By Nic LaPonte
The torch has been passed from hand to hand, city to city and country to country as it has woven its way across the globe to its eventual resting place in the opening flames of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Besides the games residing in China for the first time in history, the lexicon of accepted Olympic sports has also been shaken up this year.
The sports of softball and baseball will not be included in the Olympic Program for the next iteration of the summer games in 2012.
Replacing them will be squash and karate.
The interesting thing to look at is the pool of candidates from which these two replacements are being selected out of. For that matter, what makes squash and karate more worthy of being played at (in theory) the highest level attainable by the effort of humanity?
Well, aside for the interests of the individual governing committees of the different Olympic disciplines, I believe that matters of worth in determining what sports should constitute Olympic Games are contingent on the international appeal of the sport.
The Olympics are fundamentally supposed to be a showcase of the world's sports, and as such, sports that are more popular in different parts of the world would be given more precedence.
In the case of baseball and softball, I think this rule is applicable. Now, I love baseball as much as any American does; I would love nothing more than to give a salute to the opening pitch while eating a slice of apple pie and watching an eagle fly overhead, but the international community at large has been, well, apathetic toward the sport as a whole.
The topic of international appeal brings me to the issue of golf. Proponents of the sport have been trying to get golf re-admitted to the roster of Olympic events for some time now, (since its last appearance in 1904) and each time they have been passed over, most recently for squash and karate.
This is something that I think should continue to happen; golf has no place in the Olympic Games.
Although the sport does have more international appeal, than say, sumo wrestling, the fact does not change that the heart of its popularity still lies in the United States. Proponents would argue that seeing golf in the Olympic games would further its popularity, but I disagree with that as well; Basque pelota hasn't really seen a tremendous resurgence since it's re-appearance in 1992.
Because the appeal of golf is limited, it also doesn't make sense for a foreign country who has agreed to host the Olympics to build an Olympic-level golf course at crippling expense, only to have it cater to western travelers in the future.
So, although the sport of golf, and the sports of power-boating, chess and dancesport for that matter, are impressive spectacles of human achievement, I don't think they belong in a venue geared toward a global audience.
