I want the US to win gold in Beijing as much as the next guy (unless it’s Osama Bin Laden. I bet he’s rooting against us), but there’s one other goal that I believe deserves Coach K’s attention. Getting someone to score more than 31 points in one of the next two games. The reason? This Guy. With his 31 points in a game against Spain back in Athens, Stephon Marbury currently holds the record for Most Points in a Game in Team USA Olympic history. This needs to change.

Jerry Reinsdorf—who, by the way, has definitely jumped into the top five of people who make me feel really uncomfortable when i see them in HD—has absolutely killed himself these last four years to restore Team USA to glory, and as of now, things are looking pretty good—although obviously there’s still serious work to be done. But even if they win the gold, the transformation won’t be complete until Starbury’s name is erased from the books. He represents everything that went so wrong with the Dream Team. Having is name there is just as bad as having an anoose like Barry Bonds hold the home run record. It’s like if OJ had the NFL rushing record, Ugueth Urbina had the MLB save record or Jayson Williams held the NBA rebounding crown. It’s just a black cloud and it needs to be pushed out.

Of course, the very notion of pushing for 32 points is absurd, and goes against every tenet Coach K’s instilled in this team to make sure someone like Marbury never suits up for Team USA again, but I’m just saying… maybe they should keep the record in mind.

With about 10 minutes left in this morning’s game, Kobe Bryant had 25 points. The game was already in hand, and with the pace it was rolling at, Kobe could’ve scored seven points in four possessions—especially if his teammates felt like helping him out. Not that Kobe’s necessarily an ideal candidate either, but what the hell? Let’s just get it done. Stephon must go.

And once he’s gone, the world will be right again… unless of course, Team USA misses out on the gold, in which case it will be so very, very wrong.

Rich Levine is a contributor to Wicked Good Sports with his “Wicked Weekly” column and podcast, “The Dino Radja Experience”. Rich is also a columnist for The Improper Bostonian.