THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM PRINTED VERSIONQuickly - Sports
'Allow Tonya Harding to become a member at Augusta National. We know she knows how to swing a club.'(PHOTO)(PHOTO)(PHOTO)(PHOTO)
The International Olympic Committee recommended that softball, baseball and Greco-Roman wrestling be eliminated at the conclusion of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Those affiliated with the Olympics were shocked: For once, the IOC has a chance to get it right.The Olympics has become a bloated, unwieldy collection of semi-sports (yachting) and non-sports (badminton) and if the IOC doesn't soon learn how to say no, the 2008 Beijing Olympics will include bridge, climbing, roller skating and surfing. All have launched campaigns to be admitted.
By 2012 they'll be playing wiffleball and hopscotch.
Here's why softball is on the danger list: It costs too much. A softball venue is singular, used only to play softball, and therefore must be built at each new Olympiad. Worse, softball is not a game played with much devotion, or skill, in Africa and Europe. That's half the world.
Baseball is almost sure to be eliminated. The U.S. and Japan are the world's best baseball countries and both send minor-leaguers to the Olympics. Only Cuba and Korea have enough to contend with third-tier Americans and Japanese teams. The rest of the competition borders on laughable.
The IOC insists it will limit to 28 the number of sports played in each Olympiad. That's a worthy goal, especially given the growth in Olympic popularity the last 30 years.
No wonder every sport, from lacrosse to cricket, wants in.
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