Olympic Baseball gone in 2012

[Umpire in Chief]

I was just wasting some time looking at some Olympic stuff when I read that baseball and softball will be eliminated from competition in 2012. One reason stated is that they're too American.

WTF??? Baseball is huge internationally especially the far east and Latin America. The US only won 1 gold in the 4 Olympics it was a sport. Cuba won 3. That sounds too American to me.

Don't get me wrong, the Olympics aren't as highly regarded here in the US as other countries, who can name 3 people on the US Olympic baseball team??? But this was still a definite mistake.

On top of that they are thinking of replacing them with squash & karate??? Well these are the geniuses which made badminton and table tennis an Olympic sport.

[LMSANS]

I was just wasting some time looking at some Olympic stuff when I read that baseball and softball will be eliminated from competition in 2012. One reason stated is that they're too American.

WTF??? Baseball is huge internationally especially the far east and Latin America. The US only won 1 gold in the 4 Olympics it was a sport. Cuba won 3. That sounds too American to me.

Don't get me wrong, the Olympics aren't as highly regarded here in the US as other countries, who can name 3 people on the US Olympic baseball team??? But this was still a definite mistake.

On top of that they are thinking of replacing them with squash & karate??? Well these are the geniuses which made badminton and table tennis an Olympic sport.

I wouldn't be surprised if MLB had something to do with it. Can you imagine 25 AAA & major leaguers disappearing in July/August to play in the Olympics? I know they're mostly college players now but so was basketball.

[Umpire in Chief]

I bet that has a bit to do with it b/c so many MLB players come from all over the world and some teams would struggle for a few weeks.

But I would love to see our college players go to the olympics that is the spirit of the games - amateurs. Imagine how strong a team we could field if we made an all star team from the final 8 tems from the CWS. Of course stacked pretty with 'Heels.

[HokieUmp]

It's not just because it's too American, although I'm sure some votes were cast against it for that reason. It's also because of the number of countries that play the game. I read somewhere that there had to be something like 75 countries playing the game/sport to be considered or retained. I don't know what qualifies a country "playing" - does that mean a nation-wide league, or a national committee, or what?

Cricket has it worse; if you go by population, more than 1/4 of the planet follows the game (thanks to India, where they're banans over it). Unfortunately for them, only 11 countries have Test status (meaning the top level of the game), and a couple of those don't deserve it, since they get beat like a drum every time out.

[Stan W.]

seems a shame that we will lose baseball and softball...........but they continue to have:

Handball

Ping Pong

Rhythmic Gymnastics ( not the hard stuff like rings and beam, but the dancing with hoops and ribbons)

trampoline.........???

[Umpire in Chief]

Here's some info on how the process works and the current standings if your interested.

Eight teams qualify for Olympic competition, primarily through continental qualification tournaments.

The host country of the Olympic Games (in this case, China) receives an automatic bid.

The top two teams from the Americas' continental qualifier (the United States and Cuba, respectively) automatically advance to the Games, and the top team both from Europe (Netherlands) and Asia's (Japan) qualifiers automatically move on to Olympic competition.

The third and fourth place teams from the Americas (Mexico and Canada), the second and third place teams from both Asia and Europe (Korea and Chinese Taipei, and Spain and Germany), and the continental champion both from Africa (South Africa) and Oceania (Australia) then move on to a final Olympic qualifying tournament. Following a round-robin series of games, the teams with the top three won-loss records (this year, Canada, Korea and Chinese Taipei) advance to the Olympic Games baseball competition.

Standings:

Cuba 5-0

S. Korea 5-0

US 3-2

Japan 3-2

Canada 1-4

Netherlands 1-4

Taipei 1-4

China 1-4

There are 2 more days of pool play, the top 4 teams advance to the playoffs (single elimination).

Now reading that China got an automatic bid as the host country and they are at the bottom of the ranks I think that is is a bad situation because some of the more deserving teams who may have been more competitive get screwed.

Over the weekend I read a few more articles all with different takes on why baseball & softball are being eliminated. From being too American, to the steroid issue, to international appeal and more.

Here's my thought they cant broadcast baseball, and the Olympics cost so much and can't generate revenue from it. They want fast competitions like races that are done in 1:00 so they can continue to jump around. Baseball fans will watch and root for their team. Hell if I'm on the edge of my seat rooting for Phelps having no real interest in swimming, I would watch a baseball game. I bet in Cuba every inning of the baseball is being broadcast. And they probably get to see a healthy amount in Japan & S. Korea as the far east is now crazy for baseball.

I would think in all of the extra capacity (bandwidth) on satellite and cable they could open up a few more channels to let people view what they want. If ping pong or badminton is your thing then go for it. That way they can generate extra revenue with additional ads.

[Umpire in Chief]

seems a shame that we will lose baseball and softball...........but they continue to have:

trampoline.........???

Trampoline??? I loved the trampoline "competitions" on "The Man Show" Oh please give us 24/7 coverage of trampoline with Adam and Jimmy. With lots of replay and slo-mos. :D

[Stan W.]

Badmittton- no game played at a childs birthday party should be an olympic sport.......whats next.....bobbing for apples or pin the tale on the donkey.??

womens wrestling.....thats just not something I want to see unless it includes bikinis, baby oil and or jello............

[blue32]

If MLB and the players union would agree to suspend the season for a few weeks like the NHL does, baseball would be back in the olympics. It may sound crazy, but if the MLB wants to get more market share world wide, having their stars in the olympics is the best way to do it. One of the other issues I have heard is that the union doesn't want it due to the drug testing that is involved with olympic athletes. It's sad, because I would much rather see an all star team in the middle of the summer compete against the world than a team in the beginning of february like they did with the WBC.