Who Are the Good, Bad and the Ugly Americans of the Olympics So Far?

By sending in a team of highly overpaid professionals in what was begun as an amateur competition, aren’t we totally disregarding the essence of the Olympic spirit? But whoa, I hear people objecting. “What about the Russians and the Eastern Europeans? Don’t they use professional athletes?” Sure they do. But since when do Americans look to the Russians as role models?

We’ll probably win a gold medal in basketball, but a lot of deserving athletes, not to mention the spirit of the Games, will suffer.

JOE RAVETZ

Los Angeles