I was surprised today to find out the USA didn't qualify for the Olympics in

[YOUR Hero]

baseball.

What happened?

[FearedSanctity]

I was wondering this too. Anyone know?

[ct2k]

No major leaguers, they didn't cut the mustard in their qualifiers and didn't get in, simple as really :-\

[YOUR Hero]

Major leaguers or not, I'd expect colledge kids and minor leaguers to be able to be good enough. Very surprising.

[BCWWF]

They lost to Mexico in the qualifying finals, like 1-0 or something, it was kind of a big deal when it happened. The US soccer team was elimated by Mexico aswell, and they easilly should have made it.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I have never seen an Olympic baseball game in my life

[BCWWF]

Meh, we've got the baseball world cup coming on soon, that'll be better anyway

[MoRcHeEbA]

Duncan and Iverson were surprised too.

http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20040815/usa_54692.jpg

[BCWWF]

Nah, thats Tims happy look :lol:

[YOUR Hero]

I remember when the soccer team lost to Mexico. The Mexican fans where chanting "Osama, Osama" trying to get under the skin of the Yanks.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

I remember when the soccer team lost to Mexico. The Mexican fans where chanting "Osama, Osama" trying to get under the skin of the Yanks.
ahahahahahahaha

Magnificent. Football fans are the greatest.

[The Mackem]

I'd be interested in hearing what USA crowds chant at football matches.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Go team!

U S A

U S A

U S A

[ct2k]

Wheras in Ireland it's more:

Seamus, argh feckun, feck, feckun whiskey arse bitch feck!

[FearedSanctity]

Yeah, US fans of almost every sport tend to suck at chants

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Wheras in Ireland it's more:

Seamus, argh feckun, feck, feckun whiskey arse bitch feck!
Yeah, and a rendition of Fields of Athenry.

[ct2k]

Especially in Boston, they just chant the name of the player they're most jealous of on the opposing team really slow and annoyingly

[road doggy dogg]

I wish Ricky were American. He'd give them a good chant.

U S A
U S A
SCORE A GOAL OR YOU ARE GAY
OLE OLE OLE

[The Mackem]

LOL

[BCWWF]

College basketball is where Americans display chanting

[stima]

Chants are gay, thats why

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES
YOU ATE ALL THE PIES
YOU FAT BASTARD

YEA SICK

[stima]

Actaully the best chant I have ever witnessed was at a basketball game at my school, the other team had a chinese pointguard and the whole student section started chanting "Asia" every time he touched the ball. The best part was that there was an Asian kid chanting it too

[HeartBreakMan2k]

Yeah, US fans of almost every sport tend to suck at chants
ECW fans were the shit for chants though.

[BCWWF]

Our best chant at a basketball game last year was when our b-ball rivals came to our school their coach was wearing a red sweater vest, so "Sweater Vest...Sweater Vest..." What a great chant.

[BCWWF]

Yeah, ECW started the whole "You fucked up" thing didn't they? That one was key to use when guys went to the box against us. I remember ECW fans just being brutal with their chants :o The good old days

[The Outlaw]

haha nah best chant ever was at a high school basketball gamemy high school had. The other team had like a 5 foot guy. Whenever he got the ball or shot a free throw and it got real quite the student section said

"KICK YOURSELF IN THE HEAD WEE MAN"

or

"WEE-MAN WEE-MAN"

Hilarious

[da_king]

<font color="#ccffcc">
i was pretty suprised at that too i mean it's one thing to not win a medal but not even qualify. it's too bad the league couldn't shut down for a couple of weeks or whatever to allow all the players to play like they've done for basketball and hockey.

</font>

[loopydate]

The best chants in American sports belong to Austin Peay University.

Any school that can chant, free of irony, "Let's go Peay! Let's go Peay!" is all right by me.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I am really not surpised USA didnt qualify for the Olympics in baseball. I don't think minor leaguers play in the Olympics, so you have just a bunch of college kids. A lot of the great HS Talent skips colleges and goes staright into the minor leagues

[ct2k]

Remember the Dominican Republic aren't there either, they'd have an amazing side

[BCWWF]

No they wouldn't, anyone in the dominican republic with any talent is signed to the MLB by the age of 16, if they took professionals yeah, but Olympic baseball is just lame anyway and there would be no clear cut favorites.

[toxic rooster]

Australia beat Japan :love:

[VonErich Lives]

baseball.

What happened?

Gammons was talking about it on the radio, said the team was AAA guys and a few major leaguers who didn't expect to be playing much in september.

He said they had a good team, but they faced a good pitcher who just shutdown their bats.

[MoRcHeEbA]

yeah most of the canadian team has Major leaguers or AAA players who were allowed to go from their teams to play.

[YOUR Hero]

Well the Major Leaguers that play for Canada aren't like superstars or anything.

[BCWWF]

Justin Morneau was a few days away from Athens when we called him up, haha fuck canada :lol:

[Moonax]

Well the Major Leaguers that play for Canada aren't like superstars or anything.

Morneau, Koskie...

The big row is about the guy who is pitching at AAA for Colorado and the Suckies wouldn't release him for the games.

[CNM]

Cry about it

[CNM]

Morneau and Koskie don't play for Team Canada and Jeff Francis is gonna make his major league debut in a few days. It's not like Team Canada needed him anyway.

[ct2k]

No they wouldn't, anyone in the dominican republic with any talent is signed to the MLB by the age of 16, if they took professionals yeah, but Olympic baseball is just lame anyway and there would be no clear cut favorites.

I was saying that based on the US and DR both sending mlb talent

[Moonax]

Morneau has played for Team canada in the olympic qualifying.

My commiserations to Francis. Hopefully he will be traded and have a fruitful career with a team that has a future.

[CNM]

LOL you got jokes. I would venture to say you have no clue about the Rockies farm system and therefore have no clue about their future. Nice try though.

[Moonax]

I'd say any team that has only managed 4 winning seasons in it's history (3 of those in the first 5 years) is pretty shit.

[CNM]

And what exactly does that have to do with their future? Nice answer there chief.

[YOUR Hero]

Cry about it
They didn't need him this year. It was a cheap move by the Rockies.

[Moonax]

They've had 10 years of a 'future' and done bob-all so far.

[BCWWF]

In the Rockies standpoint, why risk letting one of your top prospects getting injured playing for some other team and hamper the future of your team? Its unlikely, but not outrageous.

[Moonax]

I'll bet that if the US team had qualified and Francis had been American they'd have let him go.

[BCWWF]

Your point being?

[Moonax]

A fairly obvious one.

There are double standards.

One rule for Americans and one rule for everyone else.

[BCWWF]

Oh shit, that only happens in the United States doesn't it, damnit I feel sooo STOOPID NOW!

[Moonax]

Look at it this way.

Ronaldo et al were all released by their clubs so they could compete in the Olympic football competition.

[BCWWF]

I forgot how civil that was

[CNM]

They planned a month or so in advance where he was gonna start. They wanted him to get some more experience at Colorado Springs and then be allowed to make his first few major league starts in pitcher parks. Plus like BCWWF said, there's no need to jeopardize THE top prospect in system for a few games in the Olympics. So Francis wasn't going to the Olympics for any country. Keep crying though.

[YOUR Hero]

The thing is, The Rockies are going no where this year. Had they been in a pennant race or something, I could understand, but they're not.

Francis would have gained more experience of playing under pressure and gained the Rockies' orginazation some prestige points.

[CNM]

OK Hero, I understand what you're saying but understand this. The Rockies wanted to give him more experience at Colorado Springs in high altitude and then allow him to make his major league debut this year (get his feet wet) and start next year in the rotation. They've had success doing it this way (Jason Jennings, Aaron Cook). If they let Francis go to the Olympics, that wasn't going to happen.

[YOUR Hero]

Altitude?

Athens is @ 315 feet from sea level, man!

;)


I disagree with their decision. Francis didn't fuss too much about it.

I guess perhaps I'm cynical, but I wonder if The Rockies truely would have done the same thing for an Amreican player, had the USA been able to qualify a team.

[The Mackem]

Christ, Baseball is an Olympic sport?

[YOUR Hero]

Jesus has other things to do besides scan the internet looking for questions asked of him, Mackem. :n:

[The Mackem]

But if the US doesn't take the competition seriously by sending over their stars, isn't it a non-event?

Ach. I need that Jebus bloke again.

[Moonax]

The US failed to qualify. In previous years they have sent college players and minor league players.

In Sydney the team contained Ben Sheets.

A first round pick and jewel in Brewers farm system.

Funny how the Brewers could see their way to releasing him for the US team but the Rockies can't see their way to releasing a francis for canada.

[BCWWF]

Because Europe and South America don't send their football stars to the Olympics makes it a stupid tournament that means nothing. Its the same thing with baseball, the Olympics isn't bigger than the MLB. Why should they delay/alter their plans on a top prospect by letting him go and play in a minor competition against worse competition?

If Athens was a big tournament and the Canadian baseball team was good/mattered, then it probably would have been different.

Also, was Hero joking about the altitude comment? I wasn't sure the point there :?:

[The Mackem]

Well that means they didn't take the competition seriously if they couldn't be bothered with qualification, plus are there any non-Americans released for the tournament (which I was leaning more towards in my previous post not just Americans).

[The Mackem]

Because Europe and South America don't send their football stars to the Olympics makes it a stupid tournament that means nothing. Its the same thing with baseball, the Olympics isn't bigger than the MLB. Why should they delay/alter their plans on a top prospect by letting him go and play in a minor competition against worse competition?

If Athens was a big tournament and the Canadian baseball team was good/mattered, then it probably would have been different.

Also, was Hero joking about the altitude comment? I wasn't sure the point there :?:Taking your first paragraph, don't the US major teams have like a second team made up of reserves of youth players, or even make it an under 23 tournament like the football/soccer one is.

I'm not taking a swipe at you personally but wouldn't you agree that if the US were there, which seems like the only country that takes the sport seriously besides Japan, it would give the tournament a bit more credibility. It could be baseballs version of the World Cup.

[BCWWF]

I'm not sure exactly what you are saying, but I think you are asking about farm systems. In major league baseball each team has I think seven minor league teams playing under it.

If the United States was playing in the Olympics it would be a bigger deal, but not if they were only sending college and minor leaguers anyway. There is a Baseball World Cup planned for next spring I think, where the top guys from the US, Japan, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Canada, S. Korea, all those countries will be there, that is what the major international baseball tournament will be.

Also, to prevent some more stereotyping from Moonax, a lot of the players playing in the Olympics are MLB minor leaguers. The Twins for example have two lower level guys, one a pitcher for Holland the other for Austrailia. So its not like we are holding everybody back for no reason. It would not be an advantage for the Rockies or the player to have him go to the Olympics, but I'm sure he will pitch in the World Cup.

[CNM]

The US failed to qualify. In previous years they have sent college players and minor league players.

In Sydney the team contained Ben Sheets.

A first round pick and jewel in Brewers farm system.

Funny how the Brewers could see their way to releasing him for the US team but the Rockies can't see their way to releasing a francis for canada.

Yeah and guess what? Sheets didn't make his major league debut until 2001. He didn't come back from the Olympics and get called up to the big leagues. What is it you don't understand about them wanting him to get some experience this year not only in the big leagues, but at Coors Field?

[Moonax]

2001 which would be the following season - so what's your point? Sheets was pitching at AAA and could have been called up at anytime. Instead they let him go to the Olympics. One rule for Canadian athletes and one rule for American athletes.

And I refer you back to hero's point about experience of being at Sydney of being more value in the long run.

No wonder you are a Rockies fan. Obviously that thin air has effected you mentally.

[BCWWF]

What do you not understand about individual situations?

[Moonax]

What part of double standards don't you understand?

[BCWWF]

The part where this is not the same standard

[Moonax]

That is because it is a double standard.

[BCWWF]

If you look at it through the eyes of a close minded first grader, then you would be right

[Moonax]

I hope you get out of the first grade soon then.

[BCWWF]

Lol, ok

[CNM]

What part of double standards don't you understand?

Double standard? Uhhh, no. If the Rockies have a double standard against non-American players pitching in the Olympics then why is Chin-Hui Tsao pitching for Chinese Tapai? You're full of shit. Read this article from today's Denver Post:

Francis' time arrives (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~96~2350889,00.html)

Check out the last four paragraphs. Why don't you understand that wouldn't be possible if Francis went to the Olympics? BTW, nice high altitude slam. You're a regular comedian.

[Moonax]

I guess watching the Rockies you must be used to comedy.

You really should chill out and not get so pissy all the time.

Why if pitching at altitude is such a big thing is he pitching in the rarified air of Atlanta?

Could have got this start in Athens in a bigger game that mattered more.

[CNM]

Wow, you've really got no clue do you? I give up. You're obviously never going to get it.

[Moonax]

It's all pretty clear. A pointless and petty move by the Rockies.

[Bad Company]

I think it's pretty funny that in sports where the US considers themselves the champs, their players don't even have the heart to go compete at the biggest competition of them all.

[CNM]

Don't have the heart? LOL

[The Outlaw]

I think it's pretty funny that in sports where the US considers themselves the champs, their players don't even have the heart to go compete at the biggest competition of them all.
Is this in reference to basketball or what? :-\

[BCWWF]

Note 1: Respect lever for CNM has doubled in this post

Note 2: I don't know what Bad Company is even talking about, if its basketball, the reason we are losing is not because we don't have heart, its because we don't have a good team. Basketball will be the next big international sport, and I'm excited for that, but for the next at least 5 or so years the Unites States best still towers over the rest of the world, and that isn't me being bias because if you disagree with it then you have no clue.

[The Mackem]

Oh yeah by far there is no doubt that the USA is the best country at Basketball, I mean it's one of those sports like Americn Football that is just a part of Americans from birth. It's not really the same in the UK, for example. We do have Basketball leagues here in the UK (fucking Newcastle stole our team) but as you can imagine as there isn't much money in it, no TV deals and other sports in the UK that are just more popular Basketball's popularity is limited.

I guess it's like what soccer is in the US.

[ct2k]

I think he was talking more in reference to Baseball.

The baseball world cup could be brilliant, USA, Cuba, Dominican Rep, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Japan all loaded to the max with their star players:drool:

[BCWWF]

I just wish they could do it at a better time instead of in the middle of Spring Training, but there really isn't a better time :meh:

[The Mackem]

LOL Japan got beat of Australia today, you don't want the Australians to beat you at your own game seriously, you'll never live it down. It's the reason we Brits love to hate them.

:D