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88 Comments
- Jesus2007, on 08/02/2008, -2/+23First, they take Baseball out of the Olympics, then the MLB can't play it DURING the Olympics. What next?
- Rabbethan, on 08/04/2008, -3/+21This article is wrong right off the bat. The Olympics don't take place during the All Star Break, they start about a month later.
You can't expect them to take a 2 week break for the Olympics a little more than a month before the playoffs, when heavy division races are going on. - theloofa, on 08/04/2008, -1/+15Isn't this why they have the WBC now?
- Shorties, on 08/04/2008, -2/+11Well, they took women's softball out of the olympics too, which is really sad, because Baseball players have a large career possibility besides the olympics, but for softball players that's all they can hope for.
- SnapETom, on 08/04/2008, -2/+11The whole mid-season thing is an excuse. It's because Selig and the Players' Union doesn't want to subject the players to the same drug tests that all Olympic athletes are subjected to. Everyone knows both turn a blind eye to steroids. The post-Mitchell report reactions are a joke. Olympic scrutiny would expose them.
- JeremyK684, on 08/04/2008, -1/+9I blame Bud Selig.. he's a piece of *****
- HappyScrappy, on 08/04/2008, -0/+7Wait, the world is blaming the MLB for killing a tradition? So the rest of the world is saying they can't continue the tradition themselves? I guess they have only themselves to blame then.
- FriedTurkey, on 08/04/2008, -1/+7Don't they have their own Olympic style tournament now? Isn't that the obvious reason they want to kill baseball in the Olympics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Baseball_Classi ... - bob_the_alien, on 08/04/2008, -0/+6Most countries have always used Pros in the Olympics, at least for the high profile sports, really aren't they all pros. I mean even the other sports, like track and field, they maybe little known, but they are the best in the world still, even if they aren't that well known. America just always sent college players for baseball and basketball, but they've decided to change that the past bit. I don't see a problem with it, if everyone else can use Pros, why shouldn't we.
- jspegele, on 08/04/2008, -0/+6They can if they play basketball or hockey.
- b33fsupreme, on 08/04/2008, -2/+7This is all lacking in perspective. Baseball wasn't in the last Olympics, either. Anybody remember the World Baseball Classic two years ago? Like Soccer/Football, baseball has shifted to the "own world championship" like World Cup for football/soccer. Cricket is the same - worldwide leagues of competition, and thus, it's own world championship, and not olympics.
MLB is responsible for this only as much as they're responsible for the WC. Which, if everyone will remember, the US did not win. As long as there is a WC, baseball will not be an olympic sport. This article should probably be marked inaccurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Baseball_Classi ...
Check it. - psychomidget, on 08/04/2008, -0/+5Actually it does...
- bryxal, on 08/04/2008, -0/+4sigh..... Obviously people don't RTFA or else they would be aware that this is written in the second paragraph.
"Take a longer All-Star break with the addition of a few extra days, or scratch the idea of seeing the Major League players we all love or love to hate and baseball all together from the Olympic adjenda." - GiantDunk, on 08/04/2008, -1/+5It comes down to money. The MLB has no money to make by letting their stars play in the Olympics, so they keep them in their ball parks filling their seats. People are spending 350-plus dollars for a family of 4 to even attend a ball game nowadays, and if the star player is off in Beijing, tickets sales of course would suffer. It's greed on MLB's part.
- crossmr, on 08/04/2008, -0/+4Do you need me to upload a video tutorial on how to use the reply link?
- rocketman42, on 08/04/2008, -1/+5MLB isn't to blame. You can't just stop the baseball season for several weeks to play in the Olympics. That time has to be made up. So the baseball season, which already goes from late-March/early-April to late-October (excluding spring training) would have to start earlier and/or end later. This means more baseball in the snow (which no team wants) and more overlap with other sports. Which would get more coverage, March Madness or Opening Day? And they don't want the October Classic in mid-November.
Personally, I wish they would just send the college champions to the Olympics. Same for basketball (UNC vs China sounds more interesting than a bunch of mega-millionaires feeding their egos). But I know that will never happen. - 9bpm9, on 08/04/2008, -2/+6The simple fact is that the IOC couldn't give a damn about the Western Hemisphere. The Western Hemisphere contains the only countries that are good at baseball, and then you have Japan. Although they put BMX'ing in, which is clearly an American sport with a clear American mindset.
Although if the winter olympics had a lot of sports like the summer olympics, they would probably kick out hockey, since no Western European teams are good at it. - Rabbethan, on 08/04/2008, -0/+3Because the ASG determines homefield advantage.
That said, I don't think the MLB could care less about the Olympics. - defska42, on 08/04/2008, -1/+4NHL doesn't take an All-Star break every 4 years in favor of the Winter Olympics. Why can't MLB? If they really wanted to get this done, they could.
- inactive, on 08/04/2008, -1/+4When it comes to team sports either the olympics or world championships matter, not both.
Soccer has the world cup and the olympics is an under 22 tourney, For hockey the olympics is king and the world championship are a consolation prize for players that didnt make the playoffs, Basketball its the olympics again, and baseball has chosen the world championships.
Baseball isnt really enough of an international sport anyways - 8randon, on 08/04/2008, -2/+5integrating MLB players wouldn't do much because baseball still doesn't have real global participation. softball is also canceled for London because of the same reason - even when professional players get to play for their home countries.
- 9bpm9, on 08/04/2008, -0/+3Uhhhh, yeah they do. Catch up on your hockey, they took an extended all-star break last Olympics and had no all-star game so guys could play in the Olympics, and they're doing it again in 2 years.
- devophl, on 08/04/2008, -1/+4Well, when IOC voted baseball out in 2005 it did so because of two reasons. First, there weren't enough countries that could field teams and second that it required special stadiums to be built exclusive to the sport. Many countries complained that it was such a limited appeal sport that future Olympics shouldn't be required to build stadiums exclusively for the sport. The IOC agreed and kicked both baseball and softball out of the Olympics starting in 2012.
Lets face it, the 2004 baseball tourney in the Olympics was a joke. In Europe, baseball isn't even a sport but still fielded 3 of the 8 spots in the tourney. Second, they agreed that only amateurs will play and this pretty much puts the U.S. out of the mix. The U.S. wasn't even in the 2004 Olympics and has won only 2 medals in the 4 Olympics baseball has been a sport. This pretty much hands the gold medal to Cuba who has won it in 3 of the 4 Olympics. Japan is the only other country that has been competitive.
Until baseball becomes more popular around the world, I will agree with the IOC that it doesn't belong in the Olympics. It might not have been a sport if not for the US adding it as a demonstration sport at the 1984 Olympics. Plus, if baseball were played on a football field, it might have been a different story.
On a side note, since no sport has been added to the lineup for 2016, its possible baseball and softball could be added back in. But its likely a new sport will get that honor and that's cricket. The new Twenty20 format of cricket has following worldwide that baseball doesn't and is making a big push to be the sport to fill the spot baseball left. - Oracle95, on 08/04/2008, -0/+3That's because the other countries cried over losing so badly to our women. You never heard an outcry to eliminate the Pentathalon, even though the Russians have dominated that event since its conception.
- indubitably, on 08/04/2008, -0/+3not every sport needs to be an olympic event.
- bryantee, on 08/04/2008, -0/+3Yes, Selig is kind of a dick. He acts like the MLB is just a profitable business venture. He doesn't care about the sport itself.
- harvinator24, on 08/04/2008, -2/+5***** baseball might not have the reach in europe, africa and western asia, but baseball is still the most popular sport in North America and South America. Just look at the participation of the latin american countries in the MLB.
Baseball is also very popular in Japan, Vietnam, and China.
All you need is a stick a ball and four rocks and you can play some baseball. - ajs508, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2wtf is Basebore?
- pineapplepaul, on 08/04/2008, -1/+3FTA:
adjenda - INDOAZZ, on 08/04/2008, -11/+13Are you crying!!!!!!!! ~~~~~AWW!~~~~~~There's no crying in BASEBALL!!!!!
- 9bpm9, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Wow, I never knew cricket wasn't in the Olympics.
I could understand rugby, for all the safty bull crap (even though people can sure box and wrestle), but while Cricket can be dangerous with that ball and I've seen some bloodies up cricket players, I can't even imagine why that isn't in the Olympics. - cheezemunkey45, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Why don't you ask George Steinbreiner what he thinks about sending A-rod over to the Olympics?
- mikusd, on 08/04/2008, -2/+4guess you missed this year's game...
- Rabbethan, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Hey man, Sabathia...Oh wait!
But Blake is...oh man.
...Nevermind.
(Don't worry, I'm a Marlins fan, so you can say that about 50 of my favorite players) - jocknerd, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2I would argue that wild card teams winning the world series is bad for baseball. It completely removes the reward from having a successful season. Everyone knows that in baseball any team can win a 7 game series. Hell, a last place team has about a 35-40% chance of winning a 7 game series against a 1st place team. Thats why having more teams in the playoffs in baseball is actually bad. Interleague play also sucks. It affects scheduling so that one team may be punished for playing a better division in the other league and not qualify for the playoffs because they have a worse record than a team in another division who happened to play against a weak division in the other league. Plus, outside of a few great matchups, most of the matchups suck. Personally, I'd like to see two divisions in each league consisting of eight teams. And no interleague matchup. And the elimination of the DH. And the return of a real strike zone and the brush-back pitch. And the return of a starter that can go 7 or 8 innings and a closer that can come in the 8th inning.
Call me old school if you want. - 9bpm9, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2350 bucks for 4 people to go to a ball game? What the hell are you talking about.
The Cardinals have one of the highest ticket prices compared to the salaries of the people living there and I don't find it expensive to buy 4 upper deck tickets to a baseball game. - haterrade, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2those 'a family of 4' stats tend to break down something like this:
4 moderately priced tickets, parking for a car, 4 hot dogs, 2 beers, 2 soft drinks, 2 hats, 1 baseball program - spilk, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2would any MLB players be able to pass the anti-doping requirements of the olympics?
- theloofa, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Fenway Park:
Except for the outfield bleachers (which are 600 ft away) a family of 4 will spend a MINIMUM of $104 on tickets alone... Additionally, due to the extreme high demand for tickets, attending games is a rarity. As such, one is more apt to spend more on other merchandise. Maybe not $250, but definitely more than the average fan in, say, Minneapolis on a regular basis. - harvinator24, on 08/04/2008, -1/+3Canada and America have both won gold medals in the Olympics for hockey.
Hockey is a sport of the northern hemisphere, which does make up most of the Olympic athletes. - Biller13, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2The problem is that if you give players a month long break that could throw them out of sync. They could solve this by adding some exhibition games in the interim. The problem with taking players out of the season is that some teams would be more impacted than others. Looking at the current season... Tampa would lose no one to the olympics while the Red Sox would lose at least 2 pitchers and a few hitters as would the Yankees. Completely unfair to those teams. One solution to that would be 30 man roster, 30 players, thats one from each team. But again, the Mets losing Santana would probably impact them more than say the Angels losing Guerroro. Situation isn't as cut and dry as it looks, that said I think the 3-4week break once every 4 years would be a great solution.
- rocketman42, on 08/04/2008, -1/+3Baseball was in the last Olympics, and is in this one, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_at_the_2004_ ...
http://www.nbcolympics.com/baseball/index.html
Check it. - falstaff, on 08/04/2008, -0/+2Baseball is played outdoors most of the time. They can't start the season any earlier, or play any later in the year without risking a ton of rain/snow days. Teams right now only get about 22 days off over a 6 month period. The ONLY way they could fit this in is to shorten the season by 10-12 games. Over the whole league, that's over 112 million dollars in lost revenue, just in ticket sales alone, let alone TV. A two week break in the season will NEVER happen.
MLB knew this was coming, that's why they started the WBC. - xkleenexk, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1the large majority of the world plays soccer...not baseball. only the japanese....who were americanized to a certain extent after WWII and occupation. douche. plus i just hate baseball so i dont really give two ***** anyway.
- Anubis2051, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Then why not make it a straight division, with the top 4 teams in each league making the playoffs? that way you don't wind up with a team 2 games over 500 winning the world series because their division sucked and they got hot in October (see 2006 cardinals).
- twoboxen, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Profit? No, wait... the MLB already has that one down.
- xkleenexk, on 09/12/2008, -0/+1soccer is the most popular sport in the world. who plays baseball? the u.s. and japan, *****.
plus, even if the world loved baseball, i'd still hate it. so whatevas. - atb12688, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1Bud Selig has done a lot of good: reorganizing of the divisions, interleague play, and wild card. Wild Card teams win the World Series a lot now, in case you haven't noticed. I don't particularly like the guy, but he has made the sport what it is today.
- VinnieDaMac, on 08/04/2008, -0/+1I might actually care about Olympic Baseball if MLB players were allowed to play.
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