Published: August 20, 2008 11:16 am         

What if IOC had dumped basketball before 1972?

As usual, I’m confused about some things.

I’m confused about why American track and field runners need to wear sunglasses when they run their events, particularly since they are running at night. Having never been a sprinter myself, other than when the dollar-a-draught-when-it’s-raining special is in effect, I likely wouldn’t understand much about it, so I definitely don’t understand the sunglasses. Do they help the athletes run faster and jump higher the same way the green label on the back of PF Flyers did?

Don’t masquerade with the guy in shades, I guess.

Something else I’m confused about is why softball is being dropped as an Olympic sport, effective the 2012 Games in London. This confuses me because the game is growing to the point that over 140 countries play softball. If softball is dumped from the Olympics — and it has been — many of those countries are likely to stop playing it because government funding will no longer be available.

I don’t understand this because softball is a fast-paced game and is still growing worldwide. Plus, not one softball player on the international level has ever tested positive for drugs.

Did softball get the boot because the United States has dominated in winning the first three Olympic gold medals, and is likely to win a fourth this week? We would hope not, but that’s probably the reason since we’re not too popular out there these days to begin with.

What if the International Olympic Committee had dropped basketball as an Olympic sport before the United States finally lost an Olympic game in 1972? The rest of the world wouldn’t have caught up to the United States in basketball, that’s what would have happened.

Michael Phelps has been the star of these Olympic Games, but the rock stars of the Games and to the people of China have been the United States men’s basketball team.

Basketball, you see, became a worldwide sport because the rest of the world challenged itself to play to the United States’ standard. Sadly, petty jealousy and outright disdain for the United States could very well prevent softball from becoming a worldwide sport at just the time it was about to become one.

Baseball also was a victim of the IOC guillotine, but, you know, that’s kind of understandable since Major League Baseball will not suspend its season for two weeks to allow the best players in the world to play in the Olympics. Not only that, the World Baseball Classic, which does feature the best players in the world, looks as though it is here to stay.

The first WBC was played in 2006. The second one is scheduled to take place in 2009, with subsequent tournaments held every four years thereafter.

It’s Steffy ... for now

University of Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen announced Monday the Terps’ starting quarterback in the Aug. 30 opener against Delaware will be fifth-year senior Jordan Steffy. Friedgen, however, said junior quarterbacks Chris Turner and Josh Portis both will see plenty of action this season as well.

“I think we need to work three,” Friedgen told the Baltimore Sun. “I think they’ll all end up playing, to be honest with you. I look at it as a strength. We’re probably fortunate to have three quarterbacks that are talented kids. Now we have to get one quarterback that we can win the ACC with. If we have three of them, that’s even better.”

Early results on the Times-News Internet Sports Poll (www.times-news.com) have Steffy as a 50 percent to 41 percent favorite over Turner to receive most of the snaps this season, with Portis coming in at 9 percent. Friedgen, after discussing the decision at length with the seniors on the team, as well as the coaching staff, says Steffy got the nod because he outperformed the other two in practice, although barely. The Terps coach, however, admitted Turner performed better in games last year (even though “we didn’t win every game he played in.”), and he also continues to rave about Portis’ game-changing ability.

All indications are that Steffy is much more comfortable in new offensive coordinator James Franklin’s West Coast offense, which is good, because he never seemed comfortable the last four seasons in the previous offense.

Friedgen told the Washington Post he is “a believer that good practices make good games, too.” But he also admitted, “It’s better to play well in games than in practice. But if we did that every game it would not be a concern.”

Maryland will have one of the top offensive lines in the ACC this season and is so loaded at the receiver position that blue-chip freshman Kenny Tate agreed to play safety for one year. As usual, the Terps are picked near the bottom of their division, but it’s not unrealistic to believe seven or eight wins this season are possible.

Once the season is under way, don’t look too long for three quarterbacks to be playing. Look for the guy who’s getting the results in the games to settle in as the one.

Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.