[Sports and Games]

Team USA's basketball team walked into Beijing with a mission – to restore the tarnished image of USA basketball to the luster it once had in 1992. Dubbed the “Redeem Team,” they were out to get rid of the stigma of two bronze medals in Athens 2004 and the 2006 World Championships. A lot of skeptics doubted that the rag-tag team could accomplish much in Beijing, but the doubts were quickly quelled after a dominating performance in their first game against host team China.

Michael Phelps' performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics has been hailed left and right as the greatest show in sports history. To date, Phelps holds the most gold medals by a single athlete (14, including the eight we all know so much about), as well as a host of other Olympic records.

It's been two days since the 2008 Beijing Olympics came to a close. If you missed the closing ceremonies, then you missed half your life – China really pulled out all the stops to close the “best Olympics ever” with a bang. It was a fitting conclusion to an event that China spent over $40 billion to throw.

Over the past several years, the spotlight in the international basketball scene has veered from the United States somewhat. Since their 1992 Dream Team in Barcelona, bannered by the likes of Michael Jordan, “Magic” Johnson, and Charles Barkley, the USA Team's domination of the sport has somehow faltered as the years went by.