Exactly 26 years to the day of one of the greatest moments in the history of the Olympics, the United States Hockey team bowed meekly out of the 2006 games.

Later that same day, the defending gold medalists Canada were eliminated after being shut out.

In the last summer games, the American basketball team was humiliated by not winning the gold for the first time since professional athletes were allowed to compete.

The time has come to kiss the professionals in the Olympics goodbye.

Not since the original NBA Dream Team grabbed the world's attention in the 1992 Barcelona games have professionals made a significant impact on the competition. Few NBA players even want to represent their countries anymore.

Hockey players have made more of an effort to show their national pride, but still, the memory of American NHL players trashing their Olympic Village rooms during the 1998 Nagano Olympics is somewhat fresh in mind.

It's time to scour the collegiate ranks for players who are sound in fundamentals. In basketball, we need to look only as far as your best mid-major schools, which are dominated by seniors and sound play.

Many college hockey programs in the United States are believed to possess more talent than some minor league teams, so why not fill national rosters with these guys?

The argument will endure that other countries will continue to send their professionals to the Olympics, but is it too much of a stretch to believe that selecting the most fundamentally sound college seniors in hockey or basketball would have any worse fate than some of the recent pros our nation has sent to wear our colors?

The Olympics are meant to showcase the world's best amateur athletes. Sure, the definitions of professionalism and amateurism have been altered in recent years with the rise of corporate sponsorships and other endorsements, but there is no reason to send these multi-millionaires with little regard for the prestige of the Olympics to go and make a mockery of our athletic ability.

No athletic moment in our nation's history has captivated us than the 1980 Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid. The political ramifications aside, it was just a hockey game. It was a group of no-name, college underdogs defeating a quasi-professional juggernaut.

It was a moment that defined the Olympic ideal, at least for the Americans.

It's time to get back to the basics. The flash and dash of pros is a concept that has been dated. Let's scour the college or even the minor league ranks and stock our rosters with wide-eyed young men and women who will embrace not only the challenge of the competition, but also embrace just what it means to wear the red, white, and blue on their uniforms.

There will never be another Miracle on Ice, but by getting the professionals out, we can hopefully inspire another generation of kids on ponds or playgrounds to dream of gold.