The film that unites Lithuanians around
the globe

There have been countless instances over time where sport becomes the salve that heals the open sores of society… Jews and Palestinians joining together for soccer, warring countries meeting in cricket, Japan and in finding common ground on a baseball diamond. However somehow basketball seems to have as big, if not the biggest impact on healing political differences and overcoming boundaries than any other sport.

The 1988 Olympics saw the USSR take the gold medal from the United States, with a team dominated not of Russians but of Lithuanians. Four years later, after great turmoil that spurred a break for democracy for the country, the players banded together and faced the "US Dream Team" for basketball supremacy in Barcelona.

That story, of the players the coaches, the Americans, even the Grateful Dead, is told in the new documentary now being shown across USA, "The Other Dream Team." The stars of that team, spurred on by the crisis in the country and led by future NBA stars like Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunis Marciulionis gave the American's best a scare, but most importantly, helped unite a country torn by war and sudden poverty.

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