When Becky Hammon announced she would play in the summer Olympic games for Russia, we expected there would be certain criticisms the hometown girl would have to endure.

But after a week of TV appearances, newspaper articles, blog posts and numerous columns and other analyses, we have only three words left for those who continue to berate the Rapid City native for her decision to play hoops for the former Evil Empire: Take a breather.

A good number of those who comment in letters, blogs or on Rapid Reply have acted as if Ms. Hammon personally petitioned the International Olympic Committee to change the rules for her own personal gain.

In fact, she is simply the latest in a long line of athletes who has used the rules to do the one thing that athletes do best - compete.

Perhaps it is our own entrenched memories of USA vs. USSR contests from years past that are still to vivid to overcome: The Miracle on Ice; Randy Lewis' triumph over the Russian here in Rapid City; the bitter travesty of the '72 gold medal for basketball.

But that was then, and this is now. Somewhere along the line, in what seemed like an impossible battle to keep our amateur athletes competitive against a growing field of state-supported athletes from the Soviet bloc and elsewhere, we gave in.

We gave in to the urge to allow professional athletes to represent us in The Games and, with that, we gave up a huge chunk of the original Olympic spirit. Sure, it was great to see the 1996 Dream Team bring home the gold with ease, but it paled with past glories when we knew a group of kids could compete with the best in the world. Let's face it, Hammon's decision is not so different than beloved Dream Team member Hakeem Olajawan, a native Nigerian who had only played college and professional ball in the U.S.

We have progressed beyond just professionals in the Olympics, and foreign nationals playing for the U.S. team. We have watched American athletes with distant blood relations in other countries head abroad for the chance to compete in the Games, because they weren't deemed good enough to make the U.S. team. And now we're watching as athletes with no blood ties to a country are 'hired' for the Games.

What upsets us is that isn't what the Olympics is supposed to be about. But it is what the Olympics have been about for some time now.

So if you feel the anger begin to bubble up inside about the fact that Olympians are being defined by their desire to play and not by their allegiance to their county - and if you feel compelled to direct that anger at Ms. Hammon and her decision to play in Russia - know that those feelings are justifiable. It's just that they are about 15 years too late.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Or in this case, the Games.