USA not #1

At the end of last month the United States Ryder Cup team lost their for the third straight time and 5 of the last 6 competitions.  Some aren’t suprised with the results even though we are home to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.  But we should be upset.  It would appear that in almost every sport we are producing some of the greatest ’stars’ in the sports, but not any winning teams.  Our basketball team is probably the best example of this drop-off.  Coming in third in the FIBA Mens World Championship behind Greece and Spain after finishing third in the 2004 Olympics.  After winning the gold in the 2000 Olympics our record over the past 14 Olympics was 109-2.  Thats not just a drop-off its more of a collapse.  And in America’s favorite pastime the trend continues.  Not even advancing to the semi’s in the 1st World Baseball Classic.  I’m not saying that we should have won this event, but the LEAST we could have done was to beat Canada.  This is a problem and maybe we should begin entering the champions of each respective league into this competetions.  Teams like the Patriots and White Sox who have a team first mentality instead of star studded teams who are only worried about their own playing time.