Dwyane Wade thinks NBA players should be paid for playing in Olympics

[manifold]

I say we should go back to the days when the Olympics were actually interesting. That was when amateurs competed... and before NBC became the Olympic coverage network.

NBC ruined the Olympics when they decided 22 hours of "Up Close and Personal" interviews per day were more important that covering the events. Get rid of NBC!

As for professionals playing in the Olympics? They had their chance before they went pro. It is time to get them out and go back to making the games interesting. Give us competitors that we can get behind and care about, not someone making thirty million a year to play a game and then whining because they aren't being paid for two weeks during the Olympics.

Immie

Get rid of the pros and suddenly the track and field events are gonna really suck.

 

[rightwinger]

I think it is time to consider giving prize money in the Olympics. The purity of amateurism is long gone. If the Olympics were free to attend in the spirit of amateurism, I can support not paying the athletes. But with the hundreds of millions in TV rights and escalating ticket prices, the Olympics are a cash cow

 

[manifold]

Michael Phelps was a professional swimmer while winning 8 Gold medals in Beijing.

Perhaps it would have been more entertaining if his being a professional made him ineligible to compete.

 

[Immanuel]

I say we should go back to the days when the Olympics were actually interesting. That was when amateurs competed... and before NBC became the Olympic coverage network.

NBC ruined the Olympics when they decided 22 hours of "Up Close and Personal" interviews per day were more important that covering the events. Get rid of NBC!

As for professionals playing in the Olympics? They had their chance before they went pro. It is time to get them out and go back to making the games interesting. Give us competitors that we can get behind and care about, not someone making thirty million a year to play a game and then whining because they aren't being paid for two weeks during the Olympics.

Immie

Get rid of the pros and suddenly the track and field events are gonna really suck.

They were much more interesting when it was just the amateurs. At least if we had the Amateurs back, NBC's 22 hours per day of "Upclose and Personal" interviews would be interesting.

Immie

 

[samjones]

You talk about not watching a game because your team is expected to get blown out. Yet, you seem to be thrilled to death to watch a game when your team is expected to do the blowing out? What the hell fun is that?

NBA basketball is nothing if it is not boring. And now you want to make it part of the Olympics? Why not just drive a stake into the heart of the International Olympic Committee and get it over with now?

Immie

I'll watch if I think it's going to be a good game. I admit that it makes me seem like some kind of fairweather fan, but there are 2 things I just can't bear to do.

1. Watch a game when I truly don't think my team has a chance.
2. Watch the post-game interviews if my team loses.

It has more to do with cursing in front of the kids and throwing things at the TV than anything else.

So - I don't know if you were aware of this or not, but the NBA *is* part of the Olympics. The gold medal winner in London '12 *WILL* have NBA players at the heart of its team. Whether professionals are allowed to compete or not has zero impact on the IOC. They would be thrilled if the NHL would take a break to send its players to Sochi. If you ask me, I think (don't laugh) that they should move ice hockey to the summer games so that the professional leagues don't have to make this difficult choice between breaking for the olympics or not.

I think that the gold medal game in '10 probably did more to market the NHL to the world and to the USA than anything that has ever happened in ice hockey before.

 

[Immanuel]

You talk about not watching a game because your team is expected to get blown out. Yet, you seem to be thrilled to death to watch a game when your team is expected to do the blowing out? What the hell fun is that?

NBA basketball is nothing if it is not boring. And now you want to make it part of the Olympics? Why not just drive a stake into the heart of the International Olympic Committee and get it over with now?

Immie

I'll watch if I think it's going to be a good game. I admit that it makes me seem like some kind of fairweather fan, but there are 2 things I just can't bear to do.

1. Watch a game when I truly don't think my team has a chance.
2. Watch the post-game interviews if my team loses.

It has more to do with cursing in front of the kids and throwing things at the TV than anything else.

So - I don't know if you were aware of this or not, but the NBA *is* part of the Olympics. The gold medal winner in London '12 *WILL* have NBA players at the heart of its team. Whether professionals are allowed to compete or not has zero impact on the IOC. They would be thrilled if the NHL would take a break to send its players to Sochi. If you ask me, I think (don't laugh) that they should move ice hockey to the summer games so that the professional leagues don't have to make this difficult choice between breaking for the olympics or not.

I think that the gold medal game in '10 probably did more to market the NHL to the world and to the USA than anything that has ever happened in ice hockey before.

I must confess my reasons behind my feelings on this may have a lot to do with the I'm getting old factor and things just aren't the way they used to be.

Funny you should mention the cursing at the tv. I tell my wife that the characters on tv can't hear her talking to them. I tell her that the only exception to that is the NFL referees, they can hear me calling them every dirty name in the book.

Immie