By Marc D'Amico | August 4, 2008

Florida’s Superman should be used to blue and white, right?

Well, for Dwight Howard, the jersey he’ll be wearing next week will be of a whole new breed. This time the blue will be a little darker, the white will mean a little more, and some red will be tossed in. Instead of Magic script running across his chest, he will be boasting three letters that represent more than 300 million people and everything they believe in. Howard will be the starting center for the USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and he completely understands the enormity of that statement.

“It’s a great honor for me and I was glad I was one of the guys selected,” said Howard. “There are a lot of great players in this league and for them [the coaches] to pick me, I feel honored. It was just big, knowing that I get a chance to represent my family, my organization and the United States.”

Howard and the other 21 members of the 2008 USA Men’s Olympic Team roster all have their eyes set on one thing. They understand that the bronze medal their country brought home from the 2004 Olympics in Athens was unacceptable. They don’t want to be awarded the silver medal, symbolizing the second-best team in the world. No, they want gold. They want to win the gold medal not for themselves, but for their country.

“Winning a world championship for the USA team is for everybody in America,” said Howard. “It’s not just you taking it back home and saying, ‘I got a gold medal,’ it’s, ‘We got a gold medal, we all did it together.’ It’s like everybody is at peace, everybody is there to watch their team win. You are basically representing something bigger than yourself. You are representing Orlando, the whole state of Florida, you are representing L.A., and everybody is just representing the United States of America.”

The United States has won 12 Olympic gold medals in 15 appearances (they did not participate in the 1980 Games), but with the sport’s rapid expansion throughout the world, competition has recently picked up.

Since winning the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, the Americans have won bronze in both the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Although many of the players and coaches remain the same from 2006, their focus has shifted to a more modest stance.

“The biggest thing is respecting the other team,” Howard said. “Everybody has put us on a pedestal and sometimes people or teams can get too confident and they end up losing. One of the things he [Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski] said was to stay humble and know what we are playing for. We are playing for respect around the world, and to get the USA back on top.”

After a brief injury that forced Howard to miss June’s two-day training camp, he has made it clear that he is fully healthy and ready for Olympic play. A healthy Dwight Howard may actually be the most important piece of Team USA. He is the only true center on the roster and possesses defensive abilities that can completely alter games.

In the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, Howard dominated the paint against international competition, averaging 5.3 rpg, blocking 18 shots and shooting a staggering 81.5 percent from the field. He led the USA in all three of those categories. Coincidentally, or maybe not, the United States routed their competition and went undefeated in the tournament, securing their qualification for the 2008 Beijing Games.

A year later, Howard has continued his foreign dominance. The USA basketball team has played a total of four tune-up games thus far in preparation for the Olympics. In those games, Howard has averaged 10.5 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, blocked five shots and stolen six passes, all while shooting 72 percent from the field.

Howard and his teammates will take on Australia Tuesday in what will be their final 40 minutes of live game action before their quest for gold begins in Beijing. Team USA will take on China, the Olympic host, at 10:15 a.m. (EST) August 10 in their first game of the qualifying round. This will probably be Howard’s toughest task in Beijing, as he will be defending Houston Rockets center Yao Ming. Angola, Greece, Spain and Germany will be the next four teams the USA will face in the qualifying round.

To make it to the gold medal game, the USA must advance past the qualifying round of five games and then both a quarterfinal and semifinal game. Counting the gold medal round, the two finalists will play a total of eight contests. With their goal set in stone, the Americans and their country will be hoping for a perfect 8-0 record.

Many have named this USA squad the “Redeem Team” as they attempt to bring their country back to the top of the international basketball world. If their performances in the past week have been a sign of things to come, Superman might be getting used to another new color decorating his body, while his flying act might hit a little bit of a dry spell – I’ve heard those gold medals can really weigh you down.