"Where's the outrage?"
--Bob Dole, quoted during his 1992 Presidential campaign

We have become a sports society without morals.

No, we are not morally challenged. No, the rules are all gone. Our expectations for athletes and their public behavior are lower than Vern Troyer taking a nap.

Nobody dares to "judge" anybody or anything, lest he be called old, racist, cranky, nit-picky, square or, God forbid, "a player hater."

Excuse me. "Playa hatah!"

Things that are wrong do not deserve a defense. Still, even when everybody knows it, these decisions and acts are greeted with a shrug and a "whatever."

Two incidents this week have deepened my cynicism about any remaining ability of sports to raise the moral bar or to set a higher standard than society in general.

The first is Carmelo Anthony's inclusion on the 2008 Olympic basketball team.

I ask a simple question:

Why?

Yeah, yeah. He's one of the best players in the world. Yeah, yeah. He was great two years ago in the World Championships (where we again took third place. Hooray!). Yeah, yeah, he wants to "make up" for the 2004 disappointment in Greece.

So what?

This is a guy who openly yearned to go home last time, simply because he was sitting on the bench. He admitted to sitting in his hotel room, playing video games and wishing the whole experience was over.

So much for the ol' "pride of representing your country."

I'm somebody who believes in the "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" theory. 'Melo got us in 2004 with a cancerous, selfish, immature, "can't do" attitude and we've got the bronze to show for it.

Not again. This is not holding a grudge. A grudge is a more irrational unwillingness to let bygones be bygones. This is just simple principle. We tried it, 'Melo. It didn't work. Have a nice day.

We don't need Carmelo Anthony to win the gold medal going away in China. In fact, we probably need a few more guys to set screens and rebound. With Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James already on the team, the position of "scoring show pony" is stocked.

Oh, and I didn't even bring up the DUI arrest that has landed him a two-game suspension starting next year for the Nuggets. Or the 15-game suspension he got for sucker punching Mardy Collins of the Knicks in a brawl two seasons ago. Or the cameo appearance in Baltimore's pro drug-dealer video called "Stop Snitching."

Call me a stickler for protocol, but if the Olympics are considered a higher privilege than just playing in the NBA, why would we allow a suspended criminal to be one of our Olympians?

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