Not a fan of the current IOC

Well, as most of you have heard, the Olympic Commitee has confirmed that fastpitch softball and baseball will not be part of the 2012 London Olympic games. This to me is very sad.

The reason behind the axe is because the IOC believes that there is just no competition in the sport with the U.S, and that it is not picking up in other countries. I beg to differ. For instance, a lot of the MLB players are from different countries, and it is well known that countries like Cuba are heavy competitors in the baseball community. In softball, the U.S. women's team lost a major international game to China just this past year. You can't tell me that softball in other countries will never be able to compete.

This is very sad for me as a coach of a 12 and under girls fastpitch team. These girls love the game and I have heard many of them say it is their dream to play for Olympic Gold someday like Jenny Finch or Lisa Fernandez. I think the decision did not really analyze the sport as a whole, but just played on the fact that a lot of countries are not very fond of U.S. politics. This also is the reason why our only U.S. IOC member was also recently voted off, and we no longer have any U.S. representation.

In the end, this decision hurts women's softball more than baseball, although both are equally dissappointing. Guys at least have the major leagues to look forward to and strive for, but this is a major blow to girl's athletics.

I just hope that maybe something will change before 2012 as it is very sad indeed. That is my rant for the day.