USA vs. Australia preview.
The Aussies have a tall order to fill.
Liz Cambage is a key to Australia's upset hopes.
The US women deserve more hype.
And, the US women are the real dream team. (No doubt about it)
What the Hell Department:
I don't know if this is Geno Auriemma's idea of a joke, but I sure hope so:
Auriemma mentioned the lack of news media coverage and dismissed the notion just as quickly. His answer devolved from there. His team, Auriemma said, contained “no feminists.” They were not “running around” and “burning bras” and “trying to make the world believe in them.” Auriemma then said he would burn his own bra because it no longer fit.
Very weird.
Seimone Augustus:
In a preview of a longer interview, Minnesota Lynx star guard Seimone Augustus discusses coming out and her upcoming wedding.
WNBA:
The Lynx are spicing up their downtime.
U17 team:
Our U17 team left the country this morning for Italy, where they'll play the first of a few exhibition games before the World Championships later this month.
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7 comments:
I try to like Geno, but he makes it so hard. I give up.
I found more of what Geno said at yesterday's press conference:
... U.S. coach Geno Auriemma was asked if he thinks his team doesn’t get the credit it deserves. He said the other day somebody put a pile of “Road to Respect” T-shirts in his team’s locker room, a reference to the U.S. men’s “Road to Redemption” slogan at the Beijing Olympics.
“I thought, ‘You know what? That’s kind of dumb,” Auriemma said. “Sue Bird’s won two gold medals, two WNBA championships, a million Euro championships, world titles, two national championships at UConn. If they don’t respect her by now and all the other players, screw them. … We don’t need T-shirts to say a slogan. We have one slogan: Earn the respect of your teammates, coaching staff and opponent. Other than that, could care less if anyone else respects what we do. ...
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/08/2938525/team-usa-blasts-canada-91-48-in.html#storylink=cpy
The only person disrespecting Team USA is Geno Auriemma. Is his ego not getting enough attention from the international media? His "no feminists on my team" remark is way out of line, even for him.
Seriously? Auriemma has been tireless and aggressive over multiple decades in his support of women's basketball. His body of work speaks for itself.
I think what many women don't like is that Auriemma could care less about political correctness. He doesn't care about social engineering, feminism or LGBT rights in a basketball context. He's interested in coaching and winning, period. In that way his agenda is different than many women involved in women's sports. Doesn't seem to stop his former players to singing his praises and always coming back to play for him.
He has been previously quoted as saying he doesn't coach men or women, he coaches basketball players. I think that says it all. That is supposed to be what equal rights is all about, isn't it?
There have been a disturbing number of these whiny articles from multiple women's sports sources during this Olympics about how the U.S. Team doesn't get respect. It's politically correct BS. Coverage of this Olympic sport has never be more comprehensive and they all rave about the U.S. team. It kinda begs the question "What the Hell do You Want"?
Women's basketball is lucky to have Geno although you certainly couldn't tell it by they way he gets treated by many women sportswriters and fans.
I remember reading that quote many months ago, that he doesn't coach women, he coaches basketball players. I was pleasantly surprised. A college coach friend told me that Auriemma purposefully makes inflammatory statements to the media to get attention off his players, because he cares about them so much. If this is true that's a noble gesture, but the price is that he misrepresents himself. He may not really think the asinine things he sometimes says, but it seems like he does.
Did you watch the men's Olympic 100-meter final Sunday night? All but two of the competitors made weird faces and/or gestures at the camera when introduced. Some would say this is funny, but I found it disrespectful. They're at the Olympic Games, representing their respective countries, and they're clowning. I feel the same way about Geno. What other coach makes the statements that he does? It's completely unnecessary, and he does it knowing he'll piss some people off.
He needs to stop talking and being disrespectful; he can let his coaching do all the talking.
His coaching and results have always done the talking or he wouldn't still be around to irritate you.
If they hadn't he wouldn't be the WBB coaching legend that he is and coach of our Olympic team. The fact that you don't like what is coming out of his mouth has nothing to do with his coaching ability and everything to do your worldview and his indifference to what you folks think.
I'd add that based upon the recent, very outspoken quotes from Geno's daughter it's pretty clear that he hasn't and probably can't force any sort of overbearing patriarchal world view on his daughter much less anyone else in the world of WBB.
I think he is a loudmouth too, but it would be a mistake to call the very best friend of WBB anything but that.
Companies pay millions of dollars to buy time during the Olympics. As much as purists would like to think that it's always about respect frankly I believe it's actually about story lines and eyeballs. Unfortunately that isn' always easy to digest, like the 100 you refer to.
I think you are kinda missing the point about Geno. He doesn't care what anyone but his ballers think and that's what makes him a great leader. It's them against the world, which may explain his bitching about the lack of coverage of the team to date. He's just setting up his team to win. They don't have any real competition on the floor so he's trying to create some competitive tension.
I would add that Geno's approach is probably pretty male gendered. The entire "I don't give a shit" attitude that he exudes is largely a guy thing. So it's easy to understand why he pisses so many women off so consistently.
He certainly seems to have pulled your chain, which explains why your article seems so ready to confuse fact with opinion and accusation. Two examples: to Geno's explanation that starting Parker led to a lack of rhythm or flow, you offer this: "No rhythm or flow in blowouts?" Often the blowouts gathered steam as the US team settled in, not during the first period when the starters took the floor, so your rhetorical question is utterly beside the point. Moreover, Candace gave one of her best overall performances as a non-starter-- though she did log the fourth most minutes in the last game. Second, like many hindsight pundits, you claim that "there is no doubt" that Geno's player selections showed that he was "biased." Only factual evidence can support absolute conclusions. Talk about bias clouding judgment! Geno is no saint, but I think (my *opinion*) he deserves clearer-headed analysis than you offered.
JBucar
I'm wondering, anonymous, why you chose to put this here instead of on today's post, since that's what you're quoting.
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