Riding the Road to Beijing Aboard the U.S.A. Local By JOHN BRANCH Published: May 30, 2008 ROHNERT PARK, Calif. Just where in the world was the United States Olympic softball team? It should not take eight hours to get here from Visalia, even with a McDonalds stop in Madera and an out-of-the-way detour through Palo Alto.
Everything else was set. The temporary bleachers were in place. A dozen portable toilets were lined behind them. Concession tents had sprouted. The old pine trees down the right-field line were trimmed to make more room around the rough little diamond at the edge of the Sonoma State campus. The 2,000 tickets, at $25 each, went quickly. More could have sold had there been room to put everyone. An equipment truck parked nearby. Its side was a mobile billboard, showing 18 life-size, smiling women in red, white and blue uniforms. 48 Cities. 43,522 miles. One goal: Gold! it read. This may be the United States teams final pursuit of gold. The International Olympic Committee decided that the 2008 Summer Games would be the last for softball, citing lack of interest worldwide, especially in Europe. Yet Team USA marches on, Bound 4 Beijing, as the tour was dubbed the 4 an apparent reference to the quest for a fourth-consecutive Olympic gold medal. It is winding its way through 25 states to 62 scheduled games, including one here the next afternoon. That explained why the bleachers sat empty, for now. Finally, a shiny, logo-less bus with tinted windows shiny and tinted enough to make you think rock band eased around the corner, with a police escort. The bus parked. The door opened. One by one, members of Team USA stepped out into silence. They wore matching gear and glum expressions. They carried bags of bats and plastic pails full of softballs across fresh bark to the chain-link dugout. This was an off day, a scheduling misnomer. It included an early wake-up after a night game, a scheduled five-hour bus ride that somehow took seven and a half, and a practice that lasted three hours until darkness chased the team back to the bus and over to the Hampton Inn by the highway in search of dinner and sleep. The tour, with occasional breaks, spreads over 159 days, from Feb. 19 to July 26. For every hour in front of adoring fans are dozens more on a bus, at a hotel, along a highway rest stop, on another field in another town practicing in front of empty bleachers. There are times where its hard to figure out where youre at, outfielder Jessica Mendoza said during one particularly grueling stretch in California. Theres times Ive gone to the wrong room, knocked on the wrong door. Theres times Ive gotten on the elevator and my floor isnt on it. Im like, where am I? Where do I go? No other Olympic team does this. No other dares to prepare so publicly, to travel so incessantly. No other team halts its postgame autograph sessions after an hour because there are too many people and the bus is running and there is somewhere else to be. Most Olympians simply appear in August for their fleeting chance at capturing a nations heart. The softball team goes on the road searching for it, and then pulls it like luggage all the way to the Games. As much as we are literally, like, hodgepodging all over the entire country, thats what makes it so cool, Mendoza said. When were in the Olympics, were not just representing where were from or the school we went to. But were Rohnert Park, Calif. Were Nashville, Tenn. Were Tampa, Fla.; Spokane, Wash.; Sulphur, La. Were talking every corner of this country. By Coach Mike Candreas admission, it is not an ideal way to prepare, spending chunks of time in buses and hotels, then being told how great you are by fans, including legions of young girls who idolize the likes of Mendoza, Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman and Crystl Bustos. In one sense, were doing the right thing by reaching down to the grass roots and giving these young kids a chance to see these athletes, possibly for the last time, Candrea said. On the other hand, from a coaching situation, trying to prepare a team, its not the ultimate situation that youd like to have. So youve got to kind of find a balance there. Away from the adoration and amid the monotony, players acknowledge the difficulty of what they are doing. FULL ARTICLE http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/sports/olympics/30softball.html?ex=1212811200&en=bb3d58463cd3deab&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Al's Fastball News *Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/ NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball VIA http://www.webbox.com
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