Clay begs Becky: please don't play for Russia. Fans react (UPDATE: more reactions here.) At a sports blog new to me, an articulate blogger defends Becky's choice.

UPDATE: why has there been almost no teeth-gnashing re: Deanna Nolan and Kelly Miller, who may also play for Team Russia in Beijing?

Becky has said that if she thought she could play for Team USA, she wouldn't have signed up for a foreign squad-- and, as Clay notes, from a pure basketball perspective, Hammon should probably be on her own country's team: coach Donovan hasn't exactly treated her well (and hence has no business insulting her on national TV, which Donovan did on ABC yesterday).

If I understand these things correctly, Becky likely makes money by becoming faux-Russian, in ways that most fans may not understand-- ways Paul, who understands lots of things, has just explained.

If I understand rightly, it's not just that Becky might get paid directly (Team USA members also get paid). The important fact is that the Russian Superleague in which Becky plays requires two "Russians" on the floor at all times; once she's "Russian," i.e. a Russian citizen, she counts as one of them. That makes Becky (and Nolan and Kelly) worth more to a Russian club.

To make matters weirder: Sue Bird, who is ethnically Russian (but plays for Team USA) does not count as "Russian"; there's no reason the Russians would or should make her a citizen, since she wouldn't play for their national team. (She couldn't even if she wanted to, since she's already competed in a FIBA-sanctioned match for the United States.)

Bird does, however, hold an Israeli passport; Diana Taurasi, on Bird's club team, counts as Italian (since she holds an Italian passport). That makes her able to work in Europe more easily (and to avoid visa issues that hassle Americans) thanks to the Bosman ruling, which many European national teams dislike.

It also means that neither Sue nor D counts as American; Superleague teams can sign as many non-Russians as they want (as long as they put two "Russians" on court at all times), but when the same teams play in Euroleague, they can have just two "Americans" per team. (Thanks to both Paul and Kevin for explaining the tangled sets of rules.)

It's unclear to me (and I don't know if Becky has said) whether her acquisition of Russian citizenship was contingent on her joining Russia's Olympic team... but it wouldn't make much sense otherwise: why would the government bother?