Friday, August 3, 2012

Should American Football be in the Olympics?


Absolutely not.

If you know me, you know the only two sports I really care about are baseball and hockey.  Baseball is not in the Olympics, and I think that makes sense.  Softball was thrown out of the Olympics after Team USA dominated for however many years that was.  The best hockey game I ever watched was the gold medal game of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver between Team USA and Canada, and the Winter Games wouldn't be the same without it.

As far as basketball is concerned, it has no business being there, either.  Look at the most recent men's basketball game with Team USA.  I don't think you can even call that a game.  There's no question that the best all-around talent in the sport of basketball can be found in the United States.

And the same can be said about American football. After all, it is American football.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said recently that he is very interested in getting football into the Olympics.

"We're already taking steps to gain that IOC recognition," Goodell said.  "We have, I think, 64 countries that are playing American football now, and that's one of the requirements.  That's been growing dramatically. I think it was 40 just five years ago."

Yeah, because I want to see the United States take on Team Kazakhstan, that would totally be a fair game.  Its absolutely pointless to even consider football in the Olympics.  There would be 3 or 4 teams that could be really competitive, but no one would come close to Team USA.  While normally I would root for anything USA, this is one sport I think should stay out forever.
"We're already taking steps to gain that IOC recognition. We have, I think, 64 countries that are playing American football now, and that's one of the requirements. That's been growing dramatically -- I think it was 40 just five years ago."

Read more at: http://www.nesn.com/2012/08/roger-goodell-absolutely-wants-football-in-olympics-not-ruling-out-london-nfl-franchise.html

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