Plenty of nations play baseball...enough for it to be in the Olympics. And the cost of playing the game isn't that high compared to other events. How much do those NASA developed swimsuits cost, how much does a horse run you these days (for the Equestrian events), and what about rowing, kayaking, cycling, gymnastics and countless others? In the grand scheme of things, baseball is not the cheapest sport to get into but certainly not the most expensive.
i think Europeans have the most say in IOC right? if it goes for a vote, they'll always vote for their stuff.
Obviously there should be a point system. NCAA track and field, swimming competitions all have such a system. 5-2-1 seems like a workable idea.
Bingo! And keep in mind that when these events were voted off...it was at the height of anti-American sentiment. And that the president of the IOC is French.
i don't know why Europe gets so many votes. so what they have freaking 30 nations. they don't represent the world.
But it just isn't smart. It's a risk/reward question. What is the risk of doing a hard routine when the risk is just too much. The majority of competitors would not do as hard of jumps if there was a huge deduction. It comes to the point when it's actually smarter to go conservative and hope for other people to fall. Some might not care, but most will.
ya, and they can get killed if they are recklessly doing hard stuff just for higher scores. obviously they are prepared for the ones they picked. it ain't like they are picking the routines out of their butt.
I don't think there's any sports scoring system that ranks a first place finish at 2.5x times the value of second place. Typically a first place finish is worth a little more than 2nd.
Well it is what it is...besides it's not like I watch softball or baseball during the Olympics anyways...probably would watch baseball if they had MLB stars
The problem is the likelihood of your two worst scenarios in real life is next to nil, when the number in each category is sufficiently large. Try something more realistic, like 50 gold, 25 silver, 25 bronze (100 medals total) vs 35 gold, 40 silver, 35 bronze (110 medals)
Arguing about medal table is even more meaningless. How do you differentiate the gold medals in team sports or individual events? Dream team with Jordan, Magic, Malone and Barkley won a single gold medal. An swimmer or diver would easily won few. But I guess it's a good BBS material
it would be entertaining if they put say, howard or boozer, in a match against a heavy weight wrestler. that medal would worth a lot. boozer would probably get destroyed.
I disagree, if the best player from country A can beat all the players from country B, then country A is still more dominant than country B.
