America Falls Behind On International Team Sports

The follies of the U.S. basketball team in the Olympics (a loss to Puerto Rico? Are you kidding me?) lead me to believe that there is not enough emphasis amongst our sports programs in this country on the international game.

In fact, it's interesting to me that the only teams that do well internationally any more are the ones with a regular international schedule - men's and women's soccer being the primary examples.

But basketball? For some reason, it's some sort of weird oddity to be interested in playing on the U.S. Basketball team, when in fact being asked to represent your country at the highest levels of play should be the biggest honor a player can ask for in their sport. Soccer players all look at being on the national team as the greatest level they can achieve, and if they can actually play on the team in a World Cup, then they've made it. PERIOD.

I call upon the NBA, MLB, NHL, and other leagues with regular international competitions available to take them SERIOUSLY. Make playing in World Championship tournaments something to be excited about. The rest of the world thinks so, what makes America such an unpatriotic nation?