Softball USA Olympics

[MTR]

Actually, getting rid of softball made little sense considering the fact that it always sells out their venue and gets some TV attention.

However, adding golf which has a high level of participation, media attention, viewership and sponsorship (even without Woods) does make a lot of sense considering the IOCs goal of those last three items. It certainly blows away softball (and many other Olympic sports) in all catagories.

 

[Pops]

Greetings,

The original intent of this thread was to discuss a petition to save softball as an Olympic sport. However it has degenerated into a discussion by naysayers who would rather make Tiger Woods jokes and talk about golf rather than doing something about the situation.

If anyone wants to help return softball to the Olympics there is a teenage girl named Jamie Gray who is doing something about her dream to represent the United States as an Olympic Softball Player. You can go to her website at Please help save olympic softball! Sign our online petition! and sign her online petition.

Regards,

Pops

 

[Mark H]

For a view of the Olympic situation suggested reading would include UCS and Spysoftball.

 

[MTR]

Pops,

I think what you and many of the folks don't understand is that you can present a 100 petitions, they don't care.

You are not dealing with a bunch of bleeding heart, touchy-feely people. They are all politics and business and like it or not, they will not accept outside pressure. They don't care!

For that matter, there are some who believe that petitions and attempted pressure/demands by some are part of the American arrogance that irritates some IOC members that much more. Some of the members will accept "honoraria" for support only to turn away afterwards. Apparently, the ASA found this out the hard way when "co-producing" a presentation plan with another country to win votes to get the game back in the Olympics. The problem is that no one knows how a vote will go or who did not meet a promise since all votes are confidential. That means these folks can tell you anything you want to hear, but will do what they damn well please and there is zero accountability.

As much as I, too, would like to see softball back in the Olympics, the only was it is going to happen if there is some way to convince them it is in THEIR best financial and professional reputation. The standard feel-good reaction so popular in the US just isn't going to impress these folks.

I think the ISF has a better chance for 2020 if they increase their marketing (to include TV) of the Pan-Am Games, World Cup of Softball, Canada Cup, Japan Cup and every other event they sanction. They need to show the IOC members they are missing the bus on a great deal. And while "demonstration sports" have basically been eliminated, there is absolutely nothing stoping ISF or a host from conducting a tournament which may happen to coincide with the games.

I'm sort of surprised after seemingly losing the possibility of coming back in 2016 that the ISF hasn't set up a tournament around the time of the 2012 games. The game is popular in Great Britian and I am confident they could do well.

 

[Pops]

Cynical?

Hi MTR,

I find your point of view quite cynical. I am not naive, I understand the power, politics, and hubris behind the Olympic movement. I just believe that it is more productive to unify people who support softball rather than throwing my hands up in the air and quitting like you appear to advocate. The hopes and dreams of young people matter. They are the future and they will change the world to come. I think that type of thinking and effort needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Don't you?

If you coach a softball team do you tell them to quit when it's the bottom of the last inning and they are behind. Do you tell them that the other team is too big, too talented, and too powerful for them to overcome? I don't think so. So why would you discourage any effort to bring about positive change? I think you should look at yourself and rethink your attitudes. They need adjustment.

People who change the world often are opposed initially but then gradually others grab hold of their ideas and help bring their hopes and dreams to fruition. I've heard it said that it if better to light a candle in the night rather than to curse the darkness.

Food for thought.

Best Regards,
Pops

 

[Mark H]

Good for you Pops. I like the passion. Go get'em. Have you read through the archives on Spy and the threads on UCS relating to softball? Given your intense interest you may want to find out all you can. For my part, as a Nielsen family, you won't find our televisions tuned to the Olympics raising their ratings. Nor will I buy Easton products. Ease up on MTR there. I'm sure he wants the best for softball too.

 

[druer]

Pops - Thanking you for sharing Jamie's site with us. My favorite part of this game is hearing about young ladies like Jamie who have dreams and are commited to those dreams as if they've already come true.

 

[MTR]

Hi MTR,

I find your point of view quite cynical. I am not naive, I understand the power, politics, and hubris behind the Olympic movement. I just believe that it is more productive to unify people who support softball rather than throwing my hands up in the air and quitting like you appear to advocate. The hopes and dreams of young people matter. They are the future and they will change the world to come. I think that type of thinking and effort needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Don't you?

If you coach a softball team do you tell them to quit when it's the bottom of the last inning and they are behind. Do you tell them that the other team is too big, too talented, and too powerful for them to overcome? I don't think so. So why would you discourage any effort to bring about positive change? I think you should look at yourself and rethink your attitudes. They need adjustment.

People who change the world often are opposed initially but then gradually others grab hold of their ideas and help bring their hopes and dreams to fruition. I've heard it said that it if better to light a candle in the night rather than to curse the darkness.

Food for thought.

Best Regards,
Pops

You call it cynical, I call it reality. I've talked to some ISF members about this over the past 5 years and it didn't look good then.

However, you shouldn't claim I said something I did not. I didn't say anything about quitting. I did state that you have to give the IOC something that will impress them to the point of reconsidering their previous decision.

Now, the cynical part. Leave the useless, feel-good philosophy to the federal government and Dept. of Homeland Security. If you are trying to attract a vegetarian by baiting a trap with red meat. What you, me and the rest of the softball world think about our game and its place in the world is completely irrelevant to the IOC. We have to make the game attractive to them. We have to make them sit up and feel they NEED softball back in the Olympics.

Unfortunately, it is still going to take more politics than anything else and that sir, is just the way it is.

 

[Mark H]

I'm afraid you are right. It IS political and many in the IOC don't mind being able to stick a thumb in the USA"s eye. Denying us what we want is a bonus for some of them so they won't be persuaded by a petition. I do like Pop's passion. I'll be a lot more impressed with his passion if he goes to those sites I recommended and gains knowledge to match his passion.

 

[FJRGerry]

Pops, I tried signing Jamie's online petition but it's closed.