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Why MAGA isn't Happy for Gregg Popovich And Team USA Basketball Winning Gold
From time to time, Gregg Popovich, the coach of the United States men’s national basketball team—which won a gold medal last night at the Tokyo Olympics with an 87–82, as-close-as-it-sounds victory over France—suggests a mad poet howling from a windy hillside.
Gray-bearded all of the time and splenetic much of it, “Pop,” as he’s known throughout the basketball world, is rarely happy about his team’s performances, questions from the media, or, since the coming of Trump, the soul of America in general. His off-the-cuff comments about the former president (see “soulless coward,” “deranged idiot, “fool,” among others) and his continuing criticism of conservative causes such as election-law revision have earned him supporters on the left and myriad critics on the right, who see him as a grumpy avatar for a league that is far too “woke.” LeBron James is instructed to shut up and dribble, Pop to shut up and diagram the plays.
However, many of those unfamiliar with Popovich have no idea that he is straight-up military, a graduate of the Air Force Academy who served five years of active duty as an intelligence officer and once considered a career in the CIA. In that respect he is a version of the late John McCain, whose bravery and fortitude as a POW were lampooned by a draft dodger with sore feet.
There are many sides to Pop, famously an oenophile and a well-read conversationalist with a wicked sense of humor. But among the subjects least likely to stir the sunshine that resides deep inside of the man—at least before this weekend—is the Olympics, his personal bête noir. A half century ago Popovich was devastated when he was cut from the 1972 Olympic team: His tough, disciplined style of play wasn’t quite enough to earn him a spot on the star-crossed U.S. team that lost a controversial gold-medal game to the Soviet Union. Decades later he was an assistant coach on two haphazardly assembled national teams, one that finished sixth in the 2002 FIBA World Championships, and the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that earned only a bronze in Athens and much enmity from an American public who still believed that the U.S. could snap its fingers and win gold because every other nation was still dribbling the ball off its feet. Throughout those Athens Games it was Popovich who was left to explain, best he could, some of the personnel decisions made by Larry Brown, one of his mentors. Loyal soldier that he was, he did it. Popovich that he was, he hated it.
...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/olympian-struggles-gregg-popovich/619673/
Gray-bearded all of the time and splenetic much of it, “Pop,” as he’s known throughout the basketball world, is rarely happy about his team’s performances, questions from the media, or, since the coming of Trump, the soul of America in general. His off-the-cuff comments about the former president (see “soulless coward,” “deranged idiot, “fool,” among others) and his continuing criticism of conservative causes such as election-law revision have earned him supporters on the left and myriad critics on the right, who see him as a grumpy avatar for a league that is far too “woke.” LeBron James is instructed to shut up and dribble, Pop to shut up and diagram the plays.
However, many of those unfamiliar with Popovich have no idea that he is straight-up military, a graduate of the Air Force Academy who served five years of active duty as an intelligence officer and once considered a career in the CIA. In that respect he is a version of the late John McCain, whose bravery and fortitude as a POW were lampooned by a draft dodger with sore feet.
There are many sides to Pop, famously an oenophile and a well-read conversationalist with a wicked sense of humor. But among the subjects least likely to stir the sunshine that resides deep inside of the man—at least before this weekend—is the Olympics, his personal bête noir. A half century ago Popovich was devastated when he was cut from the 1972 Olympic team: His tough, disciplined style of play wasn’t quite enough to earn him a spot on the star-crossed U.S. team that lost a controversial gold-medal game to the Soviet Union. Decades later he was an assistant coach on two haphazardly assembled national teams, one that finished sixth in the 2002 FIBA World Championships, and the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that earned only a bronze in Athens and much enmity from an American public who still believed that the U.S. could snap its fingers and win gold because every other nation was still dribbling the ball off its feet. Throughout those Athens Games it was Popovich who was left to explain, best he could, some of the personnel decisions made by Larry Brown, one of his mentors. Loyal soldier that he was, he did it. Popovich that he was, he hated it.
...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/olympian-struggles-gregg-popovich/619673/
27 replies
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I'm serious. When are they EVER happy about anything? 
Really, you don't. 
They hate everything and it shows! 
. . .they'll go apoplectic at the USA Women's basketball team. They play for the gold medal tonight. (10:30 pm EDT)
All of the players on the roster are in the WNBA, including Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe's partner. As with the USWNT in soccer, there are a number of "out" athletes among them.
There is also that matter of the ESPN documentary 144, which is well worth seeing.
https://www.indiewire.com/2021/05/144-review-espn-wnba-bubble-documentary-1234637152/
The film wastes little time addressing one of the other main issues that those with only a glancing knowledge of the WNBA could be familiar with: During her time as one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senators, Kelly Loeffler was also an owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA franchise. “144” offers some insight into the “Vote Warnock” T-shirts that players wore in response to Loeffler’s comments about the Black Lives Matter movement and political statements from athletes. Everyone who speaks about the decision is unapologetic. In a way, the existence of this film and the breadth of bubble experiences it manages to capture (in addition to the Rev. Raphael Warnock’s eventual victory. . .) is their vindication.
He is awesome. A true coaching living legend.
