Olympic 2012, Part II: Disappointment

It's Olympic Day #2 and Team USA has won a total of 12 medals, 5 medals being Gold. While Team Puerto Rico unfortunately has yet to win anything.

But, this post isn't about the medal wins, it's about the sport of Softball. The sport of Softball has been taken out of the Olympic 2012 & 2016 games with a chance at the 2020 Olympic games, along with 16 other sports. Softball is a sport dear to me being that I played on my High School Softball team for 3 years and would've continued if my college had a team.

Added in the Olympics of 1996, the USA Softball team took home gold in every Olympic tournament. Some people believe that it was taken out because other countries aren't competitive in this sport, because only eight teams were competing. With Baseball being taken out, Softball was being compared to it even though the two sports have a lot of differences. Among these differences are the size of the ball and field, the pitching style, and the numbers of innings played. Baseball wasn't favored because the professional baseball teams in the United States won't send their players to the games. Whereas the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League both allow their professional players to participate in the Olympics. 

My question is, Why take Softball Out? Though it was voted off, missing it by one point, Softball is watched and played by many little girls. Taking Softball out of The Olympics has upset many fans and players of the sport, including me! Make sure to petition to get Softball back for the Olympics 2020 games!

Click HERE and visit the Save Softball Website.

Ollie O.: "Define your Happiness"

Olympics 2012!

This year, the Olympics are hosted in London and boy was the Opening Ceremony Grand! Lasting between the days from July 27th to August 12th, the Olympics are athletic competitions of many sports between nations; extremely fierce competition. Attended by thousands including royalty, presidents, dictators, etc, the  Opening Ceremony was showed/performed last night and lasting up to 4 hrs as London pulled out all the stops needed to make the opening memorable. Titled “Isle of Wonder” and created by Danny Boyle, he pulled out all of its high technology costing hundreds of millions of dollars. It featured great pop music, comedy and the roots of social networking. It also included big theatrics and majority of famous British characters; being apart of Britain's rich cultural heritage. One of the most memorable acts with Queen Elizabeth II making her acting debut alongside James Bond in a film beamed into the Olympic Stadium. Former Beatle Paul McCartney, closed the show with the song "Hey Jude" and ending with the lighting of 240 torches in total (marking all 240 nations.)

Because I'm Puerto Rican I'm rooting for them just as much as Team USA; though having only 25 athletes with Team USA having 594 athletes.

This year will also be the first year I watch the Special Olympics, I've always wanted to watch it but never got the chance to. These athletes may have disabilities but they can all be a lot stronger then I am, mentally and/or physically. It's going to be a good Olympic year!
Ollie O.: "Define your Happiness"