Olympic memories won't last long with football season near

If it hasn't happened already, it should be only a matter of minutes before America's memories of the Summer Games are cheerfully eclipsed by football and other intramural pursuits.

Michael Phelps is a worldwide legend but, if he showed up in the broadcast booth with John Madden, it would be no better than a dead heat - a lunge at the wall - for which American icon was more beloved and recognizable.

By the way, who doesn't expect Phelps, the face of NBC's Olympic coverage, to drop in on Madden during one of NBC's Sunday night NFL broadcasts? It's a natural.

The Olympics were well received here, even if Americans aren't inclined to linger over memories beyond the next commercial break. It's always onto the next thing for our short-attention-span nation. When that thing is the country's leading sports obsession, football's giant footprint slams down hard on the five-ringed circus.

Those who exalted most in NBC's coverage of the Games were most likely exhausted by it, right up to and including the network's Sunday 2:30 a.m. live broadcast of the men's basketball game between the United States and Spain. NBC aired the game as a repeat later in the morning - a plausibly live broadcast that was implausibly dramatic.

As the game unwound, even the great Madden himself might have had to agree: Football can wait.

The U.S. team, which led by only two points with eight minutes to go, needed a four-point play by Kobe Bryant and a clutch 3 -pointer from Dwyane Wade down the stretch to hold off the Spanish 118-107.

Only when less than a minute remained could the Redeem Team relax. They began to jump around and hug one another and their coaches. Apparently, they never received the memo that said they were jaded professionals.

After bringing gold back to the United States, will the players be enthusiastically embraced at home? Everybody loves a winner, but our best pros rarely receive the credit they deserve for volunteering their talents. Something to do with the negative image of the NBA. But, as it turns out, it's not they who are cynical; it's us.

Most Olympians competed in China with the hope of making money or, in the case of marquee track and field athletes or swimmers, adding to their financial fortunes - Speedo reportedly paid Phelps a $1 million bonus for winning his eight golds - but the NBA millionaires don't need the money. What they really could have used was time off from the grueling pro season.

It's not an argument that will win many friends around the water cooler, but you could make the case that Bryant, Wade, LeBron James and their teammates sacrificed more for the Olympic effort than any Americans in Beijing.

For the 2012 Olympics, the torch passes to another coach, probably a veteran of the NBA grind. Mike Krzyzewski will be a tough act to follow, but it's easy now to overlook how risky his Olympic tenure could have been - for him and the team.

There was always a chance the approach that has worked so well with teenagers at Duke wouldn't produce a satisfactory result with a team of all-stars. Anything but a gold medal would have tarnished Coach K's reputation and devastated U.S. basketball.

For his own legacy, Phelps must have felt pressure to win eight gold medals, but the Redeem Team came to Beijing carrying a different kind of stress: It was obligated to restore order to the basketball universe.

It fulfilled that mission, albeit not without a few nervous moments on the final day. At game's end, the most articulate superlative may have been a shout changing to a collective sigh of relief.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com