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By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Tuesday, Jul 01, 2008
Let's face it: Anyone who follows Olympic basketball knows the United States hasn't exactly been dominating the sport in the most recent global competitions.
Think back to 2004, when taciturn coach Larry Brown didn't know what to do with the likes of LeBron James (oh, the pain) on his roster. A coach who relies on veterans more than anyone, Brown didn't play James as much as he should have, and, shall we say, that team proved more than a bit disappointing when it came home with a bronze medal.
With a bronze medal came an attitude, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Now the team, more focused, has one goal.
Gold.
NBA Entertainment produced a five-part documentary, Road to Redemption, that will begin to air at 7 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2. The first episode runs an hour, with subsequent ones to air later.
The series is touted as an all-access look at how the team melds as it works out in Las Vegas.
Naturally, James will figure prominently, an NBA Entertainment spokesman said.
I didn't get a chance to preview this one, but it is intriguing for one reason: How do you get egos of those sizes to mesh? We're talking LeBron, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, among others. In some respects, when you're a professional superstar, playing on an all-star team representing your country is the ultimate test of your belief in the concept of team.
I suspect those players won't have that problem. They will be joined by Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Tayshaun Prince, Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul, Michael Redd, Jason Kidd and Dwyane Wade and coached by Duke University's Mike Krzyzewski
Big Ten programs
To say that the Big Ten Network has faced a rough time in its first year would be a slight understatement, given the ancillary battles fought to get carriage on some cable systems.
Only in recent weeks did the network sign a deal with Comcast, the nation's No. 1 cable service. A deal with Time Warner Cable still awaits.
Additionally, the channel is far from what it could and should be. I could mince words here and say everything was hunky-dory these past months. That would be disingenuous. While it's great that the network wants to promote lesser events, every sports fan knows there are two money sports in college — football and basketball — and on the network, those broadcasts were not without the occasional glitches.
Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman acknowledged that during a recent phone conversation, but in fairness, not all of the problems — such as when one video service neglected to provide the other college football game feeds on opening weekend — were the fault of the channel.
And as Silverman points out, the network should be given credit for launching out of the gate with high definition and some on-air talent — Dave Revsine and Thom Brennaman — with national profiles.
''We definitely have a ways to go to improve, and I'm confident we're going to. We need to get more programming on the air,'' Silverman said. ''We need to increase our library, so that we don't have to repeat things as much as we have in our first year. That's kind of the way it works your first year.''
Fans can look for more original programming, such as Big Ten Legends and Illinois Football: The Journey, which will document the Illinois Fighting Illini's 2008 season and begins airing in September. The network also will try to air more classic games. The plan remains ambitious.
Let's hope another big deal is in the works.
A little respect
If you looked to any list of the best players in the NFL last year, the prospect of seeing the name of a Cleveland Brown proved almost nil.
This year, the Browns get two — Braylon Edwards (No. 34) and Kellen Winslow (No. 44) — who made senior columnist Pete Prisco's list of the Top 50 on CBSSports.com.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/.
Let's face it: Anyone who follows Olympic basketball knows the United States hasn't exactly been dominating the sport in the most recent global competitions.
Get the full article here.
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