Basketball

The United States basketball team arrived in China yesterday.

They'll face the toughest competition in any international basketball tournament to date, but they seem better prepared and more focused than the 2004 team that finished in a disappointing third place.

LeBron is guaranteeing a gold medal.

Too bad in this basketball crazy country all of the tickets to the basketball games were quickly sold out and resales run in the high triple digits or more (US dollars). All of the Olympic tickets to events in Beijing are sold out, in fact. A few of the soccer games in other cities still have tickets available, so it may turn out to be the first Olympic Games to completely sell out.

The gymnasium on my university's campus has been closed all summer as it will be used for basketball team practices. I'll have a camera on me at all times in case I spot some NBA players.