Baseball/softball out at the Olympics...

[MililaniBuckeye]

Baseball is huge in the Americas and Japan. Unfortunately the rest of the world plays cricket instead. I went to grad school with a dude from Africa and he LOVED cricket. Out of those choices Rugby would probably be the best replacement.

Don't forget how huge baseball is in Central America and northern South America, and also Korea. Cricket blows because it takes a week to finish a match...they'll be playing until the next Olympics.

You want to eliminate a sport, ditch ping pong. The only countries that play it are Asian and Indonesian countries. Malaysians learn ping pong at the malaria clinics, waiting for their shots. In fact, the name of the sport comes from its inventors: Ping Hei Yu and Pong Hei Wat...

 

[BuckStocksHere]

Hey BuckStocks....*uck you from all the Diamond Dykes of the world.


And also from all of us other fast pitch softball players that don't fall under that title.

I have found... "THE ONE"

 

[exhawg]

I always thought softball was a joke as an olympic sport. Anything not played by men,,,, is not a sport. lol.

Seriously, and I know the olympic version is fast pitch, but anything I can do with 10 beer guzzling friends is NOT an olympic sport. Anything where you can play "keg ball" is not a sport.

I've heard of rugby played with kegs in the corners and I would never tell a rugby player it isn't a real sport. I'd like to see you hit a pitch from a real womens softball pitcher. Those chicks can heave it.

 

[AJHawkfan]

anything I can do with 10 beer guzzling friends is NOT an olympic sport.

You can drink plenty of beer while playing any sport, if you try hard enough.

 

[gregorylee]

I think what killed softball was the total humiliation of the world last time by the americans. When you go through an olympics winning by 5 or more runs and just totally paste the second best team in the world in the gold medal game then you are leaving yourself open to elimination.

BTW, there are a few players on that team that I would hit, I might need to get a sex change before they would allow it, but those are mere details.

 

[AJHawkfan]

I think what killed softball was the total humiliation of the world last time by the americans. When you go through an olympics winning by 5 or more runs and just totally paste the second best team in the world in the gold medal game then you are leaving yourself open to elimination.

Just out of curiosity, are you on the City of Columbus Little League board of directors?

By your reasoning, basketball would've been in jeapordy of being cut after the '92 games and the original Dream Team. At the time, the Americans were so unbeatable, it was ridiculous. Ask them now though.......

 

[tibor75]

Don't forget how huge baseball is in Central America and northern South America, and also Korea. Cricket blows because it takes a week to finish a match...they'll be playing until the next Olympics.

You want to eliminate a sport, ditch ping pong. The only countries that play it are Asian and Indonesian countries. Malaysians learn ping pong at the malaria clinics, waiting for their shots. In fact, the name of the sport comes from its inventors: Ping Hei Yu and Pong Hei Wat...

Cricket matches these days last one day; "test matches" last several days.

Americans play table tennis..they just stink at it.

http://www.usatt.org/index.shtml

 

[Steve19]

Cricket blows because it takes a week to finish a match...they'll be playing until the next Olympics. ..

Yeah, you're right Mili, for the traditional five-day test match.

The one-day (limited to 50 overs) game is probably much more common now and the 20 overs game is starting to be seen. Twenty overs is 120 "pitches" (i.e., they bowl in cricket which is a bit different) per side and would probably take about four hours to complete.

Baseball is more exciting to watch. Cricket requires a bit more strategy (i.e., field placements, type of bowler used, etc.) I have come to really like cricket, but as far as the Olympics go, my preference is baseball.

 

[gregorylee]

Just out of curiosity, are you on the City of Columbus Little League board of directors?

By your reasoning, basketball would've been in jeapordy of being cut after the '92 games and the original Dream Team. At the time, the Americans were so unbeatable, it was ridiculous. Ask them now though.......

This is a little different... Most european country's had their version of pro basketball, as well as some asian country's. Can you name one softball team from another country? Softball is not a world sport and baketball has been growing in popularity around the world. You're comparing apples and oranges, The Dream Team was made up of superstars, how many of the softball players have you ever heard of before (outside of the bars on the short north )?

 

[High Lonesome]

This is a little different... Most european country's had their version of pro basketball, as well as some asian country's. Can you name one softball team from another country? Softball is not a world sport and baketball has been growing in popularity around the world. You're comparing apples and oranges, The Dream Team was made up of superstars, how many of the softball players have you ever heard of before (outside of the bars on the short north )?

Cat Osterman, Jenny Finch, Lisa Fernandez, Lindsey Gardner, Tiffany Anders... thats my list if its not good enough i will google others

Arizona's team was filled with hotties when Finch was there pitching a couple of years ago

 

[BuckeyePride]

Yeah, you're right Mili, for the traditional five-day test match.

The one-day (limited to 50 overs) game is probably much more common now and the 20 overs game is starting to be seen. Twenty overs is 120 "pitches" (i.e., they bowl in cricket which is a bit different) per side and would probably take about four hours to complete.

Baseball is more exciting to watch. Cricket requires a bit more strategy (i.e., field placements, type of bowler used, etc.) I have come to really like cricket, but as far as the Olympics go, my preference is baseball.

Good stuff. Indeed, 20Twenty is getting more attention and it takes less than 4 hours.

FYI OSU cricket team won the midwest cricket tournament last year. They played in a league of 32 teams and won the championship last year. www.midwestcricket.com OSU has its cricket ground on west campus (not the best ground in C-bus but it was the first one in OHIO)

 

[gregorylee]

Cat Osterman, Jenny Finch, Lisa Fernandez, Lindsey Gardner, Tiffany Anders... thats my list if its not good enough i will google others

Arizona's team was filled with hotties when Finch was there pitching a couple of years ago

Yeah, but you were just checkin out T&A!

My point is that even in the US that most people don't know much about girls softball (other than the pitchers deliver really takes some getting used to). Around the world the interest/knowledge is substantially less. Little global interest added with an ass pasting by the US is not going to help the cause of longevity.

 

[AJHawkfan]

Can you name one softball team from another country? Softball is not a world sport and baketball has been growing in popularity around the world. You're comparing apples and oranges, The Dream Team was made up of superstars, how many of the softball players have you ever heard of before (outside of the bars on the short north )?

It's all relative. If you are a fan of a sport, you will know the players/teams. I am not a fan of either, so I can't really name many.

I can tell you that women's softball is growing in popularity, at least around here. Almost all of the high schools have added teams within the last 10 years and there are several leagues in the area now.

 

[BB73]

Interesting week for Jennie Finch. She gets the cover of Sports Illustrated (over Venus winning Wimbledon), and then they drop softball from the Olympics.

 

[tibor75]

Good stuff. Indeed, 20Twenty is getting more attention and it takes less than 4 hours.

FYI OSU cricket team won the midwest cricket tournament last year. They played in a league of 32 teams and won the championship last year. www.midwestcricket.com OSU has its cricket ground on west campus (not the best ground in C-bus but it was the first one in OHIO)

I saw them practice once....
Are they still almost completely all-Indian?

Looks like it according to their latest stats

Name M/P I/P N/O's Runs 50's 100's H/S Avg

Vineet Vashisht 3 3 0 143 1 0 80 47.67
Raj 3 3 1 115 1 0 57 57.5
Kirti Vansadia 3 3 1 91 1 0 77 45.5
Sumedha DeSilva 3 2 2 62 0 0 32 62
Akshay Joglekar 3 2 0 44 0 0 44 22
Neeraj 1 1 0 40 0 0 40 40
Parminder Singh Gandhi 2 2 1 21 0 0 13 21
Viral Patlikar 3 1 0 10 0 0 10 10
Abhishek Reddy 3 1 0 9 0 0 9 9
Shuchi Kurana 1 1 0 3 0 0 3 3
Vikas Vashisht 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 1
Vishwanath 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vikram Kewalramani 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Krishnan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jai Prakash