Whither Olympic Softball?

Ever since the IOC (International Olympic Committee) announced that softball (and baseball) would not be contested in the 2012 London Olympics, I’ve been in a little bit of a funk. There has never been a good accounting of why these sports have been excluded.  At the time, the excuse was that the stadia were too expensive to have to build, but that reason has waned over time to the point that it isn’t even mentioned any more.

For softball, the reason most often tossed around was because the Americans were so dominant at the sport. Well, I think their silver medal on the diamond in Beijing pretty much showed that while the USA is dominant, it isn’t invincible. This is what makes the (at least) 8-year gap until its next appearance in the Olympics is so galling. The games are well-attended, they are exciting now that it isn’t just a pitcher’s duel, and it promotes some of the best of women’s sports. Now, there will be a boycott-like gap, robbing many of the best of the sport a chance to grow with the game.

I think was galls me is that the USA seems to be the only country from whom a domination sport was taken away. China was allowed Table Tennis. The then Eastern Bloc was given Rhythmic Gymnastics. The Canadians even got Curling, for pity’s sake. In the same spirit, the U.S. was given Softball. Now it’s been yanked, and the politics of it simply stinks.

Yeah, I’m bitter about it. With X-games type sports getting medal status in recent Olympics, it seems wrong that something already established and more traditional gets yanked. So, if we are going to start dropping sports in favor of these X-sports, let’s get nasty. Drop Rhythmic Gymnastics and Trampoline. While Badminton seems sort of legit, honestly Table Tennis still seems like a rec-room game, so let’s toss that one out, too. While we’re at it, let’s drop synchronized diving. Who really thought that was a diving variant? Seriously, how many acrobatics events do we need in an Olympics, anyway?

The rest of the sports…you know, I’m OK with. Oh, I know a lot of you are yelling about Synchronized Swimming as well as many if not most of the other judged sports, but I think they are unique and athletic enough to deserve to remain on the menu. I mean, if we are talking about the judged sports, I’d rather toss the always obviously corrupt Boxing competition than Synchronized Swimming. But boxing is original Olympics historical, so it needs to remain.

I’m hopeful that Japan’s winning the gold medal game will provide the final push to have Softball reinstated into the Games. Let’s face it, there are many more sports that are probably more deserving of the axe than this. It made the act of the retiring US Softball players leaving their cleats at home plate all the more poignant. Let’s hope it’s only the players retiring, not the sport.

I encourage anyone and everyone interested in getting softball back into the Olympics to hie thee over to Back Softball (http://www.internationalsoftball.com/backsoftball/index.html) and see how you can help.