Yeah, why did they get rid of softball? I missed it somehow and was surprised to hear this was the last of it.

Four ears or two ears and devil horns?

I think they are big on getting rid of sports where one team is too dominant. Does the US always win?

Yeah, they had a thing on that baseball is going away because it doesn't draw the big names from Major League, so it is not a marque event and softball is going away cause the USA women have absolutely OWNED it since it became an event.

US too dominant in softball: [link]

That article Jesse linked to has stuff about baseball too.

The IOC and MLB are at loggerheads. Unlike the National Hockey League, which since 1998 has interrupted its seasons to accommodate the Olympics for roughly a fortnight, Commissioner Bud Selig hasn't the slightest inclination to take a pennant-race hiatus in order to play for medals. The Olympics might be a show, but MLB is The Show, and IOC president Jacques Rogge shouldn't forget it. In any case, MLB likes the possibilities of its World Baseball Classic, which is still in the embryonic stage. Once the kinks in the format are worked out -- and they should be in 2009, when the second tournament will be staged -- there will never be the need to seek the five-ring seal of approval.

Okay, that's all wrong in so many ways.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate that pro athletes are competing in the Olympics? 'Cause I do.

Nice article about the dominance of British Track cyclists at the Olympics. (Spoilery . . . of course.) I am a little sad that Mark Cavendish went home w/o a medal but Yeah, 4 stages of the TdF should ease his pain.

Liese! Now that you're home, do you still want my Soda-Club flavor-mixy thingies? I won't use them, so they're all yours if you want them (including a new energy drink one that was included as a freebie with my refill CO2 that was delivered this morning).

But I need your new address, por favor.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate that pro athletes are competing in the Olympics? 'Cause I do.

In most cases, I'd completely agree with you, Liese, but I have to say, this year, at least, the basketball team is behaving and they came to play. And allowing pro athletes in basketball, at least, has kept it more competitive, I think, overall.

Plus, it's a matter of what defines "pro." During the Cold War years, all of the Eastern Bloc athletes were essentially pro athletes, being paid in any manner of ways, both open and more subtly, to do nothing but train and compete.

Oooh! Yes!

Addy will self destruct.

If, and only if you're sending via something other than US postal system (we don't actually get mail here):

{boom!}

Thank you!