Cousin Bink's Country Beer Jamboree

Volume 1, Issue 6

This Monday the World Baseball Classic came to an end finally. From what I saw on Sportscenter it was quite the exciting game with Ichiro hitting a 2 out hit in the top of the 10th to get in the winning run, but I with the rest of America reacted the same way: wondering how many days until the real baseball season starts.

You know the baseball season where there are 30 teams instead of 16. The season where the best players in the world play and are paid to play. The season that goes on for 6 months, not 4 weeks. The season that's basic set-up has been in place for over 100 years, not something Allan Bud Selig made up 4 years ago.

For those of you not aware, and judging by the TV ratings that's a Hell of a lot of people, the WBC is an event that will now be held every four years that attempts to be a World Cup of baseball. There's one big problem with that though; whole there are numerous major leagues of soccer that can claim to be the biggest and the best, Major League Baseball is where the big boys play (TM WCW).

The best players from Japan, Korea, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and even the Netherlands and Italy dream of playing in Major League Baseball, not leading their team to glory in the World Baseball Classic. I doubt Bert Blyleven would give up his World Series rings for a ring saying he guided the Netherlands to a World Baseball Classic win.

Personally my biggest problem with the WBC is how long it makes spring training which is like Advent to a baseball fan like me. Instead of starting in late February and going for four weeks through March, spring training this year is in it's sixth week, and there's still 10 days till the season starts. This is the equivalent of starting playing Christmas music in mid-November, rather than the day after Thanksgiving when it should start. I know Bud is Jewish and might not understand this, but surely someone in the MLB offices could have drawn a likable comparison for him.

I can name whose won every World Series since 1972 without batting an eye, but before this week I would have to think long and hard who won the WBC in 2006. This will not get over in the United States nor should it. Why would we want to watch a watered down tournament where many of the best players don't want to participate? As baseball fans we are trained to cheer for one team with players from all over the world. Baseball more than any other sport is an American sport in that it is a melting pot of cultures in one dugout. I think it would help to promote the game as the American sport rather than trying to split teams up and try and teach fans these guys are from your country and these are the only guys you should cheer. But then what do I know? I never caused a sport to miss it’s playoffs and then allowed every player and their mysterious Dominican cousin to take steroids to try and get the sport to be popular and relevant again. That’s the way you fix a sport, right Bud?.