players. There was no
>background explanatory material in the story.
>Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?

Well, I guess you really HAVEN'T paid much attention to the
Olympics, because this has been discussed in sports circles
for years.  Several years ago, the International Olympic Committee
decided to give the individual sports federations the right to decide
whether professionals should be allowed at the Olympics.  The president
of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, generally feels that the best
athletes in the world should compete, whether or not they are
professionals.

The result is that right now, whether professionals can compete
depends on the sport.  In basketball and tennis, professionals are 
totally free to compete.  In gymnastics, true professionals are not
allowed, but competitors can earn appearance fees.  In figure
skating, until recently professionals were completely forbidden, but
I understand that that has changed within the last few months.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov

In article <490@audfax.audiofax.com> brian@audiofax.com (Brian Troxell) writes:
>In article <10AUG199222593503@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes:
>
>[About the Dream Team]
>
>>There was no background explanatory material in the story.
>>Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?
>
>No wonder this guy never thinks anything in the news is real!
>
>How could _anyone_ not hear about the Dream Team even once over the past
>year?! Incredible.
>
>Get your head out of the sand, Packer. Stop trying to debunk everything in
>the New York Times long enough to read something else for awhile. You
>might learn something.

In defense of the NYT, the Dream Team has appeared in the Sports
section each and every day of the Olympics (whether to document the
latest slaughter, or some human interest story involving Sir Charles
slugging some player from one of the, uh, lesser teams), and for quite
a while before Barcelona.  Perhaps Mr. Packer spends most of his time
simply looking at the grainy B&W pictures of Bosnia without reading
anything?


--
This is not a .signature

In article <10AUG199222593503@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes:
>I've never paid much attention to the Olympics, but
>have always known they are for =amateurs=, no
>professional athletes need apply. Now comes a front
>page story in the NY Times about the "Dream Team"
>of professional basketball players. There was no
>background explanatory material in the story.
>Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?

It's another in-joke by the NYT, Charles, to show that the
Olympics didn't REALLY happen.  Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.


--
This is not a .signature

In article <133051@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>, ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi) writes...
>for years.  Several years ago, the International Olympic Committee
>decided to give the individual sports federations the right to decide
>whether professionals should be allowed at the Olympics.  The president


Thanks for the useful information. And thanks to a few other
followups that have made me aware I've acquired a certain reputation 
here...

The sports section of the paper is the only one I don't read,
incidentally. All it is is victory, defeat, and knee injuries, right?
I do read the occasional sports article that makes it to the
front page, as well as some in the NYT Sunday magazine. My
mention of "no background" information in the story in this case
was not to imply that I thought the Times was being coy, but to
indicate my humility (humiliation?) at not knowing something
that obviously was common knowledge. 

In <10AUG199222593503@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov> packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov
(Charles Packer) writes:

>I've never paid much attention to the Olympics, but
>have always known they are for =amateurs=, no
>professional athletes need apply. Now comes a front
>page story in the NY Times about the "Dream Team"
>of professional basketball players. There was no
>background explanatory material in the story.
>Could somebody bring me up to date on this situation?

Professional athletes have been attending the Olympics for quite some time.
(30 - 40 years?)  You may not have been aware of it because some nations
had become very adept at disquising their professionals as amateurs.

The rules makers have recently decided to let the games catch up with
reality and stop the hypocrisy behind all these suppossedly "amateur"
athletes.  Now the best athletes in the world are allowed to compete,
regardless of how they may make their living.

BTW, the rules for who may compete are different for each sport.  Don't
ask me to explain how or why this is, I don't completely understand it
myself.  Something about there being a different federation for each
sport, and each federation gets to set at least some of its own rules.

-- 
--Mark