US-Russia Hoops Matchup Stirs Bitter Feelings From 1972 Munich Gold Medal Game

It happened exactly 38 years ago to the day, but even two generations later, the mere mention of the gold medal basketball game between the United States and the Soviet Union at the 1972 Munich Olympics still evokes highly emotional responses from both sides.

Those emotions spilled over once again this week as the US and Russia prepared to face off Thursday in Turkey in the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championships.

In what is widely regarded as the most controversial conclusion to a basketball game in international competition, the USSR “defeated” the US 51-50 to claim the gold medal. It was the Americans’ first defeat in Olympic basketball history, snapping a streak of 63 straight victories and seven consecutive gold medals.

The US trailed much of the game but took the lead on two free throws with 3 seconds remaining. At that point, confusion among the referees, timekeeper, and even FIBA secretary R. Williams Jones resulted in the USSR receiving three attempts to inbound the ball and score. It succeeded on the third attempt, with a perfect full-court pass, a nice catch, and some sloppy defense resulting in the winning layup. (For a more thorough description of the game’s final seconds, click here.)

In his book American Hoops: U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball from Berlin to Beijing, sport historian Carson Cunningham wrote of the 1972 game: “The ending was not merely poorly supervised; it was chaotic, confusing, and without precedent” (p. 229).

To this day, the US is still bitter about the game’s outcome, refusing to accept the silver medal both at the 1972 Munich Games and every subsequent time they have been asked to accept the second-place prize.

This year’s coach of the Russian World Championship team, David Blatt, said earlier this week he believes the USSR was the rightful winner of the 1972 gold medal game, and admitted that he cried joyously after the Soviet victory.

Those words didn’t sit well with US coach Mike Krzyzewski, who fired back at Blatt’s recollection.

“You know, he coaches the Russian team, so he probably has that viewpoint, and his eyes are clearer now because there are no tears in them. So, it’s great. Whatever he thinks, he thinks. … It is what it is. It’ll be a negative from the way the US looks at it forever, and should be. And it’ll be in some ways a positive for those who believe in fairy tales.”

The Cold War has long since concluded, but the cold feelings between the two countries’ basketball representatives about the 1972 Munich Games are obviously still just as strong as they were 38 years ago.

For video of the final 3 seconds and the ensuing aftermath, click on the video below, courtesy of ESPN Classic via YouTube.

Assessing the Legacy of the Vancouver Olympics, Examining the Modern Games

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics will sadly be remembered for more than the amazing athletic achievements that have been and will be accomplished during these Games.

On the day of the opening ceremonies, Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during a training run. It marks the first death of an Olympic competitor since the 1992 Albertville Games, and is believed to be just the sixth death of an Olympic athlete during competition or practice since 1912.

Questions immediately arose about the safety of the luge course, in addition to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) response that the death was based on human error. Still, Vancouver quickly implemented a plan to memorialize Kumaritashvili hours after his death during the opening ceremonies, and the Games, despite a few weather delays, have provided some memorable athletic performances.

In order to get more perspective into what the death of Kumaritashvili may mean to the legacy of the Vancouver Games, Fitness Information Technology (FiT) contacted Robert Barney, an authority of Olympic history. Barney, founder of the International Centre for Olympic Studies and professor emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, recently published an edited work with FiT titled Rethinking the Olympics: Cultural Histories of the Modern Games. Barney also recently returned from attending the Vancouver Olympics.

Q: The Vancouver Olympics got off to a somber start with the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. How may that tragedy shape the way the Vancouver Olympics are remembered in the future?

Barney: “Indeed it was a somber start for Vancouver’s 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Everyone felt it, not the least of whom were Nodar’s family, his teammates, all of Georgia, VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee), and his fellow Olympians irrespective of what country they were from. That tragedy, in my opinion, at least in the case of Georgia and its Olympic memories, will perhaps remain as the defining moment of the Vancouver Games. But, given the extreme nationalism attached to ‘winning and losing,’ the remembrance of the 2010 Games by most nations and their Olympic fans/national citizenry will be how their own particular athletes fared, either gloriously or disappointingly. I feel sure that will be the case in the US and Canada.”

Q: The host cities of the Olympics invest years of planning, construction, and finances to play host to a three-week athletic festival but most often the end result is debt and empty, unused sporting venues for the host city after the Olympics have concluded. What changes can be made to ensure that future Olympic Games become more environmentally friendly and economically viable for the host cities?

Barney: “The most important facilities built or promised to be built as part of an Olympic Games bid for and execution of the Games are those that will greatly impact the lives of urban citizens. Thus, improvements in mass transportation, telecommunications, municipal security measures, and environmental enhancements, to name some of the major considerations, are all sound and perfectly defendable Olympic investments. But, huge sports venues whose post-Games disuse and continuing cost to maintain and operate, and which impact severely on urban financial budgets, do not make sense; in fact, they are grossly problematic. And yet, prospective bid cities ignore history—they must have them. A better approach, I think, is the plan that Chicago put forth in its unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Games. Its ‘Olympic Stadium’ was to be dismantled after the Games and all materials recycled.”

Q: In your newly edited book Rethinking the Olympics, many of the topics, such as performance enhancement, commercialism, and the politics of the Games, will most likely continue to be hot-button issues in the future. What do you hope Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee can glean from these historical essays that may make future Games more successful?

Barney: “This is extremely difficult to determine, given the fact that the somewhat cynical belief that ‘what we learn from history is we don’t learn from history’ continues to persist with both the IOC and Olympic Games Organizing Committees. Having said that, it might be that a return to the original and worthwhile ideals of Pierre de Coubertin for establishing the Games in the first place, as their fundamental motif for existing, remains appropriate, especially in this increasingly globalized world. Despite all, peace, tolerance, brotherhood, education, and culture remain as worthy ideals.”

Panel of Pro Sports Experts Offers Insight, Opinion

A group of proverbial heavyweights in the sport industry gathered at West Virginia University Wednesday night to share their insight, opinions, and plenty of jokes during “The Business of Sports” discussion.

The distinguished lecture series featured Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Bob Nutting, principal owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates; Oliver Luck, president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo; and Sam Huff, a Hall of Fame linebacker and current radio broadcaster for the Washington Redskins. It was a great opportunity to hear the foursome’s viewpoints on a variety of timely topics and their responses to questions were, at times, as humorous as they were insightful.

Below are some of their thoughts on a variety of topics that were discussed.

• On public financing of stadiums

There has been plenty of research, much of which has been published in the International Journal of Sport Finance, regarding the benefits and/or drawbacks of public financing for construction of new stadiums and arenas. All three panelists associated with professional teams claimed that there were long-term benefits for communities that receive a new professional sports facility, despite many sports economists who claim otherwise. Both MLB owners on the panel also happen to own teams that received public financing to help fund stadium construction projects.

Pittsburgh footed a large portion ($174 million) of the bill for the Pirates’ new PNC Park, which opened in 2002 but was five years prior to Nutting’s ownership. Kendrick’s Diamondbacks and their retractable roof stadium (Chase Field Ballpark) cost taxpayers approximately $238 million.

“It’s difficult to talk about public funding of stadiums during these economic times,” Kendrick admitted. “Economic impact studies show there can be a return on investment. Over time, there is tremendous tax revenue and jobs are created and I think that model still works. But having said that, in this time (of economic struggles) I think public funds should be used other ways.”

Luck was previously the CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, which oversaw the construction and financing of Houston’s three new professional sports venues—the Astros’ Minute Maid Park, the Rockets’ and Comets’ Toyota Center, and the Texans’ Reliant Stadium.

“The city of Houston took on approximately $1 billion in municipal debt to build three new venues,” Luck said. “All three were up for a public vote and all narrowly passed and they were funded by hotel and rental car taxes. Because of those new venues, Houston has been chosen to host the Super Bowl (2004), Final Four (2011 and 2016), MLB all-star game (2004), NBA all-star game (2006), and (in 2010) the MLS all-star game and that’s important for a city that was down on its luck after the Oilers left Houston. It helped to rejuvenate the urban core of Houston.”

• On small- and mid-market teams competing in Major League Baseball

Both Nutting and Kendrick consider themselves owners of mid-market clubs, although based on the most recent MLB revenue reports the Diamondbacks are a few rungs above the Pirates. The biggest limitation, according to Kendrick, was that small- and mid-market teams are less able to successfully cope with injuries to key players. If they retain All-Star caliber players, often much of the team’s salary is invested in that one player.

The Diamondbacks, winners of the 2001 World Series in a dramatic Game 7, 9th inning rally to defeat the New York Yankees, have had some very talented players on their roster. In fact, five of the past 10 National League Cy Young Award winners played for Arizona (Randy Johnson in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, and Brandon Webb in 2006). Arizona made it to the playoffs in 2007 and finished second in the NL West in 2008 but this past season finished in last place in its division due in large part to an opening-day injury to Webb.

“This year our top pitcher, who had won the Cy Young, was injured in the first game of the year and he missed the rest of the season,” Kendrick said. “That was a devastating injury for us to try to overcome.

“It would be nice to have unlimited money like the New York Yankees. But I think that (Arizona’s) competitive model is a very good one and, frankly, for me it’s a lot of fun to beat teams like (the Yankees).”

Chicago Better Off Economically Without 2016 Olympics

Chicago recently lost its much-publicized (and politicized) bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the destination Oct. 2, selecting Rio de Janeiro over Madrid, Tokyo, and Illinois’ Windy City. Days prior to the final vote, President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and media icon Oprah Winfrey all attempted to use their clout in Copenhagen to influence IOC voters as Chicago made its final pitch.

While many were disappointed that Chicago didn’t win its bid—the biggest disappointment came from the fact that Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting—from an economic standpoint, it could be argued that Chicago is actually better off not hosting the Olympics.

Past Summer Olympic Games on American soil, such as Los Angeles (1984) and Atlanta (1996), have been financially successful, but there’s no guarantee that the city of Chicago would have received a monetary boost. Building the necessary infrastructure to host the various sporting events has proven extremely costly for some host cities, with a long list of them having suffered long-term economic difficulties due to spending that, in some instances, surpassed initial budgets by 10 times.

In order to gain more insight into how Chicago’s economic future could have been affected by hosting the 2016 Olympics, Fitness Information Technology (FIT) contacted Dr. Brad Humphreys. An associate editor of FIT’s International Journal of Sport Finance and one of the leading experts in Olympic budgets and stadium finance, Humphreys previously was an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism and is now chair in the Economics of Gaming at the University of Alberta.

Q: Having worked in the state of Illinois, you probably have a good feel for how Chicago would have done as a host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. How do you think Chicago would have performed?

Humphreys: I’m sure they would have done an excellent job hosting the Games. Chicago is a great city, and it would have been a fantastic location. I think most hosts do a great job—the big issue is how much does it cost.

Q: Speaking of cost, from strictly an economic point of view, do you believe Chicago is actually better off not having won its bid for the Olympics?

Humphreys: Absolutely. There is little evidence that hosting the Games provides tangible economic benefits to the host community. All public spending for hosting the Games has an opportunity cost—Chicago now has billions to spend on other badly needed public projects. In addition, hosting the Games imposes a lot of intangible costs on residents, in the form of inconvenience (increased traffic during the games, all the disruption associated with construction projects, etc.) and residents of Chicago now escape those costs. A lot of residents of Atlanta left town during the Games in 1996.