25 June 2012
Quote of the Day: ESPN-W
Really cool article about the pressure on the 1996 Olympic team, and how they weren't just trying to win a gold medal, they were trying to prove to the NBA that a women's league was a viable business opportunity. To that end, all of the players and coaches took a year off and did nothing but train together and travel around the U.S., playing exhibition games and signing autographs:
The U.S. team bus was pulling away from The Palestra, the legendary arena on Penn's campus, after the Americans had defeated China in an April 1996 exhibition game. The win boosted their record to 39-0, and they had clearly established themselves as the favorites for gold. Point guard Dawn Staley, who had grown up on Philly's hardscrabble streets, spotted a little girl running after the bus. Staley stood and asked the driver to stop. Everyone filed off the bus and signed an autograph for the girl.
"We became conditioned to sign a lot of autographs," Staley says. "We had the No Child Left Behind policy."
The U.S. team bus was pulling away from The Palestra, the legendary arena on Penn's campus, after the Americans had defeated China in an April 1996 exhibition game. The win boosted their record to 39-0, and they had clearly established themselves as the favorites for gold. Point guard Dawn Staley, who had grown up on Philly's hardscrabble streets, spotted a little girl running after the bus. Staley stood and asked the driver to stop. Everyone filed off the bus and signed an autograph for the girl.
"We became conditioned to sign a lot of autographs," Staley says. "We had the No Child Left Behind policy."
Labels: Olympics
# posted by mamurd @ 8:08 PM 
