Olympic Softball

[IRISHMAFIA]

I wonder how long it will take for somebody to suggest the USA team was taking one for the sport's effort to get back into the Olympics?

It didn't take on post on e-teamz for people to espouse how good the loss was for the sport.

[RKBUmp]

This could have possibly been the last ever softball game in the olympics, does anyone really think that the game would intentionally be thrown just for the sake of possibly getting the sport reinstated? They wanted the game more than ever, just plain got beat. Poor batting, poor game management and maybe a few players that played a few years longer than they should have.

[Dakota]

Or, maybe it is just tough to get a 3 game sweep against close competition. The Japanese team was darn good all around. To expect any team, including Team USA, to beat them three straight was a bit much, especially all the hoopla about how big of an upset this was.

The last game went 9 innings and, except for Bustos 3 run homer, would have gone at least 10.

If anything, the Olympic format needs some thought (should the sport be re-instated in 2016).

They should consider a gold medal series to not have a 1 loss team get the silver and a 2 loss team get the gold, especially when the 2 losses by the gold team were from silver team.

[RKBUmp]

I agree there, doesnt seem very fair that in the medal round a team gets to lose, come back and ultimately play for the gold, yet the team that has no loses goes home with a silver after a single loss. You would at least think that the first 2 losers in the medal round would play each other for the bronze, and that the winners would play for the gold and silver.

[bigsig]

Originally Posted by RKBUmp

I agree there, doesnt seem very fair that in the medal round a team gets to lose, come back and ultimately play for the gold, yet the team that has no loses goes home with a silver after a single loss. You would at least think that the first 2 losers in the medal round would play each other for the bronze, and that the winners would play for the gold and silver.

Just the opposite happened in 2000. US lost 3 games and then beat undefeated Japan in the gold game. Can't complain too much.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by bigsig

Just the opposite happened in 2000. US lost 3 games and then beat undefeated Japan in the gold game. Can't complain too much.

Sure I can... it has nothing to do with who won when and it really has nothing to do with "total losses"; the desire to have a single gold medal game is probably TV driven (even though the softball game did not make prime time) and leads to the result of the team with a 1-2 series record being the champion.

Name another major team sport competition where 2 teams can be 1-2 against each other head-to-head in the tournament and have the team with 1 win be the champion.

[JefferMC]

This type of backet is common in olympic sports. Stupid, but common.

I think a standard double elimination of the top 4 teams make a lot more sense. But DE would require 6 or 7 games (and the uncertainty of needing the IF game causes havoc with such things as TV schedules), where as this means 4 games total.

[Dakota]

By "name another ... competition" I meant "another besides Olympic"... Of course I knew the other Olypmic team competitions were similar or identical, and it is the same competition (different sport).

NCAA Baseball (and maybe Softball) had a stupid system similar to this a few years ago, again driven by TV's desire for a single championship game. Thankfully, they have gone to a 3 game championship series format, since either the TV execs or the viewing public is confused by the idea of a double elimination championship and the possible "if" game. This despite the fact that all series have "if" games by definition.

[MichaelVA2000]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I wonder how long it will take for somebody to suggest the USA team was taking one for the sport's effort to get back into the Olympics?

It didn't take on post on e-teamz for people to espouse how good the loss was for the sport.

I wouldn't suggest it, but for less than a nanosecond the thought did cross my mind when I heard the USA team lost.

[LongLostSoCal]

Softball isn't a global sport it's a niche sport. It required building venues for the Olympics that aren't used much since. Was a good decision to get rid of it.

As far as "throwing" the final game is a dumb notion. Japan-USA went long innings their first game before USA pounced during special rules time.

Girls fastpitch won't be affected by this at all, the girls will still go for their Title IX scholarships and move along into their careers like 99.9 percent of them do. The only casualty stateside might be the women's pro league, which is a casualty 24/7 anyway.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by LongLostSoCal

Softball isn't a global sport it's a niche sport. It required building venues for the Olympics that aren't used much since. Was a good decision to get rid of it.

How do you classify a sport which is played on every inhabited continent other than global? And the thought of venues becoming useless is absurd.

As far as "throwing" the final game is a dumb notion.

Ya think!

Girls fastpitch won't be affected by this at all, the girls will still go for their Title IX scholarships and move along into their careers like 99.9 percent of them do. The only casualty stateside might be the women's pro league, which is a casualty 24/7 anyway.

Unless it is returned to Olympic status, it will affect youth softball. What goes up, must come down. Youth softball boomed after the game was added to the Olympic line up. It is only natural that the further we become removed from the Olympics, participation will decline. Unfortunately, this isn't like baseball of old where a majority of boys were expected to select some sort of sport in which to participate and the obvious summer sport was baseball.

I believe softball will retain some of the numbers in the youth game. They will go down, but not to the pre-Olympic level.

Actually, it may strengthen the NPF which needs all the help it can get.

[SRW]

And going with this, I think there's a good chance that the participation levels in the youth game may hold steady.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by SRW

And going with this, I think there's a good chance that the participation levels in the youth game may hold steady.

They already run a Jr. World Cup. It looks like they are going to take it down just a peg to a younger level. This will be a good thing, and hopefully it grows strong before 2012.

Don't know if ASA will attempt to negotiate non-conflicting dates with the JO program. The again, this really isn't for the USA, is it?

[SRW]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

They already run a Jr. World Cup. It looks like they are going to take it down just a peg to a younger level. This will be a good thing, and hopefully it grows strong before 2012.

Don't know if ASA will attempt to negotiate non-conflicting dates with the JO program. The again, this really isn't for the USA, is it?

No, probably not. I doubt that you're going to get the average 16-A travel team, fresh off coming back from Nationals to fork up enough dough to take an international softball adventure to somewhere in Europe.

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

They already run a Jr. World Cup. It looks like they are going to take it down just a peg to a younger level. This will be a good thing, and hopefully it grows strong before 2012.

Don't know if ASA will attempt to negotiate non-conflicting dates with the JO program. The again, this really isn't for the USA, is it?

Interesting, Mike.
Now, sine we have no ISF (through ASA) for 16&U, how do you think the choices will be made for umpires?