The World Baseball Classic...The Greatest Sports Invention Of The Last 10 Years No One Seems To Care About...

Like many other fine, upstanding American citizens, I am pretty jacked about the upcoming baseball season. I know my beloved Chicago White Sox most likely aren't going to the playoffs, but I think they will be at least competitive, and I have a bevy of other things to look forward too. I have my fantasy league for the year all lined up, I get to watch the Cubs fail yet again, and I will look forward to hearing Hawk Harrelson yelp "YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOOOOOAAAARD......YES!" the first time a southsider hits a homer.

If I hadn't told you already that I was going to talk about the WBC, you probably wouldn't be thinking I'd left something out. The problem is, that even the average baseball fan doesn't really have that much interest in the Classic. This blows my mind. This is like average soccer fans not having any interest in the World Cup. I do, however, realize that this is only the second World Baseball Classic, and that the whole process is still in its infancy, but I don't understand how you can't get up for rooting for your home country. I love this sort of thing...I stayed up til 3 am to watch the Redeem Team beat Spain...come on people! U-S-A! U-S-A!

A few other thoughts on the Classic.

1. Team USA's Roster was downright scary...and then everyone got hurt.
Yep, I just read that Joe Nathan, BJ Ryan, Grady Sizemore, and Brad Hawpe have pulled out of the WBC due to some lingering injuries. Now, the USA roster is still loaded with talent. Even without Grady Sizemore, the US is still starting Adam Dunn, Ryan Braun, and Curtis Granderson in the outfield. The problem is those two bullpen injuries. The US just went from being able to roll out Joe Nathan, BJ Ryan, JJ Putz, and Matt Thornton in crunch time...to having half of that murderer's row sent home. This wouldn't seem terrible, until you see how the US got to replace Joe Nathan. They got LaTroy-Fucking-Hawkins. Ask any Twins or Cubs fan how reliable this asshole is. I don't feel safe handing this guy a 5-run lead in the 9th inning, and now he's good enough to make the US team? This might be a long WBC....

2. A-Rod needs to make up his damn mind.
You may remember that back in 2006, A-Rod agonized whether to play for the US (where he was born) or for the Dominican Republic (the country of his heritage), and ultimately he ended up playing for Team USA. This is fine, steriods or no steriods, he is a great player, and I was happy to have him on board with the US. (Hey, I hate the guy but I'd rather not have him playing against me.)

My problem is that he is playing for the Dominican this year. Why does he get to change sides? I don't think it's fair that he can change sides if he thinks may have a better chance of winning with one team or the other. His choice to play for the USA should have locked him in to playing for the USA as long as he plays in the Classic. I don't like the possibility of guys winning this thing on two different countries. I don't mind them having a choice, but once that choice is made, I want it to be permanent.

3. We can't let Japan win this thing again.
The US and all of the Latin American baseball power countries need to hold a secret meeting and vow to not let a team with 5 current major leaguers beat them.(and one of them is Kosuke Fukudome, and after the way he flamed out last season, I dont know if he counts.) Teams like the USA, Venezuela, and the Domincan are absolutely loaded with all-stars, and should be the favorites. I'd even pick Cuba over them just because of how good that national team is, and how hard it is for a lot of those guys to get out of Cuba and play in the MLB.

Come on guys, Mexico has over twice the major league talent as Japan, and no one gives them a shot! I just want to see a team of major leaguers celebrating, even its not Team USA.