What they're saying

By Compiled by Times staff writer

On baseball

Some Australians resent baseball, feel as if it is yet another piece of Americana being foisted upon them. Cricket is much more popular, and many Australians would love to see cricket replace baseball as an Olympic sport. Such a decision undoubtedly would be cheered in the nine or so countries in which cricket is played.

Tom Sorensen, Charlotte Observer

On America bashing

You have to understand that in many parts of the world not America, rooting for the Yanks is like rooting for the Yankees. Just take a look at our payroll and tell me how small-market (really small market) Kyrgyzstan is supposed to compete. Why do you think the Bulgarian and Romanian weightlifters were caught using a diuretic made for a horse? You think a vet was all they could afford for team doctor?

Mike Littwin, Denver Rocky Mountain News

On TV coverage

I'm not convinced that a mass audience would adore the Seven Network's Olympic production (in Australia), where everything is live, where there are no features or profiles and at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night, as I write this, I can watch the Australia-Kazakhstan men's water polo game from start to finish, with no cuts to any other sport going on around Sydney.

Richard Sandomir, New York Times

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The Olympics are not for sports fans. Not just the way NBC is doing them, though NBC has out-Oprahed itself. This is how it always has been. The Olympics are for opera fans, soap more than grand.

Bernie Lincicomb, Denver Rocky Mountain News

On Cuba-U.S. baseball

This game didn't even mean anything, both teams having already qualified (along with Japan) for the medal round that begins Tuesday. It'll be awfully fun to see what both sides do and say when the stakes include a treasure chest of gold. After all, this game had just about everything -- name-calling, purpose pitches, shoving matches, accusations of sign-stealing by U.S. first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz -- except for Elian Gonzalez changing hands again. So much for the Olympics being about international diplomacy. That sounds nice and quaint up until your catcher is bleeding.