Becky Hammon- traitor to USA Basketball team?

Post #1 » by **snaquille oatmeal** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:52 pm

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Lisa%20H/2008/06/14/Becky_Hammon_traitor_to_the_USA_basketball_team

Becky Hammon: traitor to the USA basketball team?

Becky Hammon grew up in the Midwest, where American values and patriotism run high. She plays guard for the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars, and at the ripe old age of thirty one years old, is still chasing her dream.

In her off season, she plays for a professional basketball team in Moscow, Russia. So far, no big deal. Because she has worked over in Russia for an extended amount of time, she was given citizenship status. And here is where it starts to get a little murky.

Becky's dream has always been to play in the Olympics. At her age, she knows Beijing is her last shot at that dream. So when Russia asked her to be a member of their National Basketball team and represent them in the Olympics, she said yes.

She was asked to try out for the US team after she said yes to the Russians and their seven figure contract, but has made the decision to play point guard for the Russians.

Keep in mind, she speaks little Russian and has no Russian in her bloodlines. She is 100% American, a native of Rapid City, South Dakota and a Colorado State graduate. her basketball jersey is the #2 selling jersey, right behind Lisa Leslie's jersey.

Anne Donovan, the coach of the women's basketball team, has called her a "traitor."

Sue Bird added, ""When you walk into that stadium, it really, really hits you. There is something to be said for representing your country and going over there and competing against other countries' best."

Hammon will be marching into Beijing donning a Russian uniform and marching behind a Russian flag, all of which doesn't sit well with many Americans. Keep in mind, J.R. Holden, an American, will be playing on the Russian's basketball team in Beijing-he plays for a professional basketball team in Russia.

I would have tried out for the USA team before accepting to play for Russia.

I wonder what people would have said is Kobe had pull soething like this.

C.Delfino · Post #2 » by **C.Delfino** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:05 pm

Basketball is still just a freaking game. So she choose to play ball for the Russians, good for her.

As long as she pays her taxes and abides by the US law whenever she is in the country, she is being as patriotic as you can possibly ask her to be. Considering her a traitor over a game? Insane.

Realm_G · Post #3 » by **Realm_G** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:20 pm

She's a communist for sure!

I think that it is good for her. Russia asked her first and offered her a nice big contract. If the US were so interested they should have been at her doorstep ASAP.

That is a pathetic comment by Anne Donovan. Hopefully Hammon gets into a cat fight though ...

Meatcookie · Post #4 » by **Meatcookie** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:36 pm

She was asked to try out for the US team after she said yes to the Russians and their seven figure contract, but has made the decision to play point guard for the Russians.

I think she came in 2nd place in MVP voting last season, and the USA Olympic Womens Basketball team had already made their calls to all the players they wanted and they didn't call her.

Then the Russians call her and want her to play for them in the Olympics and they will give her money to do so. All she wanted to do is play in the Olympics. She is 31 years old so the next time she thought she would be able to play for USA would be when she was 35. They weren't going to call in 4 years if they aren't calling now.

She accepts the Russians deal (because she plays over there during the off season and makes good money doing so). She is happy that she is playing in the Olympics. The story gets out and it is big news in the womens basketball world. The USA team then asks her to try out for their team. Doubtful they would have cut someone else to get her on the team because they already made their selections... they just wanted to kill the Russian deal.

Anne Donovan, the coach of the women's basketball team, has called her a "traitor."

Does Anne really think that Hammon being on the Russian team will threaten the USA team chances of success? No, if she did then she would have put her on the USA team to begin with. She is just being a bitch. "Traitor"? Is she selling government secrets? Is putting a leather ball through an iron hoop for another country being a traitor?

Anne Donovan needs to focus on her team and only her team.

One of Shemps Kids · Post #5 » by **One of Shemps Kids** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:43 pm

What a b*tch that coach who called her a traitor is. If I were Becky Hammond, I would seriously consider punching her in the face the next time I see her grin.

Stuff like this in the media is what riles me up, especially some dumb coach who tries to screw over another person and destroy their reputation just because the coach is a b*tch (not meant because she is a woman, but because she has no respect for others).

bigballa3jj · Post #6 » by **bigballa3jj** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:45 pm

if team USA would have given her a spot earlier, then obviously she would have taken it. When the call didn't come, she chose to accept a spot with Russia. Good for her and i hope she does well (shes kinda cute too)

Optimus_Steel · Post #7 » by **Optimus_Steel** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:55 pm

I dont have a problem with this. Russia came to her first, made her a good offer and she accepted. Its within the rules to do so, i have no problem with it. To call her a traitor is not right.

Not the same situation, but I remember Shammond Williams accepting to play for the country of Georgia national team and no one ever called him a traitor.

Point forward · Post #8 » by **Point forward** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:56 pm

When Shawn Bradley played for Germany instead of the U.S., I don't recall any resistance from the U.S. side. (Perhaps the U.S. was already pitying us...)

hoop_head · Post #9 » by **hoop_head** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:58 pm

You snooze, you lose. The USA women's team should have locked up her services long before the Russian team signed her to play. Traitor? Too stong a word for something like this.

One of Shemps Kids · Post #10 » by **One of Shemps Kids** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:05 pm

hoop_head wrote:You snooze, you lose. The USA women's team should have locked up her services long before the Russian team signed her to play. Traitor? Too stong a word for something like this.

Not even. Read this article (posted after this paragraph). They made a list of 23 candidates, and even though she was the best point guard in the WNBA, an all-star, 2nd in MVP voting, etc. they didn't invite her to play. So she kept calling and asking if they were sure she couldn't, and they kept telling her she wasn't invited. She always wanted to play in the Olympics, so Russia offers her a spot. The second that happens, that dumb idiot of a coach says "Oh, we had a spot for you!", after Hammon pretty much begged to get on. Then the coach has the audacity to call her a "traitor" and saying how she let her country down. Letting her country down how? By sitting at home watching the games because you didn't offer her a spot, you scumbag? She wasn't offered a spot when EVERYONE knew she should have.

By now, everyone has heard the story of Becky Hammon of the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars. She's the best basketball player - male or female - ever to play at Colorado State University.
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Later this summer, she will be wearing red - minus the white and blue - when she plays in the Beijing Olympics for the Russian national team. According to coach Anne Donovan of USA Basketball, that pretty much makes Hammon "Benedict Becky."

But let's get a few things straight before we try to reconvene Sen. Joseph McCarthy's committee on un-American activities.

First of all, this was not Hammon's idea. Like most young basketball players, Hammon grew up very much wanting to play for Team USA. After the 2007 WNBA season, it looked like that would be a pretty sure thing. That season, Hammon averaged 18.8 points per game and led the WNBA in assists with five per game. She was named first-team all-WNBA. She finished second in MVP voting after leading San Antonio to its first playoff appearance in five years.

After being named to the 2007 West all-star squad, Hammon became only the second player in WNBA history to earn a starting spot on both the East and West teams during her career.

Then, in April, when USA Basketball announced the 23 players it was inviting to try out for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, Hammon's name was not on the list.

Huh?

In the (blind) eyes of USA Basketball, Hammon was not one of the 23 best American female basketball players out there. Imagine the men's team officials (if he were American instead of Canadian) leaving Steve Nash off a similar list.

Who's making these decisions and what have they been smoking?

"They have their reasons," Hammon said cordially, "and I'm OK with that. It's a tough process and a tough decision. There are a lot of great players out there."

Even after the list came out, Hammon, who had just weeks earlier began the process of becoming a naturalized Russian citizen (so she could more easily move about the region while playing for the CSKA team in Moscow during the WNBA's offseason) had her agent contact Team USA officials - more than once - to make absolutely sure she was not wanted by the home team. Once it became evident that that was indeed the case, she signed on with the Russian national team. At age 31, it likely was her last chance to play in the Olympics.

The amazing thing here is that Team USA officials, including Donovan, acted stunned, calling Hammon's decision "unimaginable" and saying it was something she never ever could do.

"I'm the ultimate, ultimate patriot," Donovan told the media. "For me, it's about this country."

Apparently Donovan and other Team USA officials, the ones that caused this controversy with their hideous decision in the first place, expected the WNBA's best point guard to spend the Olympic break parked on her couch in San Antonio waving her miniature American flag, chanting "USA, USA!"

Someone needs to point out to Donovan and the rest of the group that loyalty is a two-way street. Given the circumstances, who can really blame Hammon for taking the opportunity presented to her?

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in the Olympics," Hammon said, calmly. "I walk through the doors that are open for me."

In some ways, times have changed. Walls - and iron curtains - have come down. International competition no longer is a heated battle of ideologies. In most international team competitions, players who are teammates on professional clubs in North America often are on opposite sides when it's country vs. country.

In other ways, things haven't changed. Apparently on the women's side of Team USA, it's still all about who jumps highest, not who has the most consistent jump shot. This old way of thinking doomed the men's "Dream Teams" of the recent past, and it will end up hurting the women's program at some point, too. Eventually they'll figure out that putting together the best team requires having the league's best team player.

As for Donovan's questioning Hammon's loyalty to her country?

"My patriotism has never been defined by 94 feet of hardwood," Hammon told me. "It was always a dream of mine to play for my country, and it's taken me this long to realize that's not going to happen. The Olympics are something that bring countries together, that we all have in common, so I'm trying to highlight that."

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 006/SPORTS

LakerFanMan · Post #11 » by **LakerFanMan** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:07 pm

I could understand a little backlash if she was playing for Russia and wasn't a citizen of Russia. However, that article says she is. So whats the big deal?

hoop_head · Post #12 » by **hoop_head** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:12 pm

Thanks for the article Shemp, good to have the real details.

Texas Longhorns · Post #13 » by **Texas Longhorns** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:18 pm

You can't call her a traitor after you reject her from the USA team. That's just sad by the coach to call her a traitor. Just stupid, plain stupid.

T-dot Raps · Post #14 » by **T-dot Raps** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:27 pm

Good for her, nothing wrong with what she did. Hopefully she wins and rubs it in Donovan's face.

Post #15 » by **rsavaj** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:31 pm

Part of me hopes that she hits the game winner against the US, just to show them what they missed out on.

Traitor? Hardly. She should have been invited to the US team; once she realized that wasn't going to happen, she took matters into her own hands and now she's playing in the Olympics. Good for her.

CircleCitysportsfan · Post #16 » by **CircleCitysportsfan** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:26 pm

Interesting, wonder if we'd get the same reaction here if Kobe wanted to play for Italy. Doubtful, but I'm sure that's different somehow.

Anyway, she can play for them as long as she promises to send me those sweaty socks after each game.

BubbaTee · Post #17 » by **BubbaTee** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:46 pm

Bit of a difference in that Kobe's been invited to play for Team USA and would have to actively snub the US to play for another country, whereas Hammon was completely passed over by Team USA until after she agreed to play for Russia, don't you think?

BTW - I don't believe for a second that Donovan wants Hammon on Team USA, she just wants to make sure Hammon is not on Team Russia.

writerman · Post #18 » by **writerman** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:21 pm

Many of the answers in this thread dismay me, and say a lot of really negative things about the state of patriotism in this country. IMO, some posters here don't deserve the freedoms they enjoy here because they exhibit -zero- sense of gratitude toward the USA by excusing what this selfish woman has done.

I agree with the coach. SHE IS A TRAITOR. It's disgusting that anyone would put their personal ambitions above patriotism toward a country that has given them so much.

Absolutely disgusting. If there was any justice, she would have her US citizenship revoked.

Post #19 » by **Harry Palmer** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:26 pm

Absolutely!

**** YOU BECKY HAMMON! I HATE YOU, AND ALL YOU STAND FOR! *shakes fist* GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM, TRAITOR!

I seriously can't stand people like Becky ****ing Hammon. God, they tick me off.

Edit: Who?

BubbaTee · Post #20 » by **BubbaTee** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:30 pm

writerman wrote:Many of the answers in this thread dismay me, and say a lot of really negative things about the state of patriotism in this country. IMO, some posters here don't deserve the freedoms they enjoy here because they exhibit -zero- sense of gratitude toward the USA by excusing what this selfish woman has done.

I agree with the coach. SHE IS A TRAITOR. It's disgusting that anyone would put their personal ambitions above patriotism toward a country that has given them so much.

Absolutely disgusting. If there was any justice, she would have her US citizenship revoked.

Ah, patriotism. The last refuge of a scoundrel.