#yeoldedrawing

1992?! Historical? Hopefully that counts. Anyway, in 1992 two things happened in the world of Olympic basketball:

Lithuania's story is way more compelling so we will go with America's first. 1992 was the first year that NBA players were sent to the Olympics, rather than more amateur players. This team was called the "Dream Team" and given how stacked they were they did go on to win the gold! By the way, at the previous Olympics in '88, the Americans were beaten by the USSR team which included several Lithuanian players...

As for Lithuania, this would be the first time that Lithuanian basketball players would be able to represent their own nation in Olympic basketball instead of playing under USSR, which was a huge thing! There were economic troubles at the time and it wasn't certain the nation would be able to send a team due to the cost of doing so, but they rallied the nation and other organizations/entities and came up with the funds. They went on to win the bronze, pretty impressive! You can find lots of articles and such about this online, or check out "The Other Dream Team" documentary/movie, etc. I think the NBA even put out a Lithuania-focused mini-doc recently.

But wait, there's more. One of the "entities" that helped fund the Lithuanian team was...the Grateful Dead. Yes, an American band gave them $$$. Yeah, we've reached the even more AmeLiet-ish part of the story. Apparently Jerry Garcia appreciated the Lithuanians' struggle for Freedom and Liberty. Also a New York(I think?) sports artist created a skeleton slam-dunking tie-dyed t-shirt that was like...the Grateful Dead meets Lithuanian flag meets basketball, ha ha. These shirts were sold at the Olympics and beyond to raise funds, and you can still buy them today. The shirts were popular at the Olympics and really helped bring even more attention to the Lithuanian team, especially when they wore them while accepting their medals! Check out some pics online, it is AMAZING.

What could be more comforting than exchanging warm winter wear items with your love?

I tried to pick items that also have a bit of culture to them: America gave Lithuania a raccoonskin cap, and Lithuania gifted a pair of beaded knit wrist-warmers.