U.S. can do little to rescue softball

BEIJING — The line is flat, and those International Olympic Committee members not interested in softball are nowhere near the emergency room. If the most dominant U.S. team sport since 1996 is going to be shocked back into participation, Don Porter had better find a powerful set of paddles. It could be tougher for the international federation’s president than waking a grizzly bear with a pair of plastic spoons.

Don’t kid yourself. The IOC voted to eliminate softball following the Beijing Games because the international community views an American sport continuing to rule in such an overwhelming manner as one might view college kids from the States laughing and carrying on during a papal mass at the Vatican.

Baseball, also voted out, was the male equivalent the IOC needed for balance, the proverbial throw-in minor leaguer in a blockbuster trade.

But softball is where the decision soaks in a political undercurrent. The U.S. has won all three Olympic golds since the sport debuted in Atlanta and has as much chance losing here as your 6-year-old daughter does of taking Jennie Finch deep.

We’re not the most popular nation today — something about a certain ongoing conflict in western Asia — and an IOC with just a handful of U.S. delegates (and none in high-ranking positions) had little problem voting in 2005 and again the following year to hang softball from a sacrificial spit.

"A slap in our face," said Finch, the sport’s most recognized star. "Boom, it’s gone. … It’s on our watch, and it’s a failure. It’s a loss."

Fact: Softball’s fate for 2016 will be decided at an IOC meeting next year, and the best thing the Americans could do here for the sport’s Olympic future also is lose on the field. It would sound crazy if it weren’t so true. Problem is, U.S. players purposefully could try and still might not succeed.

The Americans won their first five games by a combined score of 36-1. No other team to that point had scored more than 18 runs total. It’s ironic in a way that the more impressive the U.S. appears, the more it might be helping dig the sport’s Olympic grave.

"I can’t say that, even though the (U.S. not winning gold) might affect how our sport is perceived," Porter said. "We don’t want to say the U.S. should go out and lie down. That’s not fair to the athletes. In perception, it could help the sport. But they lost three games in Sydney (in 2000) and came close to elimination in the medal round. They’re beatable, but not too often.

"We spent 29 years, six months and 13 days to get this sport into the Olympic program in Atlanta. We have 13 months to get it back again."

They have one major hope, which is to pray the IOC backs up its words about wanting to add more of two specific elements to future Games: clean athletes and women’s sports. It also would benefit softball should Chicago be awarded the Olympics in eight years, because you can bet places such as Madrid or Rio de Janeiro rather would pass on building a new softball venue.

It always comes back to that point. Softball is important to Americans. It is nurtured and developed in youth leagues across the country, where young girls are given every chance to learn and develop and often earn college scholarships.

But the sport isn’t as big a deal to the rest of the world. It’s impressive to think 130 countries now have softball federations, but you have to realize Porter’s organization — started by Americans, based in America, heavily funded by American dollars — sent $2.25 million worth of equipment to 91 countries for development.

The initiative BackSoftball might be run by the ISF, but its weight is spelled USA, and the IOC knows it. It also understands that of those 130 countries, only three occasionally can give the Americans a scare.

Softball deserves a place in the Olympics because the more opportunity for women in sport, the better. But you have to understand that beyond America’s myopic view about what ranks significant, far more countries at these Games consider things such as team handball and canoe-kayak more valuable sports. You have to know that many IOC members come from such nations.

You have to step out of the batter’s box and realize what the big picture of today’s Olympics include, and it’s not a lot of people who care if softball is shocked back to life.

"It’s like a marathon," Porter said. "We are trying to get a second breath and won’t give up. We are going to climb the mountain again to make this an Olympic sport."

If so, he’ll need more juice than plastic spoons.

Ed Graney can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.