Dan Daly: She's no traitor

Since when are the Olympics non-political? If that were the case, then athletes wouldn't be representing their governments but, only themselves. I completely support Becky Hammon's move to the Russian Team and if the USA Women's Basketball Team loses to Russia, it would serve us right. WNBA marketing and USA Womens Basketball Team selections are no different than those of female high school cliques where it's always the same circle of girls hanging around each other. But, it's the same way with the Mens professional teams, too. The bottom line is that Becky Hammon will never encounter the vitriol that many African-American athletes have experienced for simply speaking out against American policy while continuing to live in America. Boxing champ, Muhammad Ali, and Basketball great, Mahmud Abdurrauf come to my mind as people who suffered greatly for standing firm to their beliefs. These individuals received death threats and their livelihoods were taken from them for a time. Becky Hammon, who is white, is still playing in the WNBA to the cheers of screaming fans when she scores baskets. Hammon is not nearly experiencing anything on the level of those aforementioned black individuals, in spite of the fact that she has renounced her American citizenship just to play basketball in the Olympics! By the way, A Puerto Rican is a citizen of both Puerto Rico and the United States. You don't even need a passport to travel between both countries.

The previous writer is mistaken in saying that Becky is not a US citizen. She has dual citizenship which is quite common in this country. Many Americans with ties to Ireland or Israel have dual passports as do many athletes, including WNBA athletes. (I live with someone who has grandchildren with triple-citizenship.) I agree with "pansygen's" other comments, but do not think mistreatment is every fair, even if is not to the degree suffered by others. I hope that we are always learning, as a country and as individuals, from our mistakes. Dan Daly is correct in pointing out that cronyism prevented Becky Hammon from receiving an invitation to initial tryouts, even when she was runner-up MVP. (Which made her the most valuable American player, as the MVP is Australian.) The US team has a number of the coach's former players. We are not fielding the best possible team and did not have fair tryouts and we may pay for that. What is not surprising to me is that Becky Hammon is news when the ten American MEN who have played for other national teams, back to the 60's, only got "attaboys." By the way, the coach of the Russian MEN'S team is an American. Where is the anger over that? It is not an issue and it shouldn't be. And my guess is sports writers want to stay on his good side because he will likely be an NBA coach soon . . .