The Dream Team
“And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits”. Leviticus 26: 19-20 KJV
There are many sports in which Americans excel. Probably the one on top of the list is basketball. For many years we had reigned superior to other nations in the Olympics in basketball. In 1936, basketball was introduced to the Olympics. The US only sent college athletes. The United States did not lose a single basketball game in the first seven Olympics. In 1972 the Soviet Union ended that streak by beating the Americans in the very controversial gold medal game. The United States picked up the pace again winning all the gold medals until the 1988 Olympic games (we boycotted the 1980 games). In 1988, we finished third.
In 1989, FIBA advocated allowing professionals to be part of the Olympic teams. In 1992, the US Olympic basketball team consisted of: Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and five other All Stars. Without a single loss, these professionals cruised through the 1992 Tourament of Americas by an average margin of victory of almost 70 points. Their undefeated Olympic run was by an average victory of almost 44 points. The closest any team could get to them was Croatia in the Gold Medal game and even then Croatia lost by 32 points. It was called the Dream Team.
In 1996, the US won by 26 points in the Gold Medal game. In the year 2000, the US won the Gold Medal game by 10 points. Even with “professionals,” we lost the Gold Medal game in 2004 to Argentina by 15 points. Each Olympics seems to be more and more competitive for these “professional” athletes. I guess the days of the Dream Team are gone.
It was a tough campaign for election to become President. He became President, not by election but by other circumstances. In a way, I guess, he wanted to prove he deserved the job on his own merits. The biggest part of the Presidential election fight came in the Republican primaries where he had a very tough time knocking off his same party challenger. He finally came out on top. As the convention neared he offered his challenger “virtually any position (he) wanted in his cabinet.” The challenger turned him down because he wanted to complete his term as Governor of a large state.
The President had to face a relatively unknown opponent in the general election. There was a very strong wave of anti-Washington feelings clouding the election. In a very close election, this President lost to his opponent.
War is a very tough business. When your side is asked to stand up to a leader whose reputation is huge, it is easy to be intimidated. Such was the situation at Oak Valley where Israel had camped. Courage seemed to have fled all the troops and this man taunted Israel for forty days. What was Israel to do?
A young lad, looking for his brothers, approached the troops. He was totally surprised by the group of cowards he found. He heard this man taunting Israel and he couldn’t understand why no one was trying to stop him. When the soldiers came back, he laid into them for being cowards. “I could take him myself,” he shouted. His older brother Eliab got so mad at him for embarrassing them. The king sent for him. The king was very impressed with his attitude and offered him a chance to prove himself.
The king dressed the young lad in armor, but it was so uncomfortable for him that he had to take it off. “When I chase wild animals off from my sheep, I don’t need all this stuff,” he said. And so the little lad was off to face this intimidating giant of a man. As the man came out he looked ten feet tall. His armor weighed 126 pounds, which might have been more than the young boy weighed. He had a bronze helmet, bronze shin guards and a bronze sword. The sword weighed fifteen pounds. The young lad pulled the sling shot and one of the five small stones he had in his pocket. Then the huge man basically said, “Come on you little runt, I will slice you up and make you food for the buzzards and wolves.” The young lad laughed it off and replied, “All you have are swords and shields. I have God.” Then with the stone in the sling shot he flung it in the giant’s direction. It hit the giant in the forehead and the giant immediately fell face forward to the ground, dead. The young lad then cut off the giant’s head and eventually gave it to the king. So goes the story of David and Goliath and King Saul.
King Saul was so impressed with David that he brought him into his household. It was probably the Dream Team of Dream Teams in the Bible. The two great warriors would become the Biblical Dream Team. How could it get any better than this?
In the next election the challenger was once again asked to step into the spotlight and run for President. He was being asked to help toss out this President who was just elected four years earlier. He won the Republican nomination and as he headed to Detroit, and the Republican convention, he had to think of who he would choose to be his running mate. Some of the party leaders suggested the former President, who had defeated him four years earlier, as the choice for Vice President. This had never been done before. This was the Presidential Dream Team.
After news leaked out about the secret negotiations, Gerald Ford spoke to Walter Cronkite on CBS. As Ronald Reagan listened to the interview, he realized that what Ford really wanted was to be co-President. As Ford and Reagan met that night, both of them realized that this co-President idea would never work and that was the end of the Presidential Dream Team. Ronald Reagan went on to defeat President Jimmy Carter anyway.
As David’s popularity increased, King Saul grew very jealous. King Saul even tried to kill David. David fled. King Saul searched for David in hopes to be able to kill him. King Saul eventually died in battle and David became king. The Biblical Dream Team was no more.
We are called to join a Dream Team, too. God wants you to be part of His Dream Team. It is unbeatable. But be very careful because Satan wants to break it up or make it less effective.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, I’m so very surprised You called me to be part of Your team. Please help me to keep my enthusiasm going. Please don’t let Satan mess up our perfect fit. Amen.
