A noted philosopher, George Santayana, once famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
2008 Olympic Games
News
Team USA rocks Lithuania in tuneup
IOC strips gold from 2000 relay team
Jamaican star to run at Olympics
Federer to carry Swiss flag
Hardy withdraws from swim team
Injured Sharapova to miss Olympics
Wrist forces Baghdatis out of Beijing
1,500 champ among Russians busted
Nike allows swimmers to wear Speedo
IOC allows Iraq back in to Olympics
Analysis
Kriegel: Dopers make us cynics
O'Connor: Coach K can't take an 'L'
Baseball's farewell bad for Cuba
Multimedia
PHOTOS: U.S. athletes to watch
PHOTOS: Top 10 Olympic storylines
PHOTOS: Olympic mascots
Reason enough to reprise the whys and wherefores of Team USA's abysmal failure in the 2004 Olympic Games, and to determine what measures have been taken to avoid similar results in Beijing.
One excuse commonly offered for the embarrassing performance in Athens was the lack of sufficient preparation time. However, given the experience of the NBA veterans who made up that squad, as well as their familiarity with each other, the two-week training camp should have been enough.
In any event, the long-term planning and the extended rehearsal time for the Beijing squad are certainly beneficial.
In retrospect, the very makeup of the Athens squad was flawed. Both point guards
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