Olympics vs. Baseball

[AZZenny]

Some quotes taken from a couple national articles:

The IOC voted Friday to kick out baseball and softball following the 2008 Beijing Olympics. IOC president Jacques Rogge said the sports would be eligible to reapply in 2009, but they could not be reinstated for the 2012 London Games.

Rogge said baseball, which became a medal sport in 1992, would be reinstated only if it allows its best players to compete in the Olympics and adopts tougher anti-doping rules.

While professionals played in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, only players not on 40-man major league rosters were eligible. During a question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Selig said sending top stars to the Olympics was not possible.

"I'm not going to stop the season," he said. "There is no set of circumstances for me to be able to say to teams in late August, `Well, now, take two weeks off guys. We'll see you all except 20 or 25 people, whatever numbers there are, that are going to play for either the United States or for the other countries. That's just not practical. In the heart of pennant races, this is just absurd."

"The IOC wants clean sport, the best athletes and universality." (said Rogge)

Baseball was singled out because major leaguers don't compete in the Olympics and its drug-testing program falls way short of international standards.

Softball must increase its global appeal to win back its place, Rogge said. The sport also was hurt by its perceived ties to baseball.

"Both sports should have read the writing on the wall in Mexico," Rogge said. "They could see that the IOC wasn't happy with the way the sports were being organized."

Rogge said the IOC would work with the two sports in Beijing, then give them a chance in 2009 to make their case for reinstatement in 2016.

"In four years, a federation can do a lot of improvement," he said.

Softball and baseball hold deep American roots, and their removal reflects the IOC's heavy European influence. But the decision affects thousands of players worldwide. Baseball, in particular, is popular in the Caribbean, Latin America and East Asia.

"I would like to invite the leaders of these sports that will not be included in the program to make their very best efforts during the coming years so as to be able to convince the session that they deserve to come back to the Olympic Games in 2016. We shall support them in their efforts," he said.

The IOC will keep the voting figures secret. Not even the IOC members or sports federations will learn the totals.

You must be registered for see images

I hope the World Classic will be a huge success. The snotty arrogance of the IOC knows no bounds - but they may have met their match in the greedy arrogance of MLB. Go Bud!