Cheers for new qualification system

The changes to the Olympic baseball qualification system have been welcomed in the United States, where the few people who care about international baseball are still irked by Team USA's failure to qualify for Athens. For example, the San Jose Mercury News:

All that concern about the United States failing to qualify for the Olympics in baseball tended to overlook the fact that Team USA had been dominant in the qualifying round before being upset in the final round.

...

Now steps have been taken to create a fairer system. The IBA announced Thursday that qualification will now be based on the results of the entire tournament and that single-elimination games will no longer be part of the format.

They fail to notice that the USA still would not have qualified had the new system been in place in 2003. The USA still finished fifth in the Americas qualifying tournament. Only the top four teams from the Americas would have a chance to qualify under the new system. If the Americans were robbed, it was because of a defect in the structure of the Americas qualifying tournament, not the IBAF's rules.

That said, the new system truly is an improvement because it is a workable compromise between the need to ensure representation from many regions and the need to give teams in the overwhelmingly more competitive qualifying regions (Asia and North America) the extra shots they probably deserve. Forget Team USA: last time around was a fluke. They have learned their lesson and will send a stronger team to the 2007 qualifiers. I've never understood why the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, for example, never had a chance.

Baseball still at risk for 2012

According to the Canadian Globe and Mail, baseball and softball could still be bumped from the 2012 Olympic programme, perhaps to be replaced by rugby, golf, squash, karate or roller sports. I can understand rugby. But roller sports!?! Are they serious?

A historical counter-factual

Now that the IBAF has reformed the qualification system for the Olympic baseball tournament, only one thing is certain for the top European national teams: the 2007 European Championships will be the hardest-fought ever. Only the winner of that tournament is assured of a place in Beijing.

Here's what would have happened if the new system had been in place during the 2003 qualifying tournaments:

In Europe, only the champions, the Netherlands, would have qualified automatically, along with Cuba and Canada from the Americas and Japan from Asia.

The second-phase global qualifying tournament would have featured Europe's third- and fourth place teams, Greece and Spain, along with Austalia, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, South Africa. The Europeans would have struggled to finish in the necessary top three against this tough field. China is assured the final place as the host country.

Interestingly, even this system would not have afforded the USA a second chance after their dissapointing performance in their Olympic qualifier in Panama.

Europe could lose Olympic place

The International Baseball Federation has updated the qualification process for the eight places in the baseball tournament in the 2008 Olympics. The changes could mean that only one team from Europe will be at the next Olympics in Beijing.

Under the new system, there will be two phases of qualification. In the first phase, two teams from the Americas, one from Asia and one from Europe will qualify through continental competitions. The remaining three places will be decided in an eight-team qualifying tournament between the third- and fourth-placed teams from America, the second- and third-placed teams from Asia, the second- and third-placed teams from Europe, the African champions and the Oceania champions.

Under the previous qualification system, two teams from Europe automatically qualified. In Athens, there were three European teams because Greece qualified as the host nation.

Olympic baseball grounds crew interviewed

Athletic Turf magazine (yes, such a thing exists) has an interview with the grounds crew at the Olympic baseball tournament in Athens, Greece this summer, which includes some interesting anecdotes. An older article in the same publications discussed the construction of the facility.

A new diamond in Neunkirchen

In a windswept ceremony this week, the local club in Neunkirchen, near Cologne, Germany, began work on its new baseball diamond, the Koelnische Rundschau newspaper reports.

In fact, work has already in progress on the Neunkirchen Nightmares' new field for some time. The builders will have to shift 6,500 cubic metres of soil, so that they can level the playing surface and add a 12-centimeter-deep drainage layer before replacing the topsoil.

The total construction costs are €300,000, but the club is concerned about how it will finance ongoing maintainance in the future. As a result, the club is selling sponsorship of one-square-meter units of its field, with outfield patches going for $euro;5 and pieces of the infield for €10.

Hear, hear...

Ouch:

"Isn't anybody else embarrassed that the nation that invented the game and won the gold medal in Sydney 2000 was not represented in Athens, Greece? I was. Bud Selig and his mercenaries should be. Every American player who pulls on a big-league jockstrap should be. Don't tell me that a star-quality talent pool couldn't be created in which each club makes three significant American players available for an Olympic draft, in which they give up a month -- at full salary, of course -- for Old Glory."

Japan just did it, recruiting a Dream Team from its professional league. Unfortunately, the hand-picked Japanese stars underperformed and settled for the bronze medal. But imagine if they had had Ichiro, the Matsuis and some of the pitching talent currently over here. Cuba won gold with its youngest team since baseball became an Olympic sport. Fortunately for MLB's spastic organizational abilities, there's a chance the sport will be voted out of the Olympics because so few nations play it at a competitive level - the USA apparently included. Then Bud [Selig] can pursue his dream of a winter World Cup, which is a great idea on paper only, but a must to advance the sport if the Olympics dump it. ...

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