IN DEFENSE OF JERRY COLANGELO. The Nation publishes a Dave Zirin article right in my sweet spot -- the intersection of national security policy and professional basketball -- slamming USA Basketball Director Jerry Colangelo for organizing a get-together between the senior men's team and some American soldiers wounded in the Iraq War.
Zirin is against this. But he can't quite seem to say why. As a basketball motivational tactic and team-building effort, everyone seems to agree that it was a good idea. The results of this year's FIBA World Championships won't be known for some time yet, but so far Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski seem to have succeeded in building a team-ier team than we've fielded in previous international hoops competitions. Nor is their any sign that the troops in question were anything but thrilled to meet LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Team USA's other young stars. Clearly, invading Iraq was a gigantic error and the grievous wounds suffered by many of our troops there are not just tragic, but well-nigh criminal in light of the daft geopolitical vision on whose behalf they were incurred, but the idea that having some of them hang out with NBA stars is objectionable exploitation is silly. Lots of people -- including, clearly, the specific veterans given this mission -- would really enjoy meeting some of their heroes from the world of sports.
Indeed, as the article goes on, it becomes clear that the real objection here is simply that Colangelo is a conservative political activist. And so he is. And, in that sense, he's a bad man and he does a lot of work on behalf of bad causes. Nevertheless, it's political reductionism of the worst kind to suggest that this should disqualify him from the USA Basketball job. He's a very successful sports executive, was the consensus best choice to revitalize what had become a very troubled program, and, as best one can tell at this point, he's doing a really good job.
--Matthew Yglesias
