I wonder if anyone else noticed.
The Olympics is, somewhat sadly, about patriotism as much as about the world-class competition, which once again had breathtaking moments over 16 days. If that isn't true, then why do nearly all of the gold medal winners sing the words to their countries' anthems when they are being played in celebration of their victories?
Nearly. Not all. And I couldn't help but think about the U.S. men's basketball team, all NBA players, as they observed their own hard-earned gold medal last Saturday.
Twelve of them stood there, initially locking arms as they stepped up to their top podium. The Dream Team Avenged, they had struggled to put away the two other medal-winning teams, Serbia and France, in their last two games. Basketball, once an overwhelmingly American-dominated sport, has now become a world display of skill and talent. That world has caught up. This may be the last of America's latest streak of gold medals for some time.
Maybe it was that realization that evoked more relief than elation with them. Perhaps some journalism ex post facto will reveal that. But pure joy it could not have been.
The big names in U.S. basketball were there: LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant. The whole was so much better than all the parts that players like Jayson Tatum, an NBA All-Star if there ever was one, barely got a chance to play. And all three of those above mentioned players stepped up when the pressure was greatest. They made great plays and timely baskets.
Thing is, they had to. France and Serbia did not go gladly into their nights. A rim-out here, a bad bounce there, might have led to a significant U.S. embarrassment. After all, these were the best players in the sport's best country. Right?
But the NBA has globalized, too. Some of its very great, or soon to become very great, players--Nikola Jokic, who has entered the conversation as the world's best player; and Victor Wembanyama, the upside to whom isn't even close yet, which makes him really, really scary and who will likely make Jokic's reign of greatness seem puny in comparison--are from elsewhere in the world. They play in the NBA, but are nowhere near as intimidated or humbled by what they face in the States. Rather the other way around.
James, Curry, and Durant are in all likelihood through with Olympic basketball (though with LeBron, you never know; at 39, he still defies age). At least, we will not see the combination of them ever again. It all felt like a page was turning. Maybe they felt it, too.
So when the Star-Spangled Banner played in Paris' basketball stadium to celebrate the 39th of America's 40 gold medals, I thought it odd that only Steph Curry sang the words.
That's it. Only him. The camera scanned the group. All the other players stood respectfully, but none of the others sang. In fact, they didn't even smile.
You can't help but think that the fact that all of them were black must have had something to do with it.
And this: LeBron went out of his way to say, in his post-game interview, that America had a lot wrong with it right now and at least it could forget about all that for a few days and unite behind this great team.
It was like, in its own way, a challenge: Okay, you wanted us to do this and we did it. What are you going to do now?
To which some of us might respond: Hey, every last one of you has more money than God, with your gushing NBA contracts, which don't even require that you play in all your scheduled games. Now you have gold medals, too. You are the pinnacle of black success in a country which has denied it to others who also have deserved it for centuries. And you want something else? Where do you get off?
What they want cannot happen, or won't for more decades: Acceptance of genuine equality. Blindness when it comes to noticing race. Respect for thinking that might not dovetail with whites. Maybe some of that washed up into standing (mostly) silent for the Star-Spangled Banner; maybe it was a statement of dominance in one of the few categories where it can be shown and demonstrated. Tough to say. I hope some of them reveal their thoughts.
Admit it, though: Had the men's basketball team not won the gold medal, the whole U.S. Olympic effort might easily have been written off as a partial failure. It took twelve talented black men to temporarily combine their efforts and emerge victorious against the rest of the world that's certainly gotten a lot better.
They did it again: They bailed us out again. Just like blacks showing up at the polls will be vital in battleground states to bail us out against a terrible threat to democracy that will turn our lives inside out should he still rally and win. They saved Joe Biden. Will they save us through Kamala Harris?
We don't make nearly enough of that. Either. Way-way overdue.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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