As many as 10 non-Americans could be drafted in the NBA first round next week, including Yao Ming, the first. Five went last year in Parker's class, and they weren't all giants who couldn't have played soccer. Raul Lopez, the choice of the Jazz, is Parker's size.

The gap is closing, all right. It won't be long before the U.S. pros are upset in an Olympics. It almost happened in Sydney.

So if the gap is closing in one direction, it only makes sense that it's also closing in the other. The NBA's rookie of the year this past season came from Spain. So isn't there some symmetry when young Americans such as Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley impact soccer?