That’s surprising. Link here if you can read Italian. This is the gist of the story: the World Championship is being held in Taiwan, and the Italian baseball team defeated the US representatives 6-2. It’s the first time we defeat the US pro team, so it’s great! 
After this and the previous victory vs Spain, Italy is leading its group, composed by the National teams of Japan,Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico and Panama.
I realized that it was all over after the USA lost in Olympics basketball with a team stacked with NBA superstars. Damn you Manu! What’s next? The London Monarchs winning the Superbowl? I’m still hoping that the USA wins the World Cup in my lifetime just to have all the Euros die of heart attacks. I told my English buddy that the USA would win a World Cup by 2018 (inclusively). I’m getting nervous.
Stacked with superstars? Really?
Who’s the best American-born center in the NBA? Even now, it’s Shaq.
Who’s the best American scoring machine in the NBA? Kobe.
The best American power forward? Kevin Garnett
The best American point guard? Chauncey Billups.
Were ANY of those guys o nthe last Olympic team? Nope.
There’s no question, the rest of the world has improved dramatically in basketball, and we’ll NEVER again be able to win the gold medal just by tossing together a team at the last minute… but we still have the best basketball players in the world, and should still win the gold whenever our best players actually show up.
Basketball, much more so than baseball, requires the players to act in concert with each other. You cannot achieve your full potential without months of practice and game play. In the past, our best players were better enough individually to win big without that practice. Now, the international game is catching up, we need to have a TEAM that plays together at their best, not just the best players.
Baseball, OTOH, is a series of individual plays involving little interaction. What interaction there is, is often pretty well consistent across teams, rather than being customized.