Right to Deny: IOC passes judgment on the Right to Play-VANOC dispute

Following a dispute over sponsorship issues the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned humanitarian sports organization Right to Play from participating in not only the coming Olympics Games in 2010 in Vancouver, but all subsequent Games to follow.

This past October a dispute arose between Right to Play and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), however it seemed inevitable at the time the issue would resolve itself due to the negative light that would be shed on all parties involved if such a charitable foundation was blocked. A foundation that actually sprung from the Olympic movement by Olympic athletes.

In the end it appears that events went from bad to decidedly worse for the Toronto based, sports oriented foundation. The Canadian Press announced today that the IOC has decided Right to Play, a humanitarian group spreading good will and participation in sport to various regions around the world that may not have the opportunity without such assistance, has been banned from all Olympiads.

The international humanitarian organization Right to Play has been told by the International Olympic Committee it is not welcomed at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, or future Olympics...The ban will continue for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

For a group that places the utmost importance on both educating and securing new athletes to support and contribute to their cause, this can be considered a critical blow. However when presented with the opportunity to attack the IOC themselves, Johann Koss, the President and CEO of Right to Play, decided to take the high road instead.

Koss hesitated when asked if by banning Right to Play, the IOC was violating its own goals.

"I don't want to comment necessarily on the IOC's decision," he said. "We have grown out of the Olympic organizing committee and the Olympic movement.

"This is our history and this is where we belong. I don't want to speculate on the issue and the decision made by the IOC."

Considering what has recently befallen Vancouver in organizing these Games this will surely not help improve their image. In fact appalling is a pretty good word that comes to mind when one is reminded that the original conflict arose from nothing more than a conflict of sponsors (Right to Play is with Toyota while VANOC has signed on with General Motors...will refrain to comment on who made the better decision there...). And even though the disputed advertising was not key to promotional material, not prevalent on the Right to Play website either, and that this has never been a concern in past Olympics the group has attended dating back to 1994, the recent rift that was created simply could not be repaired.

So as both the IOC and VANOC claim a rather infamous role in the charitable history books, the IOC is also left to deal with what appears to be quite the hypocritical decision on their part. They should provide a press release as to why they have attacked an organization promoting sport to youth all over the world, but then again communication may not be a strong suit of the IOC.

Koss said his organization tried to reach a compromise.

"After the initial discussion with VANOC and the IOC, we did present to them a way where we could work together," he said. "I did not get a response from that. That was five months ago.

"Since then we had not heard anything before I received this letter."

If and when the other side of the story ever comes out then these actions can be judged accordingly, but until then this is just one big disappointment. One can hold out hope, however, that this dispute is resolved in the future so that even if these Games are deprived of this great organization maybe future Olympiads will not. One can only hope...hey at least hope is in fashion right now!

Related:
IOC says Right to Play not welcome at Olympic Games any more (The Canadian Press)

Zen Dayley: Insert picture of upside-down Canadian flag in 3, 2, 1...

Fox Sports cutting to a commercial during O Canada is tacky -- but it's like expecting the class clown not to make armpit noises during a school assembly.

The point is, you almost look forward to it with Fox. One less than endearing Canadian trait is that we often overanalyze American interpretations of us, just to look for the boo-boos. It's kind of like the nerd who adds to the goofs section on the Internet Movie Database. Watching how Fox, the broadcast arm of the hyperbole-industrial complex, utterly ignored this country's baseball fans during the baseball All-Star Game telecast from Yankee Stadium, though, you can't blame us for feeling that way.

It happens too often. We are forced to keep score at home. No one in Canada would have known about this right away, save for the fact globesports.com's Jeff Blair blogged it, but MLB did have O Canada. While Sheryl Crow performed The Star-Spangled Banner, there was a recorded version of our national anthem, with no singer. The only reason it was even seen in Canada, ironically enough, was due to a screwup by the Canadian rights holder.

Think about it. Months of planning and preparation went into this Bronx bonanza, but MLB couldn't find anyone to sing O Canada. Hey, it's not like there were an unprecedented three Canadians in the game. In fairness, New York City isn't swimming in unknown performers who just need a break.

This very well could be the old Canadian insecurity talking. Doesn't it seem like U.S. broadcasters constantly betray a lack of broadcast preparation when it comes anything Canadian? The half-assed treatment of our anthem was just the tip of the iceberg.

What happened was that that chill bump-raising pregame ceremony introducing virtually every living Hall of Famer wrapped up and Fox went to a commercial break. That's not so bothersome. They had a lot of ads to squeeze in and the pregame ceremony was bound to run a little long.

On Sportsnet Pacific, the screen went to black for about 15-20 seconds. Then suddenly the feed came back, somewhere around the "from far and wide," although it was hard to be pinpoint it exactly, since there were no words. What, MLB couldn't spring for the airfare and a hotel room to get this singer down to New York City?

Any Canadian baseball nut who tuned to see a game that had an unprecedented three of our own playing in the Midsummer Classic -- the L.A. Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster and Twins first baseman Justin Morneau -- saw half of a half-hearted treatment of our anthem.

In the top of the fourth, Roy Halladay came on to pitch. Joe Buck called the four-time All-Star Holliday (no, he plays for the Colorado Rockies -- as Amrit pointed out, he homered an inning later, but not off his AL near-namesake). A few moments later, Tim McCarver, referred to the Jays' home stadium as the "Rogers Dome." (Well, it has only had Rogers' corporate on it since 2005, and it is a dome.)

Hopefully Jays president Paul Godfrey wasn't expecting any quid pro quo for persisting in playing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch at the Rogers Centre long after many U.S. teams discontinued the practice.

It was a slap in the face. They skimped on an anthem singer and then Joe and Tim skim over some basic prep work for the broadcast involving a Canadian-based player. It comes off as saying, hey, it's Canada, what does it matter?

This isn't coming from someone who's resolutely anti-American. There's so much they do better than Canada -- sports, movies, politically motivated witchhunts, Trials of the Century, showing celebrities at their worst, subtle political satire. How many Canadians who couldn't get anywhere creatively in this country have made it big down there?

One of the funnier aspects about that line "where else can even paperboy option the film rights to a book?" in that Bruce McCullough Kids In The Hall monologue, In America, is that it has a grain of truth. The U.S is still the country for the dreamers, the lottery players. Canada is where your life is just a job you have to finish, although that's probably just as true for most Americans (that's why country music is so popular in both countries).

Getting back to the point, no Canadian broadcaster would ever think to go to commercial during the American anthem. We're way too eager to ingratiate ourselves with the Americans. Our government even let American fighter pilots do a flyover over the U.S. ambassador's residence in Ottawa on July 4, as well we should have. We would never consider not giving our American friends equal consideration.

Down south, they figure there's no need to bother with acknowledging Canada, but then again, we are kind of boring.

You think Buck and McCarver mentioned that there were three Canadians in the game? Don't be foolish.

(How sweet was it to see the full range of Martin's talents -- hitting, going first-to-third on a single, working the plate -- and to see Morneau score the winning run?)

Forget it, it's the Bronx

• Capping the pregame hoopla by wheeling in George Steinbrenner was lame. Only the Yankees would have the gall to be so obvious about ripping off the scene in Boston in 1999, when the presence of Ted Williams, in evident poor health, turned Fenway Park into a giant kiss-and-cry area at a figure skating competition.
  
  There's no moral high ground in begrudging an 78-year-old plutocrat in his sunset years becoming America's grandpa. That said, you can sub in "baseball owners" into that line from Chinatown about how "politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough" and it fits the scene to a tee. It's no wonder he didn't get a big ovation from the crowd.
  
  Painting Steinbrenner in such a glowing light, giving him more of a spotlight than Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, George Brett, Mike Schmidt and Frank Robinson, et al., is a whitewash. Sorry, but there's no way to be objective about Steinbrenner.
  
  In the back half of his time running the Yankees, he was the best owner in sports. However, you have to remember that for at least as long, probably longer, he was the worst owner in sports. He demeaned players and managers, ran roughshod over people who had no way of fighting back, traded in thinly veiled racism to try and shake down NYC for a new stadium -- remember when he kept saying the area around the Stadium was "too scary" -- and damn near destroyed the Yankee tradition.
  
  A generation ago, Goose Gossage, one of the Yankees legends involved in the first-ball ceremony (four first balls? Really?), said, "George always like to talk about the Yankee tradition. When did he ever play for the Yankees?"
  
  Gossage was right the first time. The Yankees can recognize Steinbrenner on their own time, like before their final home game of the season, rather than shoving it down the throats of fans whose teams don't have $209-million payrolls. The rewriting of history is well underway.
  
  Plus there was the time he invited himself to Costanza's wedding.
• The best hitters in the game (and Jason Varitek) went 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position. Basically, it was like a Jays intrasquad game.
• Everyone will be having a lot of fun with the story about Ichiro Suzuki's not-G-rated Gipper speech.
• Great lines from ShysterBall: "The baseball luminaries are riding in 100 Chevy Silverados. Baseball's carbon footprint is taking a beating this evening.
  
  "This thing reminds me of the Macy's parade. I hope I didn't tune in too late to see the David Wells balloon."
• Dustin McGowan's not out for the season. Even better news: He never watches movies that star Bill Murray.
• Via Uni Watch, here's a great trivia question: Who was the first player to play in an All-Star Game wearing Blue Jays gear? OK, It was Ruppert Jones, an outfielder in the '70s and '80s who never played for the Jays. How did he pull that off?
• Lastly, how much more informal was baseball back in 1967, the only previous time the game went 15 innings? Mickey Mantle was on the American League team that season, but didn't feel like he rated the honour, so he flew from Dallas to Anaheim, arrived after the game had started, pinch-hit for the starting pitcher in the third inning, struck out, and flew back to Dallas. The game was still going when he met up with his buddies at the country club.
  
  It's too bad that OPS+ wasn't around in in 1967. For a guy who was supposedly done, The Mick had an OPS+ of 150. Most players never get close to that in their entire career.

(Digression: Searching for the McCullough monologue turned up the greatest cold opening in television history. Try to work "guilty, but with various good excuses" into conversation whenever possible.)

NASCAR discrimination suit should burst your bubble

We've all snickered from the safety of our little middle-class bubble whenever the bosses send around a memo about the latest company policy on harassment.

You know what, though? Making light of that is just so hypocritical. The $225-million US racial/sexual discrimation lawsuit that NASCAR is facing from former employee Mauricia Grant, an African-American woman, is an extreme case, but it's good jumping-off point for realizing how some of us struggle to understand what it's like to be in a vulnerable situation. Or like Sports on My Mind put it: "It is about human beings and our basic loathing and therefore failure to possess the wherewithal to accept and respect someone different than us."

Yes, society is way too damn serious and tight-assed politically correct. Reading over what Grant says she was subjected to should give pause to laughing about this the next time, since many of us have no idea what it's like. And it reaches all the way to Canada (although it's probably one of the milder items in a 140-count statement of claim)!

"128. Approximately later that week of August 4, 2007, while working at Circuit Gilles in Montreal, Defendant NASCAR's Director of Truck Series Wayne Auton observed White Official Jay Altheizer refuse to cooperate when Plaintiff MAURICIA GRANT was attempting to fix the data log, intentionally delay their work, and yell at Plaintiff when she tried to get him to help: 'Stop acting like a fucking bitch! You're not the boss of me!' ... Altheizer later admitted to Officials Brian Bishop and Shannon Bednarek that he had intentionally started an argument with Plaintiff MAURICIA GRANT because he knew he could get plaintiff in trouble."

There's a scene in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby when a character played by Greg Germann talks about a deal where "we could end up owning half the teams in NASCAR."

That might a good start for redressing what Grant endured.

Related:
Mauricia Grant and the disdainful sound of one hand clapping (Sports on My Mind)

Hoops: Bol Kong, revisited

The New York Times has picked up the Bol Kong story, which is of national concern but has never drawn much interest anywhere east of his hometown, Vancouver.

There's an entire level of geopolitics and international diplomacy that, frankly, is way beyond the ken of a blog about sports. The best stab here is that it is completely unjust that Kong, a gifted basketball guard whom a big-time hoops school, Gonzaga, is apparently very sweet on, can't get a student visa to play U.S. college basketball. The U.S. won't let him in since he's a citizen of Sudan, a state which is considered to sponsor terrorism according to laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Talk about the law of unintended consequences. Kong and his family left Sudan due to the country's civil war and, according to the timeline, were in Canada by the time the law that is keeping him from being allowed into the States was passed. He poses no threat to anyone, except the guy who's stuck with guarding him (he lit it up against Division 1 teams while playing for Douglas College last season).

The question is where is Canada's government in this? Prime Minister Stephen Harper never misses a chance to attach himself to hockey. There might not be a lot of political capital in helping Kong, but it's the right thing (presuming something can be done to change the Americans' minds).

The 6-foot-7 Kong would be attending a top basketball school, study at a highly-ranked private university and team up with another Sudan-born Canadian, shooting guard Mangisto (Manny) Arop, who's committed to 'Zaga for the 2009-10 season. Why not pull out all the stops to help him realize his dream?

Related:
Player Caught in a Web Not of His Spinning (Aaron Kaplowitz, The New York Times; via The Postmen)

Hey, Jenny Potter: Canada will have a challenge

Canada's whole Own The Podium rhetoric for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is probably taking a gold medal in women's hockey for granted.

The U.S. beat Canada for the gold at the worlds last month in Harbin, China, but chances are, the average fan back home waved that off as one of those anything-can-happens. It should be on everyone's radar screen that USA Hockey is setting up a residency program for the national women's team in Blaine, Minn., starting in the fall. Much of that group will play with the Minnesota Whitecaps.

Canada might be heading toward the same state that the U.S. is for women's hoops. There's an expectation that only an Olympic gold medal will do, but the rest of the world is catching up and the athletes' economic reality works against having a national team which is together all the time. (This is being written without a full awareness of what the Canadian women go through, but it's not exactly unknown they make huge sacrifices to play.)

It's great for the sport, of course. The bottom line is there's no analog to Whitecaps president Jack Brodt, or to use the soccer example, Greg Kerfoot in Vancouver, among the old boys club that runs hockey in Canada. (If there's a patron on par with the businesswomen who run a couple of WNBA teams, they're remarkably shy.) Please keep that in mind in February 2010 if you're wondering why we didn't win in women's hockey while you were second knuckle deep in a big bowl of popcorn. That's not an excuse and it's doubtful Canada would use it as one, but it bears acknowledging.

Meantime, it's Sweden vs. Canada in the World Hockey Championship semi-final this afternoon in Quebec City. Any True North strong and full of self-loathing Canadian is probably tempted to root for the Swedes, who the equivalent of an entire NHL roster -- 21 players -- pass on playing. Henrik Lundqvist could be this tournament's answer to what Martin Gerber was in 2006 and won't the garment-rending be fun to observe.