http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/olympics/07/08/sports.dropped.ap/index.html Kinda smacks of Anti-Americanism. That and the agreement by China and Russia to work on keeping the US from winning the most medals. Too bad the spirit of the games is long since gone.
Thank ******** for that. I could not bear to watch us get our asses kicked in by the Cubans once again in a sport we invented. Good riddance.
Reasonable move. I don't think baseball and, in particular, softball should have been added in the first place. Just not widely enough played at a competitive level to justify entry.
Replace baseball with Golf or a roller sport of some sort! IOC should just add bocce ball and HALO 2, only the CTF version.
I doubt it's anti-Americanism, and it's definitely not an attempt to prevent the US from winning the most medals (there's only one medal for each sport and a gold for the US in baseball is hardly guaranteed - we didn't even qualify for the Olympics in Athens). Here's the list of current team sports in the Olympics: baseball, basketball, field hockey, handball, soccer, softball, volleyball, water polo. Of those, softball is clearly the least popular internationally, and baseball has a narrower international appeal than most of the others. Add in the fact that most prospective host cities don't have a suitable baseball stadium, and the fact that major leaguers don't play, and it's pretty clear why they'd consider dropping it.
This is too bad. I was looking forward to baseball in Regent's Park in 2012. Surely baseball has as much popularity internationally as ice hockey, yet there's no sign of that being dropped from the Winter games. All the more reason to have a true Baseball World Cup involving MLBers. We'll see how this World Baseball Classic works out.
Isn't Ice Hocky popular in the Scandanavian countries, Russia and Eastern European countries as well? Much more widely played/followed than Baseball or Softball surely? I'm sure they'll go with golf and rugby to replace them as they bring the most instant popularity of any of the proposed sports raising the profile of the games even higher, as if they need it.
That's totally ridiculous. Numerous countries play baseball competitively. I just hope the World Baseball Classic works out.
Ice Hockey is pretty popular, but Baseball is also very popular around the World. Japan, Korea, USA, Cuba, Mexico, to name a few all have National Leagues that produce some damn good players. Really only in Europe and Africa are the only places that baseball does not do well. South America has baseball leagues, hell many MLB players play winter ball there. Taking Baseball off is a mistake.
Baseball America's projected lineupes for the world cup (World Baseball Classic). Names of MLB teams are included where applicable. 11 of the countries are serious about their baseball, while 5 are more marginal. The two European teams and South Africa are there to make it a WORLD cup. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC C—Miguel Olivo (Mariners) 1B—Albert Pujols (Cardinals) 2B—Alfonso Soriano (Rangers) 3B—Aramis Ramirez (Cubs) SS— Miguel Tejada (Orioles) LF—Manny Ramirez (Red Sox) CF—Jose Guillen (Nationals) RF—Vladimir Guerrero (Angels) DH—David Ortiz (Red Sox) SP—Pedro Martinez (Mets) SP—Bartolo Colon (Angels) SP—Odalis Perez (Dodgers) SP—Daniel Cabrera (Orioles) RP—Francisco Cordero (Rangers) Manager: Felipe Alou (Giants) UNITED STATES C—Jason Varitek (Red Sox) 1B—Todd Helton (Rockies) 2B—Jeff Kent (Dodgers) 3B—Scott Rolen (Cardinals) SS—Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) LF—Lance Berkman (Astros) CF—Jim Edmonds (Cardinals) RF—Gary Sheffield (Yankees) DH—Barry Bonds (Giants) SP—Roger Clemens (Astros) SP—Mark Prior (Cubs) SP—Ben Sheets (Brewers) SP—Mark Mulder (Cardinals) RP—Billy Wagner (Phillies) Manager: Bobby Cox (Braves) JAPAN C—Kenji Jojima 1B—Nobuhiko Matsunaka 2B—Tadahito Iguchi (White Sox) 3B—Michihiro Ogasawara SS—Kazuo Matsui (Mets) LF—Kosuke Fukudome CF—Hideki Matsui (Yankees) RF—Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) DH—Norihiro Nakamura SP—Daisuke Matsuzaka SP—Koji Uehara SP—Hideo Nomo (Devil Rays) SP—Tomo Ohka (Nationals) RP—Shingo Takatsu Manager: Sadaharu Oh KOREA C—Seung-heun Hong 1B—Seung-yeop Lee 2B—Kyung-hwan Ahn 3B—Dong-soo Kim SS—Sae-wan Hong LF—Joon-hyuk Yang CF—Jeong-bum Lee RF—Jong-soo Shim DH—Hee-seop Choi (Dodgers) SP—Jae-weong Seo (Mets) SP—Chan-ho Park (Rangers) SP—Myung-hwan Park SP—Min-tae Chong RP—Byung-yung Kim (Rockies) Manager: Jae-park Kim PUERTO RICO C—Ivan Rodriguez (Tigers) 1B—Carlos Delgado (Marlins) 2B—Jose Vidro (Nationals) 3B—Mike Lowell (Marlins) SS—Alex Cora (Indians) LF—Alexis Rios (Blue Jays) CF—Carlos Beltran (Mets) RF—Jose Cruz Jr. (Diamondbacks) DH—Javy Lopez (Orioles) SP—Javier Vazquez (Diamondbacks) SP—Joel Pineiro (Mariners) SP—J.C. Romero (Twins) SP—Kiko Calero (Athletics) RP—Roberto Hernandez (Mets) Manager: Jose Cruz Sr. (Astros) CUBA C—Ariel Pestano 1B—Danny Miranda 2B—Yulieski Gourriel 3B—Michel Enriquez SS—Eduardo Paret LF—Frederich Cepeda CF—Carlos Tabares RF—Alexei Ramirez DH—Eriel Sanchez SP—Norge Vera SP—Vicyohandri Odelin SP—Adiel Palma SP—Danny Betancourt RP—Pedro Luis Lazo Manager: Higinio Velez TAIWAN C—Chun-chang Ye 1B—Chia-hsien Hsieh 2B—Chung-yi Huang 3B—Tai-shan Chang SS—Ching-lung Hu (Dodgers) LF—Chin-feng Chen (Dodgers) CF—Chih-yuan Chen RF—Kan-lin Huang DH—Cheng-min Peng SP—Chien-ming Wang (Yankees) SP—Chi-Hung Cheng (Blue Jays) SP—Chih-chia Chang SP—Ming-chieh Hsu RP— Chin-hui Tsao (Rockies) Manager: Sheng-ming Hsu VENEZUELA C—Ramon Hernandez (Padres) 1B—Edgardo Alfonzo (Giants) 2B—Cesar Izturis (Dodgers) 3B—Carlos Guillen (Tigers) SS—Omar Vizquel (Giants) LF—Melvin Mora (Orioles) CF—Bob Abreu (Phillies) RF—Miguel Cabrera (Marlins) DH—Magglio Ordonez (Tigers) SP—Johan Santana (Twins) SP—Carlos Zambrano (Cubs) SP—Freddy Garcia (White Sox) SP—Kelvim Escobar (Angels) RP—Francisco Rodriguez (Angels) Manager: Ozzie Guillen, White Sox CANADA C—Pete LaForest (Devil Rays) 1B—Justin Morneau (Twins) 2B—Pete Orr (Braves) 3B—Cory Koskie (Blue Jays) SS—Danny Klassen (Astros) LF—Jason Bay (Pirates) CF—Aaron Guiel (Royals) RF—Larry Walker (Cardinals) DH—Matt Stairs (Royals) SP—Rich Harden (Athletics) SP—Erik Bedard (Orioles) SP—Jeff Francis (Rockies) SP—Ryan Dempster (Cubs) RP—Eric Gagne (Dodgers) Manager: Ernie Whitt (Blue Jays) MEXICO C—Miguel Ojeda (Padres) 1B—Guillermo Velasquez 2B—Jorge Cantu (Devil Rays) 3B—Vinny Castilla (Nationals) SS—Alfredo Amezaga (Pirates) LF—Mario Valenzuela CF—Luis Garcia RF—Karim Garcia DH—Erubiel Durazo (Athletics) SP—Esteban Loiaza (Nationals) SP—Oliver Perez (Pirates) SP—Rodrigo Lopez (Orioles) SP—Elmer Dessens (Dodgers) RP—Luis Ayala (Nationals) Manager: Fernando Valenzuela PANAMA C—Einar Diaz (Cardinals) 1B—Olmedo Saenz (Dodgers) 2B—Jose Macias (Cubs) 3B—Damaso Espino (Royals) SS—Vicente Garabaldo LF—Carlos Lee (Brewers) CF—Ruben Rivera RF—Fernando Seguignol DH—Julio Zuleta SP—Bruce Chen (Orioles) SP—Roger Deago (Padres) SP—Ramiro Mendoza (Yankees) SP—Len Pecota RP—Mariano Rivera (Yankees) Manager: Omar Moreno SOUTH AFRICA C—Willem Kemp 1B—Nick Dempsey 2B—Paul Bell 3B—Jonathan Phillips SS—Brett Willemberg LF—Jason Jonathan CF—Jason Cook RF—Ian Holness DH—Adrian Langeveldt SP—Barry Armitage (Royals) SP—Bruce McCleland (Royals) SP—Tyrone Lamont (Mariners) SP—Carl Michaels RP—Darryn Smith Manager: Raymond Tew NETHERLANDS C—Chairon Isenia 1B—Randall Simon (Devil Rays) 2B—Evert Jan t'Hoen 3B—Vince Rooi (Nationals) SS—Raily Legito LF—Eugene Kingsale CF—Andruw Jones (Braves) RF—Rikkert Faneyte DH—Sharnol Adriana SP—Sydney Ponson (Orioles) SP—Calvin Maduro SP—Alexander Smit (Twins) SP—Rob Cordemans RP—Ferenc Jongejan Manager: Robert Eenhoorn AUSTRALIA C—Dave Nilsson 1B—Justin Huber (Royals) 2B—Trent Durrington (Brewers) 3B—Adam Morrissey (Athletics) SS—Glenn Williams (Twins) LF—Chris Snelling (Mariners) CF—Trent Oeltjen (Twins) RF—Brett Roneberg DH—Ben Risinger (Padres) SP—Chris Oxspring (Padres) SP—Grant Balfour (Twins) SP—Travis Blackley (Mariners) SP—Craig Anderson (Mariners) RP—Jeff Williams Manager: John Diebel (Phillies) CHINA C—Wang Wei 1B—Chen Qi 2B—Feng Fei 3B—Zhang Wei SS—Zheng Yu Feng LF—Lin Xiao Fan CF—Sun Ling-feng RF—Yang Guo Gang DH—Liu Guang Biao SP—Wang Chao SP—Wang Nan SP—Zhang Jian Wang SP—Su Chang-long RP—Li Wei Liang Manager: Li Bin ITALY C—Carlos A. Patrone 1B—Claudio Liverziani 2B—Francesco Imperiali 3B—Igor Schiavetti SS—Seth la Fera LF—Daniel di Pace CF—Daniele Frignani RF—Jim Buccheri DH—Jairo Ramos Gizzi SP—Jason Simontacchi SP—David Rollandini SP---Silvio Censale SP—Ilo Bartolucci RP—Juan Carlos Vigna Manager: Giampiero Faraone
There have been other times that added to it, but the Olympics kind of died for me the day the South Koreans blatantly awarded the Gold to their own boxer. If that didn't do it, choosing Beijing certainly did. Ted Turner had more vision than the entire IOC.
I wouldn't call a handful of countries "numerous". I'm not sure they needed to drop it, though. It's probably about money, i.e. the expense of hosting it, and the lack of return. I don't know. Perhaps they can get more revenue from other sports, e.g. golf.
Let's see what's happened the the baseball venues since it became an Olympic sport. Barcelona: Now a soccer stadium Atlanta: Demolished Sydney: Rugby League stadium Athens: One permanent stadium and one temporary stadium.
I've been to a Cricket match Other than getting rip roaring drunk, it was the most boring time I've ever spent in my life
Yeah, and IOC's long-running non-acceptance of lapta, gorodki, poddavki, chizh, chess and bandy is just a part of the US-led blatant anti-Russian campaign. Get a life. When it comes to international sports, baseball and softball are two pimples on an elephant's butt. Their admittance in the first place was an entirely US-appeasing move, just as is the case with snowboarding. Besides, when you admit two obviously unpopular sports, they should at least have the common decensy to show up with their best players. But, hey, if baseball is too good for the Olympics, why the hell should anyone care about it?
There are fewer sport sin the Winter Olympics, and you are wildly underestimating hockey's appeal in Europe, especially in the Scandanavian countries. Besides, comparing ice hockey to baseball is like comparing Formula 1 to a snail race, as far as excitement goes. I would think Cricket might be added as a demonstration sport for the London games in 2012.