[QUOTE]Eight nations are in contention for the four FIBA wild cards to the 2006 World Championships in Japan. As shown by the rules below, the primary criteria deal with marketing and politicking, with competitive success only vaguely considered.



These nations are Russia, Turkey, Italy, Serbia-Montenegro and Croatia from Europe, South Korea from Asia, and Puerto Rico and Canada from the Americas. Did I fail to mention your country, which you believe is more deserving under these rules than the nations I''ve mentioned? Don''t blame me. Blame FIBA''S rules.



Stupid Rules:

Sporting Aspects
- Popularity of basketball in the country
- Quality and sporting results of the national team of the country
- Quality of work of National Federation

Economic Aspects
- Involvement of local television and/or competitions in domestic and international basketball
- Importance of country to FIBA's marketing and television partners
- Importance of country to the Organizers of the World Championship



The FIBA Central Board will meet on November 26 and 27 in Rome to make this decision. Does "importance of country to the organizers of the World Championship" mean which national federation best wined and dined board members making this decision? Even if there is no impropriety, there is certainly the appearance and opportunity for impropriety.



Imagine that your country just lost out to a country which you feel was far less deserving than yours under these rules. Wouldn''t you suspect impropriety was involved?



Should Serbia-Montenegro, the 2002 world champion which failed to make this year''s European quarter-finals, get selected ahead of Croatia, which finished seventh? Such a decision would certainly rile the Baltics. Who should be selected, Russia, a populous, long-time basketball power, or Turkey, which has been awarded the World Championship in 2010? The Italians, who finished second in Athens, also certainly merit strong consideration.



If three nations are chosen from Europe, FIBA faces charges of being Eurocentric.



The only communication I''ve had on this issue has pushed Puerto Rico as one of the selectees. Will the selectees be the countries that most strongly push to be selected? Does Puerto Rico deserve selection ahead of Canada or South Korea? Then there is Algeria, which finished fourth in the African championship but does not seem to merit consideration under these rules. Yet Algeria, if selected, would be the only North African nation in the tournament.



The FIBA world rankings specifically state that they cannot be used as criteria for selection to competitive tournaments. Given the way these rankings are determined, this is an extremely good rule.



The only solution available at this point is to *** the four countries that just missed out in this year''s regional championships -- Croatia from Europe, the Dominican Republic from the Americas, South Korea from Asia and Algeria from Africa.



Of greatest importance to the organizers of the World Championship is the appearance of being fair