"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport. The thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition. This is ABC's Wide World of Sports."

​​This was the voice-over introduction to the long-running sports program that was a cornerstone to sports fans in the United States on Saturday afternoons, Wide World of Sports. I can remember eagerly watching it weekly, particularly in the 1980s, and wondering with anticipation what sport would be showcased.

​I like to think that at least some of my sports fandom can be traced to this show. I suspect others would say the same.

​On Saturday, April 29, 1961, Wide World of Sports debuted on broadcast television network ABC. Featuring coverage of track & field from both the Penn and Drake Relays, the show introduced announcer Jim McKay to audiences.

An intermittent sportscaster before his first Olympic assignment with ABC's Rome 1960 coverage, McKay was offered hosting duties for Wide World with the expectation that it might only last 20 weeks. The show ended up lasting for 37 seasons into 1998, with McKay as host for most of the run.

​Known for a calm demeanor, McKay became synonymous with the show, and its coverage of "a number of sports not normally seen on TV." As ABC owned Olympic broadcast rights for a number of Games throughout the show's run, coverage overlapped, and McKay was inextricably linked to the Olympics as well. He covered 12 Games in all, most notably Munich 1972, when he delivered the Munich massacre news to the U.S. His heartfelt "They're all gone" continues to be a haunting call of the moment. Memories of my first real Games watching - Los Angeles 1984 - are peppered with visions and sounds of McKay's commentary.

​​​Wide World, meanwhile, did showcase a variety of sports not normally seen at the time. In an era when football and baseball ruled broadcast television, it regularly shined a light on a number of Olympic sports, particularly figure skating, gymnastics, and track & field, but also skiing, swimming, golf, bobsled, tennis, and more. You might also find horse racing, hurling, Little League, or auto racing. Olympic stars such as Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, Sugar Ray Leonard, Phil Mahre, Mary Lou Retton, Fu Mingxia, Greg Louganis, and Bonnie Blair are just some of the athletes to have been brought into U.S. living rooms outside of the Games.

Famed sportscaster Howard Cosell established himself as a boxing commentator on Wide World. His at-times tense rapport with Olympic champion Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) became legendary. 

More enduring that McKay's "spanning the globe" line in the show's intro, is his "agony of defeat". Narrated over a clip of ski jumper Vinko Bogataj's crash in competition, it became a signature element of the show's sports presentation.

The show's yellow gold jackets became an instantly recognized icon, as well. (See McKay, above) As did the show's theme music.

On January 3, 1998, Wide World of Sports as an anthology series ended its run, a casualty of the rise of cable television's sports coverage and the migration of sports to ABC's sister network ESPN. The moniker remains owned by the conglomerate, and is most widely associated today as a sports facility/entertainment complex owned by DIsney and ESPN.

Wide World of Sports remains for me a critical and personal piece of sports broadcasting history. The show's devotion to the broader spectrum of sports opened eyes to a bigger world, and helped start me on the path toward Games and Rings. Cheers to the memories. 

The Major League Baseball season gets underway tomorrow, and its top stars are likely embracing the return to playing. In an alternate universe, though, they'd also be excited this year at the opportunity to showcase their sport and represent their home nations at the Olympic Games this summer.

In reality, the vast majority of MLB players will not be in Tokyo. While its "second-tier" players could be available, MLB's elite players will not. And from Barcelona 1992 through Beijing 2008, the last Olympic stretch for baseball before its Tokyo return, they did not, either. Simply put, MLB's team owners and players' union don't like the idea of shutting down the league's summer season for two weeks to accommodate the Games. (Meanwhile, the Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization have committed to the Olympic break.)

For Olympic and baseball (not necessarily MLB) fans, it's incredibly frustrating. The Olympics are the ultimate stage for a worldwide sports audience, and a validation of a sport as globally relevant. Sure, MLB has had the World Baseball Classic - notably, revenue from which it controls - but it hardly compares to the Summer Games. 

​Outspoken MLB star Bryce Harper puts it frankly, "You want to grow the game as much as possible and you're not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don't want to (lose) out on money for a two-week period? OK, that's dumb". (Um... yes, baseball team owners are more interested to grow their immediate revenue than to "grow the game".)
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Baseball may not get the chance again. The sport was not included in the program for Paris 2024, taking women's softball (despite embracing the Olympics) down with it. Very likely, the fact that the sport's biggest power brokers don't have an interest is a key to why baseball isn't a core sport for the Olympics. A return for Los Angeles 2028 is possible, helped by a United States-based Games, but MLB availability may very well again be an issue.

The vast majority of sports do see the Olympics as a unique, elite goal for its players. But MLB is not alone in some recalcitrance. Here is a look at how some other high-revenue professional sports approach the Games.

​Ice Hockey

As the only traditional team sport in the Winter Olympics* since Chamonix 1924, ice hockey has a special position of interest from the International Olympic Committee in ensuring elite players participate. Aside from that background, men's ice hockey's relationship with the Games is similar to baseball's.

The sport's top professional league, the National Hockey League, has a team ownership structure reluctant to stop a season's play and risk revenue and player injury. And, similar to MLB's World Baseball Classic, the NHL has its own contrived international tournament, the World Cup of Hockey.

And also similar, other top leagues make the Olympics a priority. But every four years, there is another round of negotiations, with the NHL's business interests pitched against the IOC's and the International Hockey Federation's interest in presenting a top quality tournament to expand the game. NHL players appeared for the first time in Nagano 1998, and did so through Sochi 2014, but skipped Pyeongchang 2018. Current expectation is that the NHL will return for Beijing 2022. That's due in large part to the players themselves wanting to go.

While following the World Figure Skating Championships concluding this weekend, I'm struck by the absence of a team event competition in the schedule. In fact, it hasn't ever been included in the competition.

Official team competition first appeared with the International Skating Union's World Team Trophy in 2009, ahead of its Olympic debut at Sochi 2014 and features national teams competing across men's and ladies' singles, pairs and ice dance. At the Team Trophy, two men's and two ladies' singles skaters are entered, while Olympic competition only features one each.

The World team Trophy is usually held at the end of the season, and every two year, sometimes viewed as "icing on the cake" for a long few months of competition. Perhaps including it in the annual World Championships would further cement its growth and stature as a legitimate event.

Maybe incorporating the World Team Trophy into the World Championships, even if every other year, would help legitimize the event at the Olympics. And, create consistent enthusiasm from athletes, so it's seen as a real competitive goal.

While we're looking at Olympic figure skating, the ISU should continue to work on adding synchronized skating into the Olympics. Also offering the benefit of gender neutrality and some global diversity, that's certainly a team event that would bring a fresh air of something different on the ice to Olympic viewers.  Finding two free days on the Olympic calendar shouldn't be a problem - maybe drop the gala!

Growing up in the 1970s in the United States, a staple of Saturday afternoon television for me was ABC's Wide World of Sports. The show actually debuted in 1961, with host Jim McKay, and regularly featured a presentation of one, or more, 'lesser-known' sports. Thinking now, I may be able to credit at least some part of my sports fandom - and in particular, my international sports fandom - to regularly watching it. The show often featured skiing, figure skating, tennis, and more global events.

But what really stands out to me in my memory is the show's intro, featuring the line, "the thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat", used to describe the drama of the upcoming sports content (check the video link at the bottom of this article). And, indelibly linked to the "agony of defeat" was the image of a ski jumper crashing down and off the hill.

Well, that ski jumper was Yugoslavian Vinko Bogataj, and the mishap was from a competition in Oberstdorf, West Germany in March of 1970. And luckily for sports television, ABC picked the footage as its go-to example of the potential disaster of sport.

Bogataj, interviewed years later, hadn't initially realized his would-be viral fame in the U.S. He had suffered a concussion and an ankle injury in the accident, but returned to competition a couple of months afterward. At the show's 20th anniversary event in New York, Bogataj began to sense his surprising place in sports history when boxing legend Muhammad Ali asked him for an autograph.
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Eventually a painter, Bogataj ​the ski jumper may not have won that 1970 competition, but he did earn a memorable place in sports history cherished by legions of sports fans. Wide World of Sports, with its Bogataj clip in use to its end, finished in 1998. That image of 'defeat' is immediately what I remember most of the show.

​Oberstdorf remains a prominent ski jumping and flying competitive destination. ​

Widely expected after months of speculation, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee announced this morning that foreign visitors will be restricted for the upcoming Games this summer. As a result of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, Japan as a nation continues to restrict entry by foreign nationals, and the feasibility of such restrictions eased for a mass of varied nationalities for a condensed period of time is just not possible. Strategic guidelines already issued for the athletes, officials, and operations staff needed for the Games to even happen at a stripped down level indicate the level of precaution the local government wants to preserve.

Not having overseas fans attend will surely be different. The Olympics represent a glorious global gathering, on the playing field and extended to supporters throughout the world. Attending the Games is a special, unique experience that underscores the multinational, positive spirit. But these are unprecedented times, for sure.

The Summer Games will go on. At its heart, the Olympics are about the athletes, and the number one priority should be about how to ensure a safe and secure experience for 339 events across 19 days and 42 venues, for those competing, organizing, and hosting.

From International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, "...the first principle is safety. Every decision has to respect the principle of safety first...the IOC's top priority was, is, and remains to organize safe Olympic and Paralympic Games for everyone...".

For foreign fans, television coverage it is! But for the athletes' sake, I hope that the Japanese public are able to - and will - pick up the slack in attendance, as much as allowed by local organizers.

For this one specific fan, not attending these Games, and not visiting bucket-list destination Japan is a huge disappointment, though the bigger picture of the Covid-19-ravaged world is paramount. Wish me, and all would-be in-person fans luck in navigating what to do next! Games and Rings will continue its athlete-based highlights and roundups.

"However, the essential of the Games will remain unchanged, as athletes give their utmost and inspire the world with transcendent performances...Even if you are no longer able to come to Japan this summer, we hope very much that you will continue to support the Tokyo 2020 Games."

- Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto