Only in America!

The World Baseball Classic has been the subject of debate recently and I feel the need to chime in before it is forgotten.  If you didn't pay attention I will recap; Netherlands upset the powerhouse Dominican Republic in the first round, America made it to the semi-finals and were bounced by North Korea, and Japan won it for the second time making them two for two in the WBC.  All this happened and American fans didn't seem to care.  There were some amazing moments.  My favorite non-American moment was the Netherlands beating the Dominicans.  My favorite moment of the whole thing was when the Americans beat the Puerto Rican team with a late rally.  The coolest thing about the win was the fact that the Puerto Ricans walloped the Americans a few nights earlier.  I also loved the Americans going old school baseball and throwing at a Netherlands player after the batter before styled on his home run trot.  It almost started an international incident with a mostly neutral region of the world.  The World Baseball Classic was awesome, but why couldn't we get more American fans on board?

Like always I do have an answer for the question in the opening paragraph.  See this is a complex issue for American fans, Yankees and Red Sox playing on the same team.  But I think the real issue started with the players.  See I believe that the players who played did so with intensity and passion.  If you don't believe me, just watch the celebration after the Puerto Rico game.  But there were some big names missing and that just tees me off.   All the other world teams draw their best players and their fans are super excited.  Even the Netherlands and Australia managed to create a small amount of buzz by beating big teams like the Dominican and Mexico,respectively.  This is supposed to be America's past time, I mean we invented the game.  America had a couple of big name guys but the rest are too busy worrying about being hurt.   Without big names it will never take off here.

Another culprit is the major teams.  It has not been reported outright but I think the teams don't want their big stars to play.  They have legitimate reasons like injuries and lack of reps with the team.  Teams are complaining now that their pitchers didn't get enough innings in the Classic and might not be ready for the season opener.  If the teams and the players can not get behind this, it is doomed, but only in America.

With all that said I really enjoyed this baseball event.  I enjoyed watching the other teams as well as the Americans.  I don't think that America should be the host of the event in 2013 unless we start to show more interest.  I understand that the economy of host cities might have been helped by the influx of tourists but I just don't see how it is fair to the rest of the world for us to host.  Let Japan do it, they are the two time champions.   I hope by 2013 that the Americans have gotten on board.  I also think that this Baseball doohickey has been a success, just not here in America.  Live like no one is watching and remember to think globally!