Team USA wins gold

Well I set my alarm for 1:30 a.m. My wife said I was crazy, but I thought if I'd watched all the games up to this point, I might as well watch the last one. Team USA vs. Spain was for all the marbles, and something told me that this one wasn't going to be a 37 point blowout like the game these two teams played last week.

I was right. This was an instant classic, and it was worth getting up for.

After hitting the snooze button once, don't ask why, I guess it was just so late at night, or early in the morning. You get the idea. But I turned on my TV to see that we were in trouble. Kobe and Lebron were on the bench with two fouls apiece, and we weren't even five minutes into the game! Spain was on fire, and we were behind.

Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade came in and kept us from being blown out. Wade had 21 in the first half, and Paul seemed to score everytime Spain tried to pull away. Eventually the U.S. took a 12 point lead, and threatened to pull away. Everytime it looked like we could "put the nail in the coffin," something funny would happen.

A wide open three from Kobe, brick, a breakaway, seemingly easy layup for Chris Paul, no dice, and silly fouls from Dwight Howard, and we were getting killed on the boards. Spain was hanging around, and even when Kobe and Lebron returned for the second half, we couldn't shake them loose. The Gasol brothers were scoring inside, their guards were penetrating at will, and the threes were falling. This was going to be a good game.

But during the fourth quarter, with all the chips on the table, Team USA got a huge lift from Kobe Bryant. Sure, D Wade played great, too (he led all scorers with 27) and Chris Paul was clutch, especially at the free throw line. But it was Bryant, known as "the black mamba" because of his killer instinct, who took over.

He lived up to the nickname, and then some. He scored or assisted on 15 straight points for Team USA, and single handedly kept the pressure off of Team USA and on Spain. He made clutch shots, he made his teammates better, and he even found time to foul out Spain's top scorer, Rudy Fernandez, on a four point play (a three plus the foul).

Kobe Bryant was SO CLUTCH down the stretch, and he finally, finally, finally earned my respect. Let me explain.

My youngest brother Toby is a huge Kobe Bryant fan. He says Kobe is the greatest player ever. Me being the oldest, and he being the youngest, I guess you could say we cling to the stars of our own generation.

He says Kobe, I say MJ. He says Kobe has three rings, I point to Shaq. He says Kobe scored 81 points in a singe game, I say ballhog. He calls me a hater, I say Eagle, Colorado.

I am not a Kobe Bryant fan. I admit that freely. I could never bring myself to root for a guy who would ask for a trade, not when MJ, Bird, Magic, and Isaiah turned around THEIR FRANCHISE and led them to titles. I couldn't stand a player who threw his teammates under the bus, and then went out and shot 37 times a game.

But last night, at 2:30 a.m., there I was, jumping off the bed, trying not to scream at the TV, rooting as hard as I could for Kobe Bryant. They called this "The Redeem Team." This was about our redemption as a country, as a basketball power. Maybe it was some redemption for Kobe, who has the rep for not leading his team to a title. Last night he led his team on the biggest stage, in one of the best games I've ever seen.

So Toby, if you are reading this, Kobe is a stud. They wouldn't have won without him. He is a great player.... but he still isn't as good as MJ.

You didn't really think I was going to tell my little brother I've been wrong all these years, did you?