As I continue Post-Olympic withdrawl, I came across
this article on the (in)famous US-USSR Basketball final from 1972.
Got me thinking.... The conventional wisdom says "We was robbed" or "The Commies cheated"....
But what if the Conventional Wisdom is wrong?
Ever since basketball was added to the Olympics, the US had never lost a game. Never. We were 63-0 going in to that final. And the USSR was, of course, the EEEvil Empire. Couldn't be trusted with anything. Sneaking around, trying to get every little advantage to make themselves look good and US look bad... So naturally, We Were Right and the Dirty Commies were bribing officials to give them breaks on the court, lying about pressing buttons, dodging the rules whenever it suited them, etc....
But what if the game turned out the right way? Let me refresh your memory.
The confusion started when a buzzer/horn went off between Doug Collins' two free throws. At that instant, the score was tied at 49-49, with three seconds left on the clock. No one disputes that - after all, it's been recorded. Instead of pausing to see what that was about, as he well could have, Collins made his second shot. 50-49, US.
As play resumed, the Soviet coaches and players ran onto the court, saying they had called a time out (which was their right - to call, not to run on the court - but the officials didn't give them one). That's what the horn was about! As the US team celebrated their win, the officials agreed. The USSR gets a time out. Start play again with one second on the clock and the Soviets inbounding the ball. Play resumes, the USSR doesn't score, the US wins. Hold on! The head honcho of all of international basketball was in the stands! According to him, there should have been three seconds on the clock - the amount of time remaining after Collins made his last free throw. OK, fair enough. A bit out of the ordinary, but he's the boss. Reset the clock, and go again. They do. The Soviets can't get a shot off! The US wins! But the Soviets noted that the clock hadn't been properly reset! It was showing 50 seconds! Oh no, another do-over. This time, the Soviets are able to score as Alexander Belov grabs the inbound pass and sinks an easy layup.
USSR wins, 51-50.
The Americans still refuse to accept their silver medals.
Some people say all those do-overs are the result of the officials wanting to make sure the Soviets won. I call bullshit. If the roles were reversed, and we lost because the officials first didn't acknowledge our time out, and then kept getting the clock wrong, wouldn't we be pissed and want them to get it right?
I submit that the Soviets earned their gold medals, fair and square. At least in that game, they played better than we did. From what I've read, we played badly all game. The Soviets led for most of it, and the American coach has been criticized for changing the style of play from a running game (where the Americans excelled) to a slow-down passing game, where the Soviets were their equals, if not better. If we made just one more basket during the game, none of this could have happened.
The players aren't going to change their minds about the medals. But can we at least drop the robbed/cheated stuff and accept the outcome?
And it's not like the Olympics have gotten better with their
timing issues...