You don't take Shaq out of the finals because he stunk it up in the playoffs. Hall shows up when it's showtime. Leaving him and his personality off the relay team was a mistake.
Originally posted by tjburk
Oh and by the way...the ones that cared....that was the United States Olympic "TEAM":D Not the Gary Hall Olympic Team. Yeah I'm sure the "team" came together in their spare time to put him on double secret probation too! It was USS. Oh and by the way...its the Gary Hall Jr Olympic Team. Not showing up for the relay is the ONLY issue here.
Although... I'm surprised they weren't relieved he WASN"T wearing their stuff, since they dropped him quite awhile back after he got busted, if memory serves. :rolleyes:
He's the fastest 50 freestyler in the world which I guess makes him the fastest sprinter. We don't use the 50 free to qualify for the 4x100 relay and the 50 free hadn't been contested yet anyway so we didn't have that piece of information even if it were relevant.
Fastest 50 yes. This is a 100 relay.
Besides - I coach youth sports - sometimes a coach has to make a decision that doesn't seem right at first. I don't know what the coaches decision was based on - but he runs the team. Period.
Bottom line - you don't leave the fastest swimmer in the world (proven multiple times) off the relay team any more than you leave Michael Jordan on the bench in game 7, John Elway on the bench against Cleveland or Derek Jeter in the dugout in game 7.
Hall has the credibility and performance to prove he's the fastest. You think the Bulls win without Jordan?
Originally posted by aquageek
You don't take Shaq out of the finals because he stunk it up in the playoffs. Hall shows up when it's showtime. Leaving him and his personality off the relay team was a mistake.
Unfortunately, we will never know if it was a mistake. We can't call a "do-over". It still was inappropriate for him to avoid the 4x200. He was wrong.
Yep, common practice to leave the big game players on the bench. You ever heard of practice fast and meet fast?
I, for one, am glad Phil Jackson didn't put Jordan on the bench after a bad game. And, it's widely known that Jordan was notoriously hard on his teammates. So, the analogy is more than valid.
All this concern over a proven winner and his funky uniform.
Originally posted by Scansy
Unfortunately, we will never know if it was a mistake. We can't call a "do-over".
He had the third fastest 100m time at the trials, which should have placed him on the relay (even if we ignore his Olympic experience and well established ability to perform when it counts--not to mention the fact that he was healthy, unlike Crocker).
I think it's very unlikely he would have gone 50.05 in the finals. Hall swims, they win the silver, maybe the gold.
