Beijing '08 Olympics Update

(One in an occasional series provided during the run-up to the ’08 Summer Games in Beijing, China. Archived posts in this series can be accessed by entering “Olympics” in the blog search box above).

The dunder-headed IOC has got your politics, alright.

The U.S. women’s softball team is making a 45-city barnstorming tour throughout the United States currently that is dubbed Bound 4 Beijing and which from account here is part sold-out rock band tour and farewell tour. Farewell tour? What say ye? Apparently, softball is viewed as being to Americanized by the International Olympic Committee as they voted 52-52 (a majority is needed) to drop the sport after the Beijing Games. The American side has won all 3 gold medals since being included as a medal sport in ’96 and most recently outscored its opponents in Athens ’04 by a combined score 51-1.

Of course, this business about the sport being too Americanized or too dominated by Americans is petty, selfish and extremely short-sighted. It was precisely the beat-downs handed out by the American men’s basketball Dream Team in ’92 that kicked what was already a popular international sport into over-drive as the world got an up-close look at the game’s superstars like Michael, Magic and Larry. The image of the Angolan player gleefully showing his Charles Barkley autograph to his teammates and friends after that same Charles Barkley cheap-shotted an elbow into this guy’s chest is the indelible moment of those Games for us.

One can draw a straight downward-trending line from those Olympics to the present as representative of declining American performances and results, and conversely, rising international peformenaces in the Games.

Though we are no means real followers of the sport, we do enjoy the game and will catch what we can when ESPN broadcasts the women’s college world series. Unlike baseball, softball is briskly-paced and one whose participants are very often quite attractive. Sue us!

Anyway, it is hoped the IOC can pull its head out of its rear end long enough to realize that women like Lisa Fernandez and Jennie Finch (pictured) aren’t just heroes to young women here but represent democratizing and gender-equalizing influences around the globe and re-instate softball as an Olympic sport.