Whats so “classic” about the World Baseball Classic? Nothing. This tournament is a joke and should be wiped off the slate of spring sports.
Are 7 straight months of baseball not enough for fans? Not to mention the disruption this causes in the MLB’s spring training schedule. How do the residents in Florida and Arizona feel about the WBC when their favorite players are off playing in the Classic? The only fans that benefit from these games are the ones outside the United States who may not have the ability to watch the world’s best on a regular basis. Good for them.
Let’s set things straight, the World Baseball Classic is nothing more than a marketing event for the MLB and ESPN. Just as the NFL regularly pushes itself into Europe and the NBA is ready to sell its soul in order to gain popularity in Asia, the MLB will twist the WBC into a unifying, good-will event for all, in order to gain advertising opportunities abroad. So you can stop singing kumbaya. This isn’t the Olympics and it isn’t the World Cup, nor will it ever be.
Teams will play for national pride. Players will play for the same. Am I completely against it? Nah, I really don’t care until Derek Jeter breaks his ankle rounding 3rd one day. So great for the Netherlands and the 8 baseball fans in that country who probably didn’t even watch yesterday’s game, but let’s cut the hype… The results of baseball’s World Cup-wannabe tournament will have no effect on this country’s fans. Not this year, not 4 years from now, not ever!
The classic has been very watchable this year… and even more so because Team USA has been taking it seriously… Yeah it might not ever be the World Cup, but come one its only the second one… Jeter could just as easily hurt himself in a ST game… or like Pavano getting out of bed in the morning…
DeCap
March 18th, 2009
Whos this Pavano guy you talk of? Never heard of him.
Goose
March 18th, 2009