Comments on: No one cares about the WBC as much as the pundits do

By: paint771

paint771 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 09:09:21 +0000

Hi. This is a great point. If it didn’t ignore all of baseball and the entirety of its history, and you weren’t a self-righteous idiot.

You may have missed the part where the New York Yankees are especially popular in New York, or where the Houston Astros weirdly seem to have most of their games in Texas. Hell, you can tell where you are in Chicago just by asking the guy you pass on the street if he’s a Cubs or White Sox fan.

Not to put too fine a point on is – I am after all a dude living in Philly who considers himself a Kansan who grew up in upstate New York who is a lifelong Toronto Blue Jays fans. But it’s just ignorance to pretend that baseball (or pretty much any sport) has NOT been entirely borne of teams which are geographically based and a sport which largely became the American pastime because they held competition between cities playing against each other.

Seriously, quick, tell me your team. And then be prepared to explain how that allegiance was in no way predicated on the random chance of you having a geographical connection to it. Go ahead. I’m listening. Or is it somehow more stupid when people from Venezuela do it than when people in Boston do?

By: cubfan531

cubfan531 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:30:03 +0000

“I just have a feeling that having the best players from every league would get baseball back into the Olympics.”

I have no doubt that the fact that the best the MLB franchises send is AAA is why baseball got dropped.

By: kalinedrive

kalinedrive — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:24:50 +0000

Nationalism is stupid. If other countries want to play baseball, nobody is stopping them. But to pretend that holding a competition where different countries play against each other is going to build interest in the sport or make the sport more interesting to anyone is silly. People either like the sport or they don’t. Those who do will play it, and their best players will be heroes to their local fans. But I don’t think people are going to start playing it just because they might get a chance to play against some other countries for a few weeks a year.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:25:51 +0000

Uh, anyone who ever got a small bit famous by cycling, was doping. It’s hardly limited to Lance the Liar.

By: chiefmac64

chiefmac64 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:04:45 +0000

“Kind of” in Japan? Now that’s just silly.

By: hojo20

hojo20 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:59:30 +0000

France sucks.

By: DJ MC

DJ MC — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:27:57 +0000

@raysfan1

I’m sure that’s the eventual goal, and I agree that it would be a more interesting tournament that way. With luck (and support) the tournament will survive long enough to build up the talent in more nations and allow full and quality representation by homegrown talent.

I would love to see that.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:15:05 +0000

DJMC–
I give you a thumbs up because on the business level I agree with you.

My statement was more a personal preference. I would like the WBC better if players all truly represented their own country. However,that doesn’t even always happen in the Olympics, so I might as well get over it.

By: lardin

lardin — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:21:22 +0000

No more baseball in the olympics….

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:02:02 +0000

I actually don’t think US fans would give a crap regardless of how the US team finishes. Baseball fans in the US already have teams to which they are heavily invested and players they love and cheer for based on those affiliations regardless of the player’s country of origin. The fact that there are only a few countries that can field competitive teams, that most of the top players from many countries don’t participate, that it happens at a time of year when MLB players aren’t in top form, and that the format has too few games to determine anything about the relative quality of the participating teams are all far more important reasons for dis-interest than how the US team does.

By: canadatude

canadatude — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 12:21:12 +0000

I’m sure that American fans would support the WBC more if their team could finish in the top 3. Just like any sport where the rest of the world can compete, it must be diminished. Toddlee-Winks would be in the Olympics if undetectable steroids would help the Americans dominate. Just ask Lance Armstrong.

By: louhudson23

louhudson23 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:39:58 +0000

Just to clarify,I subscribe to the MLB Network,watch over one hundred games a year.Baseball at it’s highest level is still and will continue in my lifetime to be played in MLB and in the U.S. I have high hopes that that one day this is no longer true and that this greatest of games is played and beloved worldwide,producing the best players possible,regardless of origin or locale.

By: louhudson23

louhudson23 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:35:12 +0000

Nicely put,Paint.Well written and like most things worth reading,requires more than 40 characters and two lines.I live in France and am happily surprised to see some local baseball clubs being formed.I am on tap to take part in two different ones this Spring and Summer.At 52,I am not remotely the player I once was,but am looking forward to sharing my love of the worlds best game and a chance to take some hacks against live(weak??) pitching. Baseball is truly a great game and to use MLB as the template of how the game is best played is far too narrow a definition.MLB is not the game it once was primarily because of expansion of teams,continued(and withing 5 years again) playoff expansion,contract/cap constraints,reliance an emphasis on individual stats(primarily offensive) to the detriment of fundamentals etc. In other words,it is an entity unto itself now,with success as much an ability to succeed within the confines of the insular conditions ,rather than simple ability to choose up sides and go after it…..much like the NBA.
I don’t think the WBC is going away anytime soon.It will grow and attitudes will change. I am curious as to what the drug testing policy is and who administers it and when and how they are tested.Is it possible that a more stringent and random testing program makes certain folks more reluctant than others to participate?

By: louhudson23

louhudson23 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:33:18 +0000

By: halohonk

halohonk — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:01:13 +0000

Wish none of my Halos were playing. Thank God Albert isnt, hes coming off the surgery or he would have. As it is our starting ss is. Arte needs to make sure these guys dont play n risk injury .

By: DJ MC

DJ MC — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:08:45 +0000

@raysfan1

I don’t think that’s much of an issue, though. If anything that helps out some of the lesser teams. Mike Piazza playing for Italy, for example, just makes that team more competitive.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:55:22 +0000

WBC is fun to watch, as a fan. But the problem lies to when it takes place, before the season starts. If they played in November, or even January, it not only gives fans additional baseball to watch in the winter, but it also gives players time to heal from playing.

Another issue is the players themselves do not train accordingly during the offseason, in part because they do not know if they are on the roster until January. How stupid is that? So, if the players are nursing injuries, they have no time to prepare for that. The season SHOULD be the importance here, but at the same time, the players have to prepare to play baseball earlier. It’s similiar to the winter league.

Another issue is ESPN, the main sports network does not promote it that much at all, instead we see NFL Live every 2 hours, on the clock. Even when nothing is going on, yet MLB just signed that lucrative deal a year and a half ago to stay on ESPN.

To ESPN, MLB is the stepchild they don’t want.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:23:12 +0000

I would also add that there are too many participants that do not really represent their own country. While Fernando Rodney is proud to represent the Dominican Republic, there are others who use relatively tenuous connections to play on a national team even though not a citizen of that country.

By: joerymi

joerymi — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:11:12 +0000

I care a TON about the WBC. It is a source of great anxiety to me that players of the team that I am a fan of will actually participate in this, and risk injury and production late in the season for this sorry attempt. Does MLB not realize that the greatest international talent does play each-other…IN THE MAJORS?

Essentially 75% of my television viewing, as little as it is, is MLB Network. They do a great job especially compared to a certain four-letter network. But the synergy is killing me.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:10:34 +0000

Of course you are.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:58:01 +0000

I’m just particular is all.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:56:03 +0000

Wow, and a t-shirt snob!

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:54:06 +0000

Nope. I would wear one from the Domingo Beisbol academy though.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:53:17 +0000

But would you wear the T-shirt????

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:49:34 +0000

Some fans think it is neat. It is important to people trying to make money off of it. Most baseball fans don’t care about it, the vast majority of players don’t care (even many that actually participate), and no team owners/employees care.

By: hermie13

hermie13 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:42:03 +0000

IMO the issue with the WBC is the timing of it. It would be way, way, WAY better to have it after the season instead of before. Lots of players go to winter ball already. Guys dont have to worry about it conflicting with spring training.

I know the WBC would go up against the NFL if it was in November but play the games during the week and you’d only have to compete with MAC conference football games.

By: DJ MC

DJ MC — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:12:30 +0000

A true game might have that many Hall of Famers. Possibly more.

Unfortunately, when you look at the rosters for this tournament, that wouldn’t be the case. There may be half that many between the two, Oh, and none of the pitchers would fall in that class.

The two biggest problems with the tournament are that both marginal players and pitchers in general are discouraged from participation. That hurts the overall talent level, and puts a ceiling on the quality of the games.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:09:55 +0000

I agree with you. I like seeing the international players which is why I don’t think it’s a problem our MLB stars don’t want to participate. It would be more competitive, and therefore interesting, if our college players or minor leaguers played instead.

By: schlom

schlom — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 01:01:51 +0000

Lately there has been a ton of conflict between club teams and national teams – not so much for the World Cup since it takes place during soccer’s off-season but for players leaving to play the WC qualifiers. So this isn’t just a baseball problem, it’s a sports problem.

By: vallewho

vallewho — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:50:46 +0000

But why? And to whom?

Exactly.