Even Bill Simmons admitted that Tatum couldn’t shoot for shit the last 4 months and was redundant with Lebron and KD on the floor
lacrosse is coming in '28 and if you couldn't guess, we absolutely run that shit in men's and women's. between us in gold and Canada in silver, I'm guessing it'll last 2-3 Olympics before it gets canned again because of our domination. we also get baseball (our skill will be determined by whether MLB lets it happen or not) and softball (we should go back to claiming golds but we'll see). oh, and flag football. dear god, what are we going to do to these poor countries in that sport.
I think they always evaluate the new or returning sports. lacrosse has been gone for like 120 years but the other two were around recently and cricket (another returning sport) was around in '96 or '00 last. lacrosse probably won't last long because the US and Canada really dominate but baseball and softball should have a chance. cricket I expect to stay as well, it's an insanely popular sport and the IOC can appeal to literally billions with it. I'm sure getting India invested in sports is a current goal for the IOC, it's a wholly untapped market.
Cricket totally makes sense (as does squash in the realm of badminton and table tennis). Baseball as well with North America, Central America and Japan, should be enough to grow it more globally. Softball though, what’s its current international reach? Same with lacrosse.
US was dominant for awhile then Japan slipped in at the last two times it was played and stole gold. Aussies are a consistent 3rd, China and Canada battle for 4th and 5th and then Taiwan has sent a few teams and Mexico sent one in 2020 (and did well, just missed medaling) so I feel like they might be chomping at the bit. it's got enough of an international base to be a success. they only have 8 teams, you've got what I would guess is five consistent teams (China will probably be back) and if you can get Taiwan and Mexico into it then you really just need the home country each year and you're set. Italy was in 3 of the 5 Olympics so maybe they'd return as well. it's definitely weird where it's taken hold but it's there.
Baseball softball will probably be back for Brisbane. I’d imagine cricket also Various sanctioning bodies have announced plans to pursue bids for sports to be added to the 2032 Summer Olympics: In February 2021, Softball Australia, Baseball Australia and the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced their intent to pursue baseball and softball for the Brisbane 2032 programs.[37] CEO of Baseball Australia Glenn Williams noted record broadcasting audiences for baseball and softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, with Softball Australia chair Richard Lindell also supporting the sports' reinstatement into the core Olympic program.[38] Both disciplines have medalled for Australia at the Olympics and a baseball-specific site at the proposed Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct in Albion would bolster their bid.[39] Baseball/softball was selected by the Los Angeles 2028 organising committee for inclusion in its program. In July 2021, International Rugby League(IRL) chair Troy Grant stated that the organisation planned to pursue rugby league nines and wheelchair rugby leaguefor the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics respectively.[40] In August 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the establishment of a working group to pursue cricket for the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Summer Olympics, including representatives from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), USA Cricket, and Zimbabwe Cricket. The bid has also received backing from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Cricket is one of the most popular sports in Australia, and Cricket Australia is one of the 12 full members of the ICC.[41][42] Cricket was selected by the Los Angeles 2028 organising committee for inclusion in its program.[43][44][45] In August 2021, World Netball announced that it would pursue the inclusion of netball, with backing from Netball Australia. The country has won the Netball World Cupeleven times since its inception. The bid faces a potential obstacle from the IOC's current policy of gender parity, as men's netball is not at parity with women's netball in terms of participation and prominence.[46][47] In April 2024, the Brisbane organising committee met with a delegation from the World Flying Disc Federation for the latter to present their pursuance to include a flying disc sport for Brisbane 2032.[48] In April 2024, the Trail Running Association of Queensland (TRAQ) initiated its ten-year plan to promote trail running to become an Olympic sport. Around the same time, a campaign by Merrell was launched with a 455 kilometres (283 mi) relay from 2012host, London, to 2024 host, Paris.[49] In April 2024, the International Life Saving Federation (ILS) and Surf Life Saving Australia announced their intent to pursue beach lifesaving sports for Brisbane 2032, with a focus on oceanman/woman and mixed relay events. A number of Australian Olympians have had a background in lifesaving sport, including Grant Hackettand Ky Hurst.[50]
I hope softball will done on a legitimate field. I distinctly remember Olympic softball being played on a field with a janky outfield wall and it looked terrible.
How did the length of this thread compare to London/Rio/Tokyo? Search function turned up nothing using Olympics or Olympic
This needs to be in the Olympics just so we can put a team in to absolutely steamroll the rest of the world in the most bull shit version of basketball ever
looks like the first posts involving the Paris Olympics games (which happened before the open ceremonies) are on page 190 of this thread. there’s a bunch of stuff in between the end of Tokyo and page 190
Yeah this used to be the Olympic Sports thread. Everyone's allergic to making new threads for some reason
Even if MLB goes on a break, I don't see USA doing well. Seems we always get smoked in the WBC type competitions
even in the WBC we don’t have top of the line pitching. That’s where Japan and these other countries have the advantage. this was the pitching roster at 2023 WBC
Two thoughts on the lacrosse in the Olympics: If the Haudenosaunee isn’t allowed to compete, and knowing the IOC, they won’t, I’m not really that interested. A lot of smaller countries that pull Americans on their team for the World Cup of Lacrosse won’t be allowed to do that for the Olympics. My nephew has already found out that he won’t be able to compete for the Netherlands (which he did in the last World Cup) without renouncing his US Citizenship. Plus the World Cup of lacrosse does a lot to make sure that small teams don’t play the US or Canada and don’t get blown out. If the Olympics don’t do something like that, the scores could get bad.
Now that the Olympics are over, we can get off track. Lyles is right. You can't be world champs when you're a domestic league, not playing in a world tournament. Even if you would beat the rest of the world, you aren't "world champs" Baseball, basketball, football; none of those teams are world champs. Stop calling yourself that. /rant
better question why are they still bringing it up. Do reporters not have anything better to ask players now then about a comment from a couple weeks ago that was just a broad brush stroke of all domestic sports leagues.
disagree. If you are playing in a league where clearly the best players in the world are pretty much all competing, you can call yourself world champs. It is indisputable that the MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL are home to 90+% of the best players in the world. It is absolutely fair to call yourselves the world champs if you win those leagues.