Poll
Will the 1972 U.S. men's basketball team ever be awarded gold medals?
Your vote has been counted, thank you for voting.
Barring an upset of historic proportions, the United States will win a 14th Olympic gold medal in men's basketball next week in London.
But there are 12 angry men who insist that figure is short by one.
The 1972 U.S. men's team maintains it was cheated out of a gold-medal victory over the former Soviet Union, victims of a corrupt individual overseeing international basketball who wanted the American domination to end.
A lawyer representing the '72 team is pushing for another investigation of the controversial circumstances that led to the Soviet Union's 51-50 victory in Munich.
While the team will reunite for the first time later this month in Kentucky, all 12 players have vowed never to accept the silver medal – even after death.
"It would be like taking something that doesn't belong to us," team captain Kenny Davis recently told Bloomberg. "We earned the gold."
Tonight's prime time
Ch. 3, 8 p.m.-midnight
• Swimming: Finals in men's 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle, women's 200 backstroke and 800 freestyle
• Track and field: Men's shot put final
• Diving: Women's springboard preliminary
• Volleyball: U.S. women vs. Serbia
• Gymnastics: Men's trampoline final
Locals watch
• Mary Whipple, Orange-vale, rowing: The coxswain led the U.S. women's eight to the gold medal Thursday.
• Stephanie Brown Trafton, Galt, track and field: Discus qualifying, 11:10 a.m. today; finals, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
• Becky Holliday, Penryn, track and field: Pole vault qualifying, 2:20 a.m. Saturday
Medal leaders
Team G S B T
U.S. 18 9 10 37
China 18 11 5 34
Japan 2 6 11 19
Germany 4 8 5 17
Today's poll
Will the 1972 U.S. men's basketball team ever be awarded gold medals?
• Yes
• No
Vote above or leave your comments in the comment field; or, go to www.sacbee.com/sports
Thursday's results
What's your take on the suspended women's badminton players?
• Losing intentionally is never acceptable: 75%
• If there's a format under which losing is beneficial, losing can be justified: 25%
Total votes: 182
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• Read more articles by Victor Contreras
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