LONDON OLYMPIAD; Basketball-USA (first of a series of periodic reports re. the 2012 Olympic games)

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“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

INTEREST in world sports keeps gaining, big time! The evidence is clear and heady from the upcoming London Olympics, and from the recent NBA Finals that were televised around the world for many millions to see, and from much-watched European soccer being in full swing to determine which of the planet’s footballers will be crowned "best" (the U.S. audience for this keeps advancing). Add that the audience for Formula One Grand Prix motor racing in countries on several continents has increased, with an event to be televised worldwide from Austin, Texas, this summer. And, the recently held French Open (tennis) drew record viewers. Wimbledon is already having a similar reaction, with the U.S. Open to be televised several weeks later by more stations across the globe.

Next March, there’ll be another WBC (World Baseball Classic), which supplanted the baseball competition that was taken away from the Olympics. Too, several individual sports now have their own cable-TV networks: baseball, football, tennis.

A fair guess is that HBO stats reflect more international pay-per-viewers for championship boxing matches, than appeared in the past. With some luck, and as more persons pay attention, world sports could gun down the “reality TV-crapola” that's vomited across the world’s TV channels since around year 2000. NBC expects a record audience for its coverage of the London Olympics, starting July 27.

Organized world sports began many centuries ago, in now troubled Greece, where the first Olympics occurred (8^th Century, BC), and which hosted an Olympiad in 2004. Revived in 1896, there have been winter and summer Olympiads ever since, under the auspices of the IOC (International Olympic Committee), excluding war time. Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics, and Rio de Janeiro will be hosting the 2016 summer games. The London activity will include more than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries competing in more than 25 sports yielding well over 300 events, many happening simultaneously at different venues, among the more popular categories track and field (includes a marathon), basketball, swimming, diving, gymnastics, soccer, boxing, tennis, volley ball.   

            The U.S. will shine in several sports, but nothing will be easy for Team USA, for, as in most other areas of human endeavor, the rest of the world has been gaining on America’s ability to deliver super athletes. That the U.S. will win the lion’s share of gold and silver this year isn’t a slam dunk. What is close to a guarantee is that the U.S. won’t be lagging far behind, won’t be sucking wind.

Looking good for the U.S. at London are the athletes selected for basketball (men and women, the latter having won five gold), swimming, track and field, and boxing, with U.S. fans hoping for U.S. dominance in basketball from the get-go. From a roster of around 20 top players, those chosen by Duke University coach and Team USA basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, as starters across the series of games will be LeBron James and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, also Dwyane Wade of the Heat if he recovers from an injury, plus Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, possibly Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, but with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, taken from the roster due to injuries, the going can be quite rough. Of course, that Mike K. has won more basketball games than any other currently active basketball coach (globally), well, that says something.

            Stay with us for periodic coverage of the 2012 Olympic games.

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