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Poster:
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elbow1126 |
Date:
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August 05, 2012 05:41:11am |
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Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Why Team USA struggled against Lithuania - Apparently Dead Related |
"Lithuania is the little America of the former Eastern Bloc countries," says Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, who served multiple stints on Lithuania's national-team bench as an assistant coach as a byproduct of his close friendship with Lithuanian legend Sarunas Marciulionis and watched Saturday's nail-biter on TV back in Texas.
"Their father of basketball was an American named Frank Lubin," Nelson continued. "They won their independence against an oppressive world power like our country did. And they were sponsored [as a team] by the Grateful Dead. How much more Americanized does it get?
"The only thing they love more than basketball is freedom," Nelson said. "Competing against the US of A always brought out the very best in Lithuania. In a lot of respects, it was like playing against your big brother."
Jokingly referred to for years by Marciulionis as "Donnas Nelsonas" and treated in the former Soviet republic as one of their one, Nelson couldn't wait to point out that Wednesday was the late Jerry Garcia's birthday.
The karma carried over. Just as Team USA should have known it would.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/basketball/story/_/id/8233684/2012-olympics-lithuania-causing-issues-team-usaI think that Lithuanian basketball gear would still be a money maker for the GDP. Those were very cool.
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