My Earliest Olympic Memory: How I Learned that Politics and Sports Don’t Mix (Part II)
The Soviet “machine” easily handled the young Americans for most of the 1972 finals’ game, and had run up a 10 point lead well into the second half. The Soviets managed to provoke America’s leading scorer, Dwight Jones, into a scuffle, resulting in his being ejected. Still, a ferocious pressing defense by the Americans cut the Soviet lead to one with only seven seconds left. Then, American Doug Collins stole a Soviet pass, drove down court, was fouled as he attempted a lay-up, and nailed two clutch free throws to give America a one point lead. With the Soviets needing to inbound the ball under their own basket and travel the length of the court to score in just three seconds, the game seemed over. Suddenly, though, time stopped – not once, but three times.
For reasons that remain unclear, the officials gave the Soviets three tries to score by heaving the ball from under their own basket to a player way down court. The first two tries failed miserably as the clock ran out, and the Americans celebrated. But the third try was the charm – a heave pass was caught by a Soviet player who was able to score the winning lay-up as time expired once again. There would be no “do-over” this time, naturally, as the commies had finally triumphed. 
The entire world watched in stunned disbelief. American protests fell on deaf hears. Even as a kid, it was clear as day that the game had been stolen from the young American heroes and awarded to an undeserving Soviet team, thanks to corrupt officials. It confirmed all the worst I believed about the Soviet Union (surely they had “colluded” with the officials!), which hardened into a staunch lifelong opposition to communism. The Americans rightly refused to stand on the podium to accept the silver medal, and to this day utterly reject the notion of having finished second.
I was crushed. But I also saw that the game hadn’t changed anything about either America or the Soviet Union, aside from securing a short-lived propaganda win for the commies. Also, I began to recognize that politics could corrupt the purity of basketball, or any sport, just as easily as money.
It’s a lesson that has stayed with me, which has made me skeptical of the current phenomena among professional sports leagues embracing political agendas and slogans. Exorbitant ticket prices, player salaries and behavior, and the promotion of gambling have alienated some fans from professional sports. But insinuating politics into sports could well be the biggest turn-off for fans; and so far, recent TV ratings for the NBA and NFL seem to reflect that.
If there was ever a time we could use more politics-free space in our culture, this would be it. Hopefully, our sports teams and leagues will figure that out.
ProofsandSpoofs.com is written by David Culver Brenner, who is also the author of the short novel, The Un-Socialist Chickens. To learn more about it, go here. Enter your email in the “Subscribe” bar to receive the latest posts.