Mike,

I do not believe that baseball in America has been hurt that much since it has been dropped from the Olympics. To be honest before following this thread I did not even know it had been dropped from the Olympics. I think the majority of the youth baseball players dream more of becoming a professional baseball player than becoming an Olympic baseball player. Is American football hurt that it is not played in the Olympics or that it is not played as much internationally as soccer?

I would say that the majority of American youth wrestlers dream more about becoming a college wrestling champion than Olympic wrestling champions. I know I pay more attention to the NCAA wrestling than I do to Olympic wrestling. For that reason I think it is more important for American wrestling leadership to focus more of its time and resources in what the majority of the American wrestling community wants the most and that is more college wrestling programs. I would not be surprised to see that the top American wrestlers will someday become more focused on developing into ultimate fighting championship participants than olympic wrestlers. I read an article recently in which an official from the ultimate fighting championship expressed concerned as to the long term effect on their sport if universities kept dropping wrestling programs. Perhaps that organization will become an ally in developing college wrestling programs.