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Last summer at the World Cup of Softball III in Oklahoma City the buzz in the press box wasn’t the dominating (ho-hum) performance of Team USA—it was a phantom injury that kept Japan’s best pitcher, Yukiko Ueno, out of the tournament.

The word was Ueno wasn’t truly hurt; she had played just a week prior. Instead, it was speculated, Team Japan didn’t want to give the Americans a chance to face Ueno—a talented hurler who had handed Team USA their first loss in Olympic competition since Sept. 21, 2000 at Sydney—before Beijing.

13 months later it might have been the decisive factor in helping Japan to an improbable upset of Team USA.

Last night Ueno snapped Team USA’s 22-game Olympic winning streak en route to a 3-1 victory and first gold medal. Ueno pitched seven innings, one day after she pitched 21 to get the Japanese into the gold-medal game.

What makes the defeat especially bitter is that it is the sport's final appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years.

Having covered this team for the last three years it’s hard to put into words the disappointment this team must have felt. One needs only to see the sight of players such as Crystl Bustos and Tairia Flowers leave their cleats at home plate—a symbolic gesture demonstrating their decision to retire from international competition.

So where does Team USA go from here? And will this help or hurt the game of softball?

3,225 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: softball, 2008_olympic_games, 2008_beijing_olympics

The Olympics on ESPN?

Posted by Jesse@Active Aug 22, 2008

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that ESPN is entertaining the notion of bidding for the rights to cover the 2014 and 2016 Olympics.

Fox (shudder) and CBS are also listed as potential networks that will vie with NBC for the U.S. right for the Games. According to the article, the International Olympic Committee will start entertaining bids within the next six to eight months.

While NBC's all-encompassing coverage of these Olympics has recorded high ratings, it hasn't been without complaint. From the overabundance of beach volleyball to the "Live" logo appearing on West Coast screens that are seeing tape-delayed events, NBC's handling of the Beijing Olympics hasn't pleased everybody.

Writes the +Hollywood Reporter:

"We would never put an event on tape delay," John Skipper, executive vp content at ESPN, said. "When we put 'live' on the screen, we mean 'live right now.' We don't mean live three hours ago."

He said that if NBC was having technical trouble taking the "live" bug off its tape, ESPN would lend its technical expertise "to help them remove (it)."+

ESPN has the multi-channel platform, in addition to a huge online presence with the proven ability to showcase video that would be necessary to show as much as possible live. Should Chicago succeed in its bid for the 2016 Games, it's an easy assumption that they would be an enormous money-maker for whichever network ends up with the rights, which will probably exceed $1 billion.

And who knows, maybe ESPN could coax Brett Favre out of retirement (I'm assuming he'll be retired by then) to play team handball. That would really boost ratings...

611 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: olympics, 2016, espn, nbc, 2014, international-olympic-committe, hollywood-reporter, broadcast-rights

Greek Gods of Beach Volleyball

Posted by RyanActive Aug 22, 2008

I first saw

Todd Rogers

and Phil Dalhausser
on a random cable sports station a couple of years ago, while furiously flipping, as Jerry Seinfeld
said, "to see not what's on, but what else is on."

I was captivated by the pair, Rogers a no-nonsense warrior and Dalhausser a 6-foot-9 athletic freak. I remember thinking "This is the perfect team. Who in the world can beat these guys?"

Now I know. Nobody.

Rogers and Dalhausser won gold in men's beach volleyball at the Beijing Games, dispatching a similarly sized Brazil duo 23-21, 17-21, 15-4.

I loved watching these two play. Rogers, 34, is the brains of the operation who still is on top of his game (they call him The Professor). Dalhausser, 28, is the pupil but full of tremendous ability to go with an imposing frame. In the decisive third set, he owned the match with five blocks that killed the Brazilians' chances.

It was also interesting to watch the relationship between Rogers and Dalhausser, which was clearly mentor-protege (as opposed to gold-winning women

Misty May-Treanor

and Kerri Walsh
, who were more equals). I wondered if Rogers and Dalhausser even liked each other, especially after Rogers' obvious disgust during a pool-play loss to Latvia.

Of course, after Dalhausser stuffed Brazil's last gasp, securing the gold, he ran over to Rogers and tackled him to the sand, the two of them screaming in joy.

Any possible animosity was nowhere to be found this time. A gold medal has that power.