Post by Kobe Dominates! on Aug 24, 2008 23:12:16 GMT -4
Oh man I need to pay attention more to womens basketball. I love the internet. Ten years ago I would have never heard the athletes of other countries whine so openly...
They get destroyed by nearly 30 points, whine about the start time and gossip about Lisa Leslie. I also love that line about the WNBA being a selfish game and thats why she struggled as a PG playing there. Sour grapes must be a national crop over there.
Opals accuse Lisa Leslie of being a 'poor sport' over podium medal scandal
THE Opals have accused US captain Lisa Leslie of being a "poor sport" after she draped her gold medals from previous Olympics around her neck following her win.
The fiery Leslie stepped up to the dais wearing her medals from Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, before accepting her fourth. She was told by officials to hide the other three inside her jacket, but as the US anthem was played she brought them out again, sparking outrage from the Opals players wearing silver - their third in a row.
"I know Lisa Leslie wore her three gold medals on the dais from her previous Olympics ... that was a lot of confidence there, wasn't it?" Opals point guard Kristi Harrower said yesterday.
"As soon as we walked out, the first thing everybody noticed was the three gold medals she had around her neck and we're just like, what is that for?"
Related Links
* Star Wall: Support the Opals
* Australia: Dream Team blitz like 'horror film'
* Women's: Opals crash to dominant US
* 87-75: Argentina wins bronze
"We said a few things in Australian language ... we couldn't believe it, could not believe it. She had them out and she was actually told to put them under her jacket and I think once she received her other medal they played the national anthem and she brought them back out again."
"She's a different person, Lauren could probably say the same thing."
"You get a bit of the older generation like a Lisa Leslie that's a different breed but you know, the rest are okay."
Harrower, who has had a fine tournament but fell flat along with the rest of the Opals in the final, said the late start time also favoured the Americans, who consistenly played at 10pm in Beijing.
"It's crazy, it really is. It's not the fact that the game's at 10.15pm (Beijing time), it's the fact that you don't get to bed until three o' clock in the morning. We had a 10.15pm game during the tournament and me being 33 years old it killed me, it took me three days to recover from it," she said.
"Ten o'clock is just ridiculous and because of the US media, they have been having 10pm games all the way through, so it's like their bodies were adjusted to it."
"They didn't have to worry about playing different times all over the place whereas we did."
Harrower also opened up on the US WNBA competition, describing it as a "selfish" game and encouraging Australian girls to play in Europe instead.
"To be honest with you, a lot of people class me as one of the best point guards in the world, but I really struggled in the WNBA because I feel it's a bit of a selfish game."
"I think if any of our girls are going to go anywhere they've got to go to Europe."
While clearly emotional after the devastating loss, Harrower conceded the Opals had nobody to blame but themselves after losing their third consecutive Olympic final to the US in a 92-65 demolition on Saturday night.
"It was really disappointing in the end because this time around we really believed we could do it."
"I think the hardest thing is if we lost by 20 and you played great, then there's nothing you can do about it, but we lost we by 27 and we had a shocker."
"They hit everything, we missed everything...we got lost out there and we didn't know what we could to turn the game around."
"We had a shocker."
"I think the scoreline doesn't show how good the Opals can be. To lose by 27 - that's a thrashing in basketball."
Harrower said she had no plans to look at the tape any time soon.
"I would rather forget about it to be honest, I'd rather not watch it at all."
THE Opals have accused US captain Lisa Leslie of being a "poor sport" after she draped her gold medals from previous Olympics around her neck following her win.
The fiery Leslie stepped up to the dais wearing her medals from Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, before accepting her fourth. She was told by officials to hide the other three inside her jacket, but as the US anthem was played she brought them out again, sparking outrage from the Opals players wearing silver - their third in a row.
"I know Lisa Leslie wore her three gold medals on the dais from her previous Olympics ... that was a lot of confidence there, wasn't it?" Opals point guard Kristi Harrower said yesterday.
"As soon as we walked out, the first thing everybody noticed was the three gold medals she had around her neck and we're just like, what is that for?"
Related Links
* Star Wall: Support the Opals
* Australia: Dream Team blitz like 'horror film'
* Women's: Opals crash to dominant US
* 87-75: Argentina wins bronze
"We said a few things in Australian language ... we couldn't believe it, could not believe it. She had them out and she was actually told to put them under her jacket and I think once she received her other medal they played the national anthem and she brought them back out again."
"She's a different person, Lauren could probably say the same thing."
"You get a bit of the older generation like a Lisa Leslie that's a different breed but you know, the rest are okay."
Harrower, who has had a fine tournament but fell flat along with the rest of the Opals in the final, said the late start time also favoured the Americans, who consistenly played at 10pm in Beijing.
"It's crazy, it really is. It's not the fact that the game's at 10.15pm (Beijing time), it's the fact that you don't get to bed until three o' clock in the morning. We had a 10.15pm game during the tournament and me being 33 years old it killed me, it took me three days to recover from it," she said.
"Ten o'clock is just ridiculous and because of the US media, they have been having 10pm games all the way through, so it's like their bodies were adjusted to it."
"They didn't have to worry about playing different times all over the place whereas we did."
Harrower also opened up on the US WNBA competition, describing it as a "selfish" game and encouraging Australian girls to play in Europe instead.
"To be honest with you, a lot of people class me as one of the best point guards in the world, but I really struggled in the WNBA because I feel it's a bit of a selfish game."
"I think if any of our girls are going to go anywhere they've got to go to Europe."
While clearly emotional after the devastating loss, Harrower conceded the Opals had nobody to blame but themselves after losing their third consecutive Olympic final to the US in a 92-65 demolition on Saturday night.
"It was really disappointing in the end because this time around we really believed we could do it."
"I think the hardest thing is if we lost by 20 and you played great, then there's nothing you can do about it, but we lost we by 27 and we had a shocker."
"They hit everything, we missed everything...we got lost out there and we didn't know what we could to turn the game around."
"We had a shocker."
"I think the scoreline doesn't show how good the Opals can be. To lose by 27 - that's a thrashing in basketball."
Harrower said she had no plans to look at the tape any time soon.
"I would rather forget about it to be honest, I'd rather not watch it at all."
They get destroyed by nearly 30 points, whine about the start time and gossip about Lisa Leslie. I also love that line about the WNBA being a selfish game and thats why she struggled as a PG playing there. Sour grapes must be a national crop over there.