Hammon and Kaman aren't traitors
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008 7:44 AM
Families had this sort of problem in the Civil War, but I’d never heard of it in sports until now. Chris Kaman, Los Angeles Clippers center and third-generation American, is played for Germany in the Olympics. And his father was rooting for him to lose.
LeRoy Kaman is the offended father who thinks patriotism trumps blood. When Kaman accepted Dirk Nowitzki’s offer to apply for a German passport and join Mannschaft Deutschland, LeRoy told his son, “You're not German, you're an American citizen.”
It’s not clear exactly how offended LeRoy is. ESPN suggests he’s all but locked his son out of the house. But The Detroit Free Press, which is closer to Kaman’s Grand Rapids, Mich., hometown, reports the center said they’re back on speaking terms: “He’s proud of me no matter what I do.”
I’ve got to say I’m on Kaman’s side on this one, the same as I support Becky Hammon, an American WNBA player who suited up for Russian here in Beijing. Her patriotism was questioned by Anne Donovan, the head coach of Team USA, which happens to be the same team that never gave Hammon any real hope she could play for her own country. And I’ve got to disagree with Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski, a colleague and friend, who called Kaman an “Olympic mercenary.”
Hammon, who earned a slot on the Russian team by playing in that country’s winter league, stands to make $200,000 in the unlikely event Russia wins the gold medal. But Kaman is playing for nothing other than travel and living expenses and the sheer joy of playing in the Olympics. He’s not a mercenary. He’s just dreamed of playing in the Olympics, and it’s not going to happen in his own country. So he took advantage of the German law, which says that anybody who has German ancestry is a German forever, no matter where they were born. Kaman has either one or two great-grandparents who emigrated to the United States many years ago. That’s enough for Germany.
Yes, both were willing to play against their home country, but only because their home country didn’t have room for them. Hammon is 31 and won’t get another shot at the Olympics. Kaman has too many great players ahead of him to hope to make the U.S. team. Neither has any real hope of winning a gold medal. The American women are by far the best team in the world. And the Germans are already out of the Olympic tournament after losing to the Redeem Team.
Very few people get a chance to play in the Olympics for any country. But millions and millions of kids grow up with an Olympic dream. If you can get here, you almost have to go for it.
I understand that people will look at them as traitors. I look at them as competitors, as kids with Olympic rings in their eyes, as human beings who want to experience the greatest sports show on earth.
If they could have played for the United States and chose to play for another country instead, that would be different. The U.S. National Team showed tepid interest in Hammon, but no real burning desire to have her on the team. The men’s team had no interest in Kaman.
I know if Chris Kaman were my kid, I’d applaud him for following a dream and getting to the big show. And if he wore the uniform of my ancestral country – Croatia – I’d be proud, not dismayed.
We’re all pretty much the same, no matter which flag we salute. And the Olympic ideal is to compete and do your best. Representing your country isn’t a requirement. Representing human aspiration is.
