FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Amidst all the oohing and ahhing over Michael Phelps, and all the other pageantry of the Olympics, is the fact that this will be the last year baseball is competed in the games.  And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is.  Consider one sport that is staying; Equestrian dressage.  Basically, a man wearing a fancy suit coat and top hat, rides a very expensive horse around in circles.  Yes, this is seriously an event held at the Olympics.  The greatest gathering of world-class athletes in the world, and somehow, people riding horses is considered an athletic event??  Jockeying a horse in the Kentucky Derby is one thing - but seriously...it's a glorified pony ride!  And table tennis...I'm sorry, I realize how much eye-hand coordination it must take to play at such a high level...but isn't table tennis, ping-pong, a game you play after drinking about 20 beers?  How is this considered a more appropriate sport of baseball.

And synchronized swimming?  Sure, I'm sure it's hard to tread water and act like your dancing in a pool...but puh-llllease.  I know baseball has taken some flak for supposedly being boring...but baseball's alleged boringness doesn't even hold a candle to watching someone splash around in a pool to cheesy music.  I could go on and on about all of the lame, uninteresting sports that the Olympic committee has decided to keep over baseball.  There is seriously Olympic canoeing.  Yes, canoeing; the activity that, to me, signifies paddling down a river, fishing line in tow, and a large cooler full of ice and malt beverages.  Why does it seem to be a recurring theme, that many of these supposed "sports" are activities that involve drinking for me?  Am I that bad an alcoholic?  When are darts going to be considered an olympic sport?  As long as were doing the "things I do while I'm drunk" theme.  Is there going to be Olympic pinball, anytime soon?  Or maybe they could make an Olympic Sport out of that Big Buck Hunter arcade game.  

 My all-time favorite is "Rhythmic Gymnastics."  A "sport," in which gymnasts manipulate one or two of the following apparatuses; rope, hoops, ball, club, and ribbon.  You may remember this sport demonstrated by Will Ferrell, in the movie "Old School."  Yes, dancing around with ropes, hoops, balls, clubs, and ribbons is considered more worthy a sport for the Olympics then baseball.  I'm not intending to belittle the hard work that any of these athletes put into getting to the Olympics - but, until they can hit a small, leather ball moving at 95 mph with a cylindrical piece of wood, I'm going to keep complaining.  i recall Cuban dictator Fidel Castro claiming that the rich, powerful, and wealthy people who control the Olympics, are the reason baseball is getting pulled.  And you know what?  I almost hate to admit it, but i kind of agree with the man - as rotten a human being as he is, I can't really come up with a better explanation.  Children in Latin America, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States, dream of becoming a professional baseball player.  One of the quintessential images of baseball, is a father and son sitting in the stands, eating hot dogs, always on the look out for a foul ball hit their way.  Only thing is, is that this image isn't just confined to the United States anymore, either.  How can baseball be no longer considered worthy of an international stage like the Olympics?  Yet, we have to watch people in top hats ride around on horses, which probably cost a few hundred thousand dollars, no less.  Baseball, is a game of the people.  Always has been.  Even as salaries have exploded over the past 20 years, there still has always seemed to be a connection between the game, and the people who love it.  I would love the Olympic committee to explain to all of us, what percentage of the world rides around on horses, while wearing top-hats?  What athletic ability is utilized when riding a friggin horse??  What unique athletic ability is utilized when playing ping-pong?  Sure, they look so good hitting a little white plastic ball back and forth - but let's put a bat in their hand, and see if they can hit this 90 mph slider.  

 My point is this; the Olympics is supposed to be this grand, international test of athletic skill.  The greatest physical specimens from each nation come to one spot on the globe, and test their skills against the very best in the world.  But notice that word, "athletic."  Baseball players are athletes. Horse riders, are not.  Maybe the jockeys who ride race horses...but guiding a horse around a stable?  That isn't a sport...that's what rich ****holes do, right before they settle down to a $500 bottle of champagne.  Perhaps, maybe the Olympic committee, in their infinite wisdom, should reevaluate what it is to be an Olympian.  What is a "sport?"  And what does being a true athlete entail?  Does baseball take second place to an event like handball?  Synchronized swimming?  Synchronized diving?  Only in the Olympics, can you go from watching a physical freak like Michael Phelps, to seeing people dance around on a floor, twirling ribbons in the air.  I'll give the Olympics this much; it exposes us to sports that the United States would normally never take interest in.  Phelps has single handedly increased the popularity of swimming, a very popular international sport, ten fold.  Just like Tiger Woods created a PGA renaissance.  But when you suddenly take out a game like baseball, a sport enjoyed by millions upon millions of people, it more then anything, shows a bit of hypocrisy.  This is supposed to be a test of skill, and you're removing one of the most difficult to master of all.  And even with softball, which is also getting removed; yes, I understand that the US clobbers everyone that gets in their path...but the US used to do the same in basketball.  How come basketball wasn't removed then?  It just makes no sense.  At all.