Baseball and Softball at the Summer Olympics

From 1996 to 2008 Softball was an Olympic sport. Unfortunately, it was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016. This is an old story, but for those of you that have not heard it, it is an interesting one. The reason that softball was removed from the list of Olympic sports was that the United States was too dominant. The USA won 3 gold and 1 silver during that time frame and wasn't provided much competition especially towards the end, but I think it is incredibly dumb to remove the sport. We can't just drop the sport because the USA is winning all the time. Talk about taking your ball and going home, this is just an unwise decision.

No Jennie Finch gentlemen.

Not only was softball removed, but my favorite sport, baseball, was also removed. The best Olympic sport was removed for a different reason. There was no star power according to the IOC because of major league baseball. What? Do they realize we could have had Dylan Bundy this time around? Well, I guess they would have no idea since the decision was made in 2006, but it is still an unwise one. Baseball was one of the most competitively balanced sports in the Olympics. It is a worldwide game. Cuba won 3 of the 5 gold medals with the US and South Korea also winning. Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela are all competitive. I think they could have kept it, but what can you do. Davey Johnson wouldn't have been able to manage this time around because he has the Nasty Nats to worry about. The European bias of the IOC seemed to be in play here as well. The Netherlands and Italy were the only teams from Europe to participate in multiple Olympics and neither team had a medal winner.

The international softball federation and the international baseball federation are putting together a joint effort to revive these sports as Olympic Sports by 2020. Rugby 7s and Golf were added in their place. The best golfers better be there to make up for the loss of baseball. We want Bubba. Oh, but it won't happen until 2016 for these sports so for now we will have an Olympics with two fewer sports in 2012. Enjoy.

-Noland