In 1913, Jim Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic decathlon and pentathlon medals, because he had played minor league baseball for $25 per week. His medals were eventually returned, but not until almost 30 years after his death. In the 2008 Beijing games, the USA basketball players made a combined $160,552,278 last year in NBA salary alone. That's over $160M, between 12 men. While Thorpe's medals were eventually returned, the fact remains that the Olympics were originally intended to be an amateur competition, and while some sports have stayed true to that, too many have turned into exhibitions of multi-millionaires.

Team USA's 101-70 drubbing of China in basketball had been the subject of endless hype, and was supposed to be an exciting matchup of the host country and the greatest team in the world. But instead, it became an embarrassing blowout, which was essentially over before it began. This obviously won't be the case when the Team USA meets up with countries like Argentina, but the Americans are still expected to dominate everyone they play, assuming they don't choke.

There probably won't be many more epic Olympic moments, a la the "Miracle on Ice" of 1980, or the controversial USA vs Russia gold medal game in 1972. There won't be the moments of jubilation for college and high school players, who have never experienced anything comparable in their life. Instead, it will be just another championship for guys like Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, and if Lebron & Co. DON'T lead the USA to gold, it's a huge disappointment. Where's the competition and excitement in that?

As much as I'd love to see the USA roll through the entire Olympics and take the gold (in EVERY sport, for that matter), wouldn't it be sweeter to see a lineup of guys like Tyler Hansbrough, Michael Beasley, D.J. Augustin, Kevin Love and Chris Douglas-Roberts take the court against our various foes? Those were last year's ESPN All-Americans, and would definitely make a formidable team in Beijing. Throw in a few others like Eric Gordon, OJ Mayo, Brook Lopez, Mario Chalmers, etc, and I think the USA would not only have a solid team, but it would be one with great chemistry, and would be more true to the original Olympic mentality. I'd be shocked if guys like that could be prone to a "let-down" game, since playing in the Olympics would be the highlight of their life so far, unlike guys who have already led their teams to NBA glory.

What would guys like Jim Thorpe think, if he knew that there were multi-millionaire athletes playing in the Olympics, when he never even lived to see his medal returned? Let's go back to the games as they were meant to be, with only amateurs.