Posted on 08/21/2008 8:45:37 AM PDT by StoneWallJack
SI.com: Give us your best guess: Will softball get reinstated for the 2016 Games?
Roberts: I think there is great momentum right now to reinstate softball for 2016 due to a couple of important reasons: First, Asian countries have poured a lot of resources into women's softball. Japan is one example, and those countries have a lot of pull with the IOC.
Second, I think America is doing the right thing in exporting its knowledge of the game by establishing clinics in Europe where there is more resistance toward the game of softball. One other wildcard for 2016 is the exit of the Bush administration. The undercurrent of anti-Americanism within the IOC, which some say has hurt the U.S. because of its softball dominance, may abate somewhat with a potential administration led by Barack Obama, a rock star in Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Is Bush to blame for US softball losing to Japan in the Gold medal round?????????????
Anti-Americanism was around long before President Bush.
Hopefully it will be around for a long, long time.
thats freaking hilarious. these people have really lost their minds.
SI lost me at the global warming issue.
This thread is useless with gratuitous photos of our pitcher.
What could help softball in the future is IF Chicago gets the games in 2016.
yes....but he doesn’t get an ounce of credit for the dominance of the team the past eight years...
btw: who the eff is selena roberts??
Selena Roberts bashed Duke’s Coach K a few years ago for showing his politics:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/news/781646/posts
What are liberals going to do when Bush is no longer in office? Who will they have to blame?
Selena Roberts complains about men-only country clubs on SI:
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/203059
(some of the posted comments by readers are funny)
Why President John McCain of course.
I cancelled my subscription the day I received that issue. Had been a subscriber since the 1960's.
All we’ve heard about for the last few years now is all of this anti-Americanism. Has anyone heard a US Olympic athlete booed at any Olympic event? They get cheered like rock stars. Was Bush bood? People love the American athletes. The way the MSM built it up you’d think they’d be booed at every turn.
The witch hunt that Sports Illustrated did against Bob Knight was the end for me. Screw SI.
The Olympic games do not deserve the attention and importance they are given.
When they started in the steamship age in 1896, one great sporting meet every four years was all the world could manage.
Now there is a world championship in almost every sport every year. The Olympic games are no longer needed, and it would be very good if they simply went away!
Oh, I’m going to be so ill! Is there nothing that arrogant little sh*thead can’t do (other than telling the truth)?
Or so said the commentators the other night.
From what I saw, when the USA was down 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning, with one out and the bases loaded, I don't recall it being President Bush hitting a weak infield fly pop, or a weak pop-up to first, to end the inning. For a while, I thought they turned into the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Whoever this writer is, must have had a real hard time with May-Treanor and Walsh complimenting the President right after they won the gold last night/this morning.
Cosmopolitan does a better job of covering sports than Sports Illustrated does.
“What are liberals going to do when Bush is no longer in office? Who will they have to blame?”
Bush.
This is ridiculous...I don’t think “hate” for Prez Bush has anything to do with IOC voting to get rid of baseball and softball.
The problem? Europeans are not interested in baseball and softball...I am not sure when that would change anytime soon. Only ONE European nation fielded both baseball and softball teams this time: Netherlands. I don’t think French, Germans, Spanish, and British want to keep the sports in which they have zero chance of winning a medal.
How about African nations? Like Europeans, they don’t care about baseball and softball. European IOC and African IOC members agree on that...
I am also suspecting that IOC is reluctant to make the host nations to build baseball and softball stadiums...
London will host the next Olympics...I am thinking that British government is happy that it doesn’t have to spend money on building baseball and softball stadiums. What would British do with baseball and softball stadiums after Olympics?
What if Brazil hosts the Olympics after London? What would Brazilian government think about building baseball and softball stadiums?
BMX biking as an Olympic sport? I think softball and baseball are more of sport than that...
“The problem? Europeans are not interested in baseball and softball...I am not sure when that would change anytime soon. Only ONE European nation fielded both baseball and softball teams this time: Netherlands. I dont think French, Germans, Spanish, and British want to keep the sports in which they have zero chance of winning a medal.”
Thirty years ago, we didn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning gymnastics, soccer, cross country Tour de France type bicycling and other “world sports”. We adapted and overcame (as the Marines say). I think the one that personally shocked me more than anything this Olympics, (and honestly I don’t keep up with the sport) is the women sweeping all 3 medals in fencing (sabre). I always thought that was a European dominated sport. Nice to see we have some American ladies that know how to kick some tail in a knife fight!
I just don’t see young women in Europe getting into softball anytime soon...When some European team matches up against US, Japan, or Australia, IOC might reconsider softball...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.