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Bryce Miller: Sorting out wrestling vs. baseball-softball vs. squash | The Des Moines Register

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The odds of baseball and softball appearing in the 2020 Olympics rest somewhere, say, near the probability of the Harlem Globetrotters scaling Mount Everest.

It’s possible, I suppose. They found Gilligan’s Island, after all — and then found a way off of it.

It’s all kinds of unlikely, though, if you believe a guy named Bud and another named Jacques. Those two, Selig and Rogge, have said enough to know that the beating heart of the bid’s potential success — Major League Baseball stars playing in the Olympics during the regular season — is flat-lining.

“No. There’s no way,” said Indianola native Casey Blake, who played 13 seasons in the majors — most recently with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. “I can’t see that even being a conversation with the major-league teams.”

The sports of squash, wrestling and the combined baseball-softball bid are finalists for one spot in 2020 and ’24 with a final vote looming Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, has said multiple times over the years that baseball needs its biggest names in uniform to discuss a return to the global stage. Selig, MLB commissioner, said in April that “we can’t stop our season in August. Do I wish I could? Yes. But is it practical? No.”

MLB spokesman Mike Teevan told the Register this week that the commissioner’s stance is unchanged.

In wrestling-savvy places like Iowa, it means this: Even though few involved will say it, the fight for an Olympic spot is a two-sport race.

Blake, who earned an incredibly healthy living from baseball, is more than fine with that.

“I’m a wrestling fan,” he said. “So in my mind, I hope wrestling gets serious consideration — more than baseball and softball. I’d hate to see it thrown out. It’s one of those sports that was there from the beginning (ancient Olympics).”

In eastern Iowa, Erin White holds out hope that the doom-and-gloom forecasts for baseball and softball miss the mark.

White competed in two Olympics for her native Canada after playing softball at Iowa State.

“It’s such a great sport,” White, 35, said. “If you were to talk to any of the young players around, there were a lot of them staying up late and watching the (recent) College World Series.

“Softball is the sport I played, and I’m so passionate about the role it played in my life. I hope people realize what a positive influence it can be for girls around the world.”

White, who lives in North Liberty and attends softball games coached by her husband, Jim, at Solon, realizes her family sits in the singlet-soaked shadow of the University of Iowa’s successful wrestling program.

“I’d love to see get both back in, so I understand the wrestling side of it as well,” White said. “It’s a shame that a sport that’s been a part of it isn’t there. Girls need role models to strive for like Jennie Finch, too.”

The case for and against baseball-softball, even if discussion of MLB stars is shelved, underscores bat-and-ball’s uphill battle even more.

Squash is played in 185 countries, while wrestling claims national federations in 177. Baseball, by contrast, claims 124 countries at the international level — while just 13 have competed in softball’s comparatively short Olympic career (just four have medaled).

The IOC likes inclusion and reach. Squash and wrestling have it, while baseball and softball lag far behind.

It’s curious, though, that the baseball-softball bid survived the vote last week that determined the three finalists, despite the critical issues stacked against it.

The best reason to think a diamond-based upset could happen: The IOC is a hard-to-figure group, a mysterious moving target dripping with agendas and politics. Just when someone thinks the IOC is going to zig, it zags.

The Globetrotters’ water pail confetti trick, though, doesn’t appear destined for a show at 29,000 feet. No MLB players feels like no chance.

Wrestling, which likely just watched the field cut to two, has to like those odds even more.

via Bryce Miller: Sorting out wrestling vs. baseball-softball vs. squash | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com.


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