A Review of Olympics Coverage - what's hot and what's not, Part Two

Beach Volleyball was the king (and queen) of the Beijing Olympics. How did our other "emerging" sports fare?

Lacrosse in the Olympics? Here's a good overview by John Weaver from his sports blog at baltimoresun.com. Basically, lacrosse has three out of the four requirements to get into the Olymics, yet they're no where near acceptance as the sport must grow dramatically worldwide. "Only sports widely practiced by men in at least seventy-five countries and on four continents, and by women in at least forty countries and on three continents, may be included in the programme of the Games of the Olympiad." Lacrosse is supposedly our nation's fastest-growing sport, and has a tradition dating back to the Iriquois Nation, but it is hugely dominated by the US and Canada. To be considered a world sport of Olympic caliber, you would need Peace Corps volunteers to bring lacrosse sticks into emerging nations, providing them with an alternative to soccer, and then wait for the sport to germinate.

And what about dodgeball? The National Dodgeball Association is working with the International Dodgeball Federation in promoting dodgeball as an Olympic sport. Although there's a huge underground movement collecting support, dodgeball would still have to meet the same qualifications as lacrosse - be played on a world-championship level by 40 to 75 countries. You would think that International Platform on Sport and Development would teach war-scarred and struggling Third World countries to play dodgeball, if not lacrosse. Lacrosse is, well, a bit difficult to play, and you would need some complicated equipment. Dodgeball, on the other hand, is just as accessible as soccer, only much less violent. Would we have wars in the Middle East, Eastern Europe or Africa if soldiers and would-be terrorists were playing dodgeball?

And roller derby? Roller sports is an IOC recognized sport, governed by USA Roller Sports, and includes both inline and quad skating, recognizing disciplines of artistic skating, speed skating, and inline or roller hockey. Additional categories of USARS members include recreation, aggressive, and roller derby, which is in a category all its own since 2006. Only inline speed skating and roller figure skating are currently being promoted as potential Olympic sports by the International Federation of Roller Sports, so roller derby is probably further down on the list.

Our link of the week: Dr. Ted Forcum (pictured above as US Team Chiropractor in the Bird's Nest at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) and Back In Motion Sports Injuries Clinic.