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Analyst Jessica Mendoza trying to get softball reinstated to Olympics

 
By Mel Bracht | Published: May 29, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment

Team USA’s disappointing 3-1 loss to Japan in the 2008 gold medal game might not be the final Olympic appearance for ESPN analyst Jessica Mendoza. Mendoza, a four-time All-American outfielder from Stanford, is entertaining thoughts of returning for the 2016 games.

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WCWS on the air: Jessica Mendoza anchors main ESPN team
Jessica Mendoza, play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins and former Philadelphia Phillies star John Kruk make up ESPN’s main broadcast team for the Women’s College World Series. The other team consists of Pam Ward and Michele Smith, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Oklahoma State. Holly Rowe is the field reporter for all the games.

ESPN and ESPN2 are combining to show all the games in HD.

Mendoza said the outspoken Kruk, a regular on ESPN’s "Baseball Tonight,” is helping to bring casual viewers to the WCWS telecasts. But after they stumble onto the telecasts, she said, they are hooked.

"I can’t tell you how many e-mails I get from people who would never have watched softball, but then they turn it on and realize the emotion and passion of these women that is missing from a lot of other sports,” Mendoza said.

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First things first, though. The International Olympic Committee would need to reinstate softball for the 2016 games and Mendoza will have to see how motherhood affects her playing career. She is expecting her first child, a boy, in August.

In 2016, Mendoza would be a grizzled softball veteran at 35 years old.

"I love this game more than anything,” she said. "As long as my body lets me, I’m going to keep playing.”

Mendoza said her husband, Adam Burks, a civil engineer, is all for the idea.

"He really wants our kids to see me in an Olympic game,” she said.

As for getting the sport reinstated in the Olympics, Mendoza will be part of a softball delegation that will travel to IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on June 9 to make a presentation.

Mendoza said there are numerous arguments for reinstating softball:

→The Olympics are softball’s pinnacle because it lacks a strong professional league.

→It’s one of only three Olympic sports that is drug-free.

→It brings more women into the Olympics, and in some countries, provides one of the few opportunities for women to compete in sports.

→It tries to bring peace through sports by promoting softball in Third World countries, including recent campaigns in Gambia and Sri Lanka.

However, the best argument might have been the 3-1 loss to Japan.

"It showed the world that it’s not just an American sport,” Mendoza said.

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Related Topics: Sports, Olympic Games



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