Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community….
I once read an essay that suggested that Canada’s National Sport truly is softball.
The essence of the claim was that with no disrespect to the existing national sports of hockey and lacrosse, those sports aren’t available to everyone.
The point was that not every community has an arena for hockey or box lacrosse, yet it’s a rare community that doesn’t have a backstop or a diamond.
In fairness, some of those ball yards are ramshackle, but still it was a point well made.
Softball, or fastball, in these parts is played at every level; Minor, Ladies, Men’s and while the numbers are sometimes lacking, those who play the game play with passion.
This grassroots enthusiasm ripples all the way up the Softball Canada ladder and the pride of seeing Canada’s Women’s team win a Bronze medal this week at the Olympics in Tokyo was evident.
That pride was partnered with a large amount of heartbreak as Canada lost a pair of 1-0 games at the tournament to the Americans and to Japan……Canada was that close to a Gold Medal.
Which normally would lead to a lot of optimism heading to the next Olympics at Paris in 2024…….except Softball is not included in the roster of events for the next Summer Olympics, which is extremely curious.
Here’s a global game where the margin of victory among the top countries is minimal and it gets put on the shelf after an excellent tournament in Tokyo.
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.