It is official. It is no fluke. There are no excuses. The world can play basketball just as well as the mighty U.S.A. After Greece defeated the Americans 101-95 in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Japan this week, it was the second time in two years that the United States could not field a 1st place team against the rest of the world.

Since 1988, we have been trying to convince everyone that Americans still play the best basketball in the world. When those amateur college kids could no longer beat other nations, we changed the Olympic rules to allow The Dream Team to exist in 1992. Sure enough, they embarrassed the rest of the world. Dream Team II did the same thing in 1996. The Dream Teams got less impressive to the point where we took out the name Dream. They are just teams now. In 2004, the mighty U.S.A. went down as Argentina took away the gold. America went home with the bronze.

Excuses flew all over the place. Sure, they were NBA players, but they didn't have the best NBA players. The international rules are confusing. The other teams practice together for years. The ball has too many colors.

Sure enough, it's 2 years later, and the result is exactly the same. Strangely enough, so are the excuses. A Greek team that featured no NBA players (but a European championship) took advantage of poor perimeter & free throw shooting by Americans to drop the NBA boys in the semi-finals.

If only Michael Redd was on the team. If only the US team practiced together more. If only they played seven game series like in the NBA. If only the ball was one color. Whatever.

In a single elimination set up, four or five other nations have a shot at beating the US Team on any given night. It doesn't matter how many NBA guys we have. Isn't that the whole point of World Basketball in the first place? Isn't that the point of international athletic competition for any sport? Anyone can win. Now even in basketball, Anyone CAN Win.

I don't think it's a lack of basketball development on the part of the United States. We have hoops all over the country. We have high school, college, developmental leagues, and of course, the elite NBA. Strangely enough, the NBA is becoming more worldly every day, and no one is complaining. Baseball figured that out a while ago, and no one freaks out that Albert Pujols & David Ortiz are from the tiny Dominican Republic. It still irks some folks that Cuba always fields an impressive team, but we'll sign their hard throwing defectors in a heartbeat.

So, R.I.P. U.S.A basketball dominance. No more Michael Jordan, Larry Bird team dreaming. The world has caught up within fifteen years. We have no more secret weapons. We are putting the best teams with best players we can, and we can still get beat.

Some people are still clinging to the belief that America still has the best basketball players. That may be true, but no matter how great our players are, basketball is still a TEAM sport.

Off nights won't win championships. Bad free throw shooting will cost you. Poor defense will hurt your chances. It will take the best teams playing at their best to win a World Championship. Just as it should.

I'm still a homey. I'm still going to root for U.S.A. Even in Little League baseball, I still wanted the US team to beat Japan. If they lose, there will be no excuses. No more funky technical fouls like in the 1972 Olympics. No more complaints or "what ifs" about the US roster. Basketball is officially a sport of the world now.

All that is left is for America to dominate is football, which the rest of the world doesn't play because they already play a different game called football.

Chris Jungle tried out but never made his junior high basketball team.