As I continue to watch the Olympics, (yes, I do watch them) the more my inwit fails to make any sense of the IOC’s decision to blow baseball out of the games.
The reason for my confusion lies mainly in the sports the IOC deems to be Olympic worthy.
Let’s go over the roster shall we?
Synchronized swimming. The only time I ever watched this sport was during that famous SNL skit with Harry Shearer, Martin Short and Christopher Guest.
Taekwondo. All I know is that the point of this martial art is to kick your way to a medal. It’s massively popular in Korea but is this a reason to get it in the games?
Trampoline. Trampoline?
Table tennis. My personal favorite. Don’t be fooled. This is ping-pong. Ping-pong for crying out loud!
Rhythmic Gymnastics. The one with the ribbon? Whatever. Shouldn’t be ahead of baseball.
Beach volleyball. I know this is one of the most popular games and it looks like it’s here to stay but I’m not sure about this one. What the heck, as long as the girls keep looking the way they do what’s the harm?
As you can see, many of the sports that take precedence over baseball take phenomenal Olympian ability and have a long, proud history at the games.
Cough.
Look, I understand that it’s always a good idea to keep the games hip and modern but let’s not exaggerate here. None of those sports (well, sports is a strong word for some of these hobbies and games) are traditional Olympic sports and the IOC should think about cutting these off the list before a true blue sport like baseball.
Given what passes on sports channels these days, it’s a wonder how darts, fishing and backgammon haven’t made the list. It won’t be long before someone begins to lobby for poker and video games to be an Olympic game.
Yeah. Scoff. I wouldn’t put it past the IOC.
4 Comments
August 17, 2008 at 9:07 pm
It was just being discussed in my home today about baseball no longer being a olympian event…WHATTTTT???? All American baseball being taken out? Could it be because the Americans are so strong in baseball and other countries can’t compete with us? I had to laugh when I watched Maylasia and China competing in ping pong or whatever you call it, no offense to the gentelmen, I’m sure they’re trained hard, but,come on people, ping pong over baseball? Hmm, could it be we need some baseball fans on the OIC? Or better yet, why not let people vote on the sports that played in the olympics, the laymen of the world….
August 17, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I’m sure there’s politics involved as you allude to.
Baseball is pretty competitive. That’s why it SHOULD be in. I’m not sure if other nations can’t compete: think Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba and other Caribbean nations, Japan and Canada.
Canada can field a mean team if they could ever get some luck on their side. Morneau, Martin, Bay, Harden, Francis, Dempster (to name a few) make for a solid team!
Thanks for the comment.
August 18, 2008 at 1:35 am
You’re right exposrip, there are other countries that could compete with the USA, but, guess I stated what I did because, in my book, baseball is all American.
August 18, 2008 at 2:52 am
Baseball is indeed the great American game but like hockey with Canada, it belongs to the world now. I feel your pain!
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