|
|
|
Baseball Quotes
I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking. "It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn't in the stands." - Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles OF, May 6,...
Pitching Machine Safety
While pitching machines are a proven safe and effective tool for hitting and fundamentals development, there are a few safety precautions to keep in mind. What follows is a summary of simple and safe pitching machine practices we have used in our...
Skill Based Division of Talent in Recreational Youth Leagues
Participation in youth sports serves many needs and teaches great life lessons. Nobody can argue the benefits of participation: making new friends, learning to play as a team, developing coordination and fundamental athletic skills, exercise,...
The Passion For Baseball
THE PASSION OF BASEBALL What is something you are passionate about? Passion is contagious and feed off this positive energy. Have you ever seen two people who truly love the game of baseball talk about baseball? I had a friend’s wife tell...
What A Great Night
What A Great Night The Time Machine brings me back to Chancellor Avenue, Newark, New Jersey, circa 1964. Vintage cars like the ’62 Oldsmobile Spitfire, 1957 and 1958 Chevy’s roamed up and down the street passing The Bunny Hop, The Burgerama and...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IOC Drops Softball From Olympic Games
When the announcement came out of the International Olympic Committee meetings in Singapore that softball and baseball dropped were being eliminated from the Olympic program in 2012, many, including myself, were stunned.
I could understand why baseball was eliminated. The fact that Olympic teams do not include the best players in the world was one of the major factors in that decision.
Major League Baseball has no vested interest in the Olympics. Why should they? Participating in the Olympics would not give the teams, players, and owners and benefits that would be tangible. Could you see the owners deciding to shut down the season for a few weeks so some of their best could participate? I think not!
I think that Major League Baseball’s transparent drug policy might also have had something to do with it.
Participation in the Olympic Games would require the all professional players would have to submit to and pass year round, mandatory and random drug tests. The Players Union would never go for that.
My belief is “so what.” The Olympic didn’t need major league players. Participate with those that want to follow the IOC rules and wanted to play for the love of the game. But none of these statements mean anything now. Baseball is gone from the Olympcis.
However, none of this relates to softball, but some will try to tell you it does.
In the nine years since softball was included in the Olympic Games, I have never heard of a softball player testing positive for performance drugs.
Softball is participated in over one hundred countries around the world. Girls are gravitating to the sport in record numbers. The sport is gaining in leaps and bounds at the local, national, and international level. In the past three Olympics, all games were sold out to record setting crowds.
Prior to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, I was in Columbus, Georgia for the 1995 Superball Classic. It was the first international softball tournament I had ever covered as a journalist.
Not knowing what to expect, I arrived in Columbus, notepad and camera in hand, with the naiveté of a novice softball reporter. It didn’t take me long to realize that softball had gone big time, and this was
not the softball that I knew about.
I remembered softball as the old slow-pitch variety of my youth. The games played in Columbus were the softball of the future. The girls were athletes, with the skills reviling many professional baseball players. However, that is where the resemblance ended.
It is very possible that members of the IOC thought of softball and baseball as the same sport. It is also possible that many of those same members had no idea what softball was.
If they did lump the problems of Major League Baseball in with softball, there could be no greater crime.
The IOC has stated on numerous times their desire to increase the participation of females in the Games. So why did they eliminate one of the most popular team sports in the Games?
If any of the IOC members had ever picked up at bat, stepped up to the plate and faced the likes of Jennie Finch, Christa Williams, Lisa Fernandez, or even a Cat Osterman, they would know the love, intensity, and competitiveness that many feel for the sport.
They would have understood that softball gives many young girls and women the chance to achieve their goals, and how their success on the diamond would carry over to their everyday and future lives.
The IOC really missed the boat on this decision. I wonder how many of those members would own up to their true votes. The IOC did not release the voting tallies or the outcome of the votes. I wonder why?
If they truly cared about Olympic ideals, increasing female participation in the Games, or even had a sense of fair play, they would reinstate softball immediately.
Only time will tell if their decision was correct. I am sure with the passage of time, history will view their decision with the same disgust and disdain that it deserves.
About the Author: Robert H. Kelly is a sport writer from Texas. His writings on Texas sporting events and events with Texas participants attempt to provide a unique perspective not covered by mainstream media. He can be reached at texsportpub@aol.com.
Source: www.isnare.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
