The Last All-American Lions?

[Cyclical]

As I'm sitting here watching the Lakers-Spurs game, with Parker, Ginobili, Oberto, Radmanovich and Gasol, all starters, it occurred to me that the Celtics have one of the only all-American teams top-to-bottom. The Pistons are similar in that fashion with only 2 international players as non-rotation guys.

With all the influx of strong international players in the last 2 years the all-American team may be a thing of the past fairly soon. I'm not sure but I think Ainge likes that... Forget Gasol, go for KG; forget Jesacivicious, go for Eddie; I know Eddie. forget draft hopefulls I know nothing about - I trust my college scouting abilities.

I wonder if it'll change for the Celts anytime soon. I'm happy the league is becoming more international, I'm not a particular patriot, nor normally do I care about stuff like this but for some reason it's nice to see. A lone leftover from days (almost) gone.

[Rocky5000]

Yeah, I think that's an awesome part of the Celtics and why they are closer to being an "America's team" than teams like the Spurs.(you could call the Spurs the world's team.) Even the American players on the Spurs and Lakers aren't pure American products. Tim Duncan is from the Virgin Islands, so he barely qualifies as American, and Kobe was in Italy from 6 to 13.

I really do think that Ainge is pretty cautious about International players after what's happened to the Cs in the past. (I think the lone success we've had was with Dino.) That said, If we had kept the #5, I bet we'd have Yi.

[GuyClinch]

Tim Duncan is from the Virgin Islands, so he barely qualifies as American, and Kobe was in Italy from 6 to 13.

Come on man that's reach. I lived in England for a few years when I was a kid. Do I barely qualify as an American? That being said its a really easy team to root for. Seems to have lots of 'good guys" on it.

Pete

[bruno sundov]

Well KB24 does live in LA what is less American than that place?

[tombattor]

Well KB24 does live in LA what is less American than that place?

NYC. It's the most different place in the entire country and is the only place where most people don't have a car.

Besides, who the **** cares? I don't care if the Celtics' starting lineup is Parker, Hedo, Kirilenko, Gasol, and Yao. As long as they wear green and win, those guys will be my favorite players.

And America is built on immigrants, unlike every other country in the world. So in essence, it's more American to have an international flavor than All-Meat & Potato team from Mid West.

[BillessuR6]

One thing an international player on a team brings is a whole country of new fans. Especially if the player is from a country which only has 1 or 2 NBA players...

LA got many new spanish fans with the Gasol trade. Whole Italy is rooting for TOR because of Bargnani and so on...I guess we need to draft a slovenian player so I will not feel so lonely in supporting the C`s...

[tombattor]

One thing an international player on a team brings is a whole country of new fans. Especially if the player is from a country which only has 1 or 2 NBA players...

LA got many new spanish fans with the Gasol trade. Whole Italy is rooting for TOR because of Bargnani and so on...I guess we need to draft a slovenian player so I will not feel so lonely in supporting the C`s...

That's definitely true. I don't see anything wrong with that.

It's like my rooting for one of the American participants on Ninja Warriors to do well.

[Cyclical]

I guess we need to draft a slovenian player so I will not feel so lonely in supporting the C`s...

birdman, which Slovenians play in the league right now? Any good up-and-comers? Btw, I was just in Celje a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful place.

For the record, the Celts are one of only six remaining NBA teams without a foreign player.

[MyInsatiableOne]

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NYC. It's the most different place in the entire country and is the only place where most people don't have a car.

Besides, who the **** cares? I don't care if the Celtics' starting lineup is Parker, Hedo, Kirilenko, Gasol, and Yao. As long as they wear green and win, those guys will be my favorite players.

And America is built on immigrants, unlike every other country in the world. So in essence, it's more American to have an international flavor than All-Meat & Potato team from Mid West.

Yes, immigrants who come here to learn the language, settle here, and assimilate.

Most of these athletes go back to their home countries in the off-season or at least maintain their main home there.

Go C's...USA!

[tombattor]

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Yes, immigrants who come here to learn the language, settle here, and assimilate.

Most of these athletes go back to their home countries in the off-season or at least maintain their main home there.

Go C's...USA!

Then we should love them even more because they pay US taxes without actually using the roads paved with those tax dollars or send their kids to public schools funded by US taxes. Therefore leaving us with more tax dollars to work for us per person.

[Collinto]

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Yes, immigrants who come here to learn the language, settle here, and assimilate.

Most of these athletes go back to their home countries in the off-season or at least maintain their main home there.

Go C's...USA!

This ideaology is the main cause of the retardation of human intellectual progress. First, no one comes here for the specific reason of 'learning the language'....the U.S. isn't a giant Princeton Review course for the world. It is the promise of liberty. Of course, it is undeniable that if anyone was to come here an not learn the language, they are obviously morally and ethically inferior to you and don't deserve liberty...what does unalienable right mean anyway? And obviously, it is immegrants that need to 'assimilate' to us, we couldn't possibly learn anything from them. If you come to the U.S., you need to realize that the majority of your day should be spent posting on a blog, shopping for new clothes at Gap, watching kareoke and amatuer dance contests on TV and saving for new rims and a spoiler for your Honda Civic. That is what life is all about.

The American De-Evolution...it is shameful.

[MyInsatiableOne]

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This ideaology is the main cause of the retardation of human intellectual progress. First, no one comes here for the specific reason of 'learning the language'....the U.S. isn't a giant Princeton Review course for the world. It is the promise of liberty. Of course, it is undeniable that if anyone was to come here an not learn the language, they are obviously morally and ethically inferior to you and don't deserve liberty...what does unalienable right mean anyway? And obviously, it is immegrants that need to 'assimilate' to us, we couldn't possibly learn anything from them. If you come to the U.S., you need to realize that the majority of your day should be spent posting on a blog, shopping for new clothes at Gap, watching kareoke and amatuer dance contests on TV and saving for new rims and a spoiler for your Honda Civic. That is what life is all about.

The American De-Evolution...it is shameful.

First of all, you're someone to talk about stupidity and retardation with your wonderful command of the English language, as seen above.

Second, it is NOT up to the host country (namely, the USA) to "assimilate" to the immigrant. You go to Japan or China or France and see how willing they are to speak ONLY English to you and acquiesce to your every need, even if it is in conflict with how France has lived for hundreds of years, in their country. My ancestors came to this country from Europe over 100 years ago and LEARNED THE LANGUAGE and culture of the USA and raised their kids as Americans, etc. We all speak English and retain our heritage, but we are AMERICANS, and not demanding rights different from everyone else simply because we came from somewhere else. This has been repeated by countless other millions of people throughout US history. No American should be expected to change the language or culture of this country for someone from another country who wants to come here and not fit in. Coming here and getting citizenship is NOT a right, it's a **** PRIVILEGE!

It's your idiotic leftist "One World/We Are the World" kumbaya pie-in-the-sky bull worldview that it killing this country, not the worldview that caused this country to become the best in the world in it's first 200 years.

And by the way, tombattor, there was an article some years back about how a lot of people are pissed at Duncan because he pays NO income tax since the US Virgin Islands don't pay federal taxes...basically he is one of the few in this country who gets to keep EVERY penny of what he earns...lucky fellow!

[bruno sundov]

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NYC. It's the most different place in the entire country and is the only place where most people don't have a car.

Besides, who the **** cares? I don't care if the Celtics' starting lineup is Parker, Hedo, Kirilenko, Gasol, and Yao. As long as they wear green and win, those guys will be my favorite players.

And America is built on immigrants, unlike every other country in the world. So in essence, it's more American to have an international flavor than All-Meat & Potato team from Mid West.

I love NYC. What is different about NYC makes it great. What is different about LA makes it suck donkey balls.

[MyInsatiableOne]

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Then we should love them even more because they pay US taxes without actually using the roads paved with those tax dollars or send their kids to public schools funded by US taxes. Therefore leaving us with more tax dollars to work for us per person.

Except for Duncan, who pays no taxes in the US Virgin Islands...it's like Puerto Rico...lucky guy! Someone who actually gets to keep EVERY PENNY he earns...what a concept!

[MyInsatiableOne]

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I love NYC. What is different about NYC makes it great. What is different about LA makes it suck donkey balls.

Exactly. Maybe collinito (see above) should go live there, instead...****!

Boston is my home, though...love it!

[tombattor]

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I love NYC. What is different about NYC makes it great. What is different about LA makes it suck donkey balls.

Me too. LA's got a lot of hot girls though, but that's about it. LA is like a gigantic suburbs with no individuality or culture. Everyone dresses the same, every store sells the same thing, and everyone loves celebrities. There is no substance at all.

[Collinto]

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First of all, you're someone to talk about stupidity and retardation with your wonderful command of the English language, as seen above.

Second, it is NOT up to the host country (namely, the USA) to "assimilate" to the immigrant. You go to Japan or China or France and see how willing they are to speak ONLY English in their country. My ancestors came to this country from Europe 100 years ago and LEARNED THE LANGUAGE and culture of the USA and raised their kids as Americans. As did countless other millions of people. No American should be expected to change their language or culture for someone from another country who wants to come here. Coming here and getting citizenship is NOT a right, it's a **** PRIVILEGE!

It's your idiotic leftist "One World" kumbaya bull worldview that it killing this country, not the worldview that caused this country to become the best in the world in it's first 200 years.

And by the way, tombattor, there was an article some years back about how a lot of people are pissed at Duncan because he pays NO income tax since the US Virgin Islands don't pay federal taxes...basically he is one of the few in this country who gets to keep EVERY penny of what he earns...lucky fellow!

It is recent generations that put such a big importance on 'knowing' that is exactly the problem. This improper focus on functional knowledge, like spelling for example, is exactly where warped ideas of superiority come from. Your ability to spell better than me, for example, does not make you more human than me. You embelish my idea, with incorrect words like stupidity. I never used that word, and let me point out that it is not interchangable with intellectual. Intellectual, based on intellect, is the ability to understand (from the Latin Intellectus). You focused on my ability to spell, ie to remember which shapes go in which order to convey an idea no verbally, which has nothing to do with understanding my post. If I wanted to that post to be spelled correctly, i would have used spell checker (which is exactly what you did in an attempt to deflect the focus away from ideas). I was referring to human understanding, like the meaning of the word liberty. Do you understand what that meands?

I am not sure that you have any more to offer me than that annoying paperclip in MS office or a spell checker. You will hurl labels at me like leftist and think that the word has the same meaning to everyone. You tell me the things that your ancestors did, when really I only care about you and your ideas...what have you done? Don't take credit for what other people have done. It sounds like they did something great, while years later you sit on the internet and take credit for it. You some how think that I said you have to 'assimilate' to immegrants, that you have to learn their language...I never suggest it. Don't assimilate to anyone, be yourself and let others do the same. Here is a suggestion, if you don't speak the same language, don't talk to them...with your attitude they probably don't want to talk to you anyway.

My real question is what does this mean:

raised their kids as Americans.

As I pointed out above, many words in the English language have their meanings, and spellings, derived from other languages. Isn't it possible that our culture has developed the same way? Isn't possible that it is still developing? Wouldn't it be sad, if your immegrant ancestors came to the U.S. and offered the country nothing? They left everything of themselves at home, and decided to come here and become clones...I am sure they had ideas, and feelings and beliefs, and I am sure they offered the country as much as the country offered them. Although, it is possible that they were sheep, had no ideas of their own and simply corrected the spelling of everyone they came into contact with... [/quote]

[tombattor]

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First of all, you're someone to talk about stupidity and retardation with your wonderful command of the English language, as seen above.

Second, it is NOT up to the host country (namely, the USA) to "assimilate" to the immigrant. You go to Japan or China or France and see how willing they are to speak ONLY English to you and acquiesce to your every need, even if it is in conflict with how France has lived for hundreds of years, in their country. My ancestors came to this country from Europe over 100 years ago and LEARNED THE LANGUAGE and culture of the USA and raised their kids as Americans, etc. We all speak English and retain our heritage, but we are AMERICANS, and not demanding rights different from everyone else simply because we came from somewhere else. This has been repeated by countless other millions of people throughout US history. No American should be expected to change the language or culture of this country for someone from another country who wants to come here and not fit in. Coming here and getting citizenship is NOT a right, it's a **** PRIVILEGE!

It's your idiotic leftist "One World/We Are the World" kumbaya pie-in-the-sky bull worldview that it killing this country, not the worldview that caused this country to become the best in the world in it's first 200 years.

And by the way, tombattor, there was an article some years back about how a lot of people are pissed at Duncan because he pays NO income tax since the US Virgin Islands don't pay federal taxes...basically he is one of the few in this country who gets to keep EVERY penny of what he earns...lucky fellow!

I hate to say it because I like you as a poster, but I disagree with pretty much the entire post. I think you don't quite understand how things work. It's that kind of ignorance and false-patriotism that's destroying this country's economy, reputation around the world, etc.

And please don't say ignorant things like, "screw the rest of the world" because what they think matters a lot more than you know. When you live in a cosmopolitan city and have traveled to other countries with an open mind, it's easy to see how close-minded and living in a shell, the Americans are.

For example, living in Manhattan, I cross paths with people of all races and background, everyday. White, black, Asian, European, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, whatever. And when the 9/11 happened, people in NYC were the most effected people. Most of us knew someone that worked in one of the WTC. Yet, we weren't the ones going around making racist remarks against Muslims, Middle Easterners or whoever.

We still have friends, co-workers, store owners, cab drivers, etc. who are from that region and we deal with everyday. No one I know is going to jump out of a cab and harass the cab driver because he's wearing a turban. However, it's all those morons living in the backwoods, that are going nuts picking on Muslims, abusing them and thinking that they have the right to as an American. How **** up is that?

It's that kind of ignorance and false-patriotism that's causing people to do idiotic things in the name of patriotism. That's why when I go to places like Paris, I see all these stupid hicks wearing American flag T-shirts acting like they own Paris when they are from some backwoods and being abnoxious Americans. It's classless and embarrassing.

[GuyClinch]

For example, living in Manhattan, I cross paths with people of all races and background, everyday. White, black, Asian, European, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, whatever. And when the 9/11 happened, people in NYC were the most effected people. Most of us knew someone that worked in one of the WTC. Yet, we weren't the ones going around making racist remarks against Muslims, Middle Easterners or whoever.

This thread has gone to politics. Near as I can tell you guys are talking past eachother. Your talking about tolerance and understanding of different cultures. The other poster is talking about people learning the language and fitting in.

You need both. I live in NYC too - and it's still fairly american. I would say a city that seems very different to me - New Orleans. American is not limitless in it's tolerance. You still have to abide by the rules of the land. Your given freedoms but only to a certain extent. Freedom of religion - as long as it doesn't interfere with secular laws.

You can keep your history and some of your culture.. Not all of it though. For example Muslims have honor killings - and it's widely accepted in the Muslim world. That won't fly here. They have to adapt to our culture.

Pete

[Cyclical]

This thread has gone to politics.

Yeah, wow, has it ever.

Guys, I was just posting this because it felt like the last guy in the office to to hold off and not use a computer. NBA teams with all-American rosters may soon be a thing of the past. It's just nice to see a team succeed with local talent and good college scouting. That's all. Nothing to do with false patriotism or social politics.