A NOT so Happy Ending: US Softball's Road to Beijing

 
    The world has had its fair share of upsets.  The myth that tiny David could topple Goliath and come out as the unsung hero has been in sports for as long as sports have been around.  Stories like the USA Miracle hockey team, or Mazeroski's home run are examples that this can happen.  Now, these stories all had happy endings for one team and usually its the winning team that tells the story.  Yet I'm taking a different approach, telling the story of David Vs.Goliath, from Goliath's stand point.

USA Olympic Team after winning Silver in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

    The USA softball team had been dominating on the global stage since the 1996 Olympics, going 8-1, their only loss coming from Australia in Round Robin play.  The US Team beat China 3-1 to win the Gold Medal.  In the 2000 Olympics the team had their 112 win streak snapped by Japan in a 2-1
11 inning lost, the team bounced back with five consecutive wins and beating Japan to win the Gold Medal.  In 2004 the team was referred to as the "Real Dream Team".  The performance of the US Olympic team will go down in history as one of the most dominate ever, this team out scored opponents 51-1.  Also, they set 11 different Olympic records during the 2004 Olympics.
   Going into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing the Softball community knew that this would be the last year.  Earlier in 2005 the IOC decided to pull Softball from the Olympics after 2008. Team USA knew this was the last time they could prove that they deserve to be in the Olympics.
     In Beijing the US team was a shoe in to win the Gold.  Going into the Gold Medal game Team USA was on an 8-0 win streak.  Their opponent was Japan who they were facing for the third time in six days.  Team USA was Goliath ready to pound on David (Japan).  Yet, they lost to Japan 3-1 and for the first time lost a Gold Medal game since 1996. For five players of the US Team this would be the last time they stepped onto the field (Lura Berg, Bustos, Kelly Kretschman, Tairia Flowers, Lovieanna Jung).  Though the tears stopped and teams got together for a picture (below).  All three teams, Gold Medal Japan, Silver Medal USA, and Bronze Medal Australia, chanted the words "BACK SOFTBALL",  This was their way to send a message to the IOC.
   So the real David Vs. Goliath myth would be softball players of the world against the IOC, and the true heroes would be the women on the field. This is one story that won't be answered today, tomorrow, or soon, but one day, one day Goliath will hear those chants and finally fall.  On that day softball will come back to the Global stage, where it belongs. Team US just proves that not all myths have to have a happy ending.  It shows that even if it doesn't have a happy ending for those involved, but that it could serve a bigger purpose.