Comments on: And this is why Team USA won’t ever win a WBC

By: kw27p

kw27p — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:11:27 +0000

Lets face it, baseball players are spoiled with their guaranteed contracts. Wish it was like NFL where they could cut you and you don’t get crap.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:45:26 +0000

Hy что, у меня водка и сок ананаса!

Honestly, I had no idea what the word for pineapple was.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:35:03 +0000

Извини дорогая. Только пиво здесь.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:26:59 +0000

бооооо!

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:23:21 +0000

Dominican Winter League regular season ended 12/21/2012
Mexican Pacific League regular season ended 12/30/2012
Puerto Rican League regular season ended 12/30/2012
Venezuelan Winter League regular season ended 12/30/2012
Cuban Serie Nacional season ended 1/31/2013
Caribbean Series ended 2/7/2013 (Obregon(Mex), Escogido (DR), Caguas (PR), Magallenas(Ven))
Australian Baseball League championship series ended 2/10/2013

By: indaburg

indaburg — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:50:45 +0000

Каждый день-день России, товарищ. где это водка?

By: tcclark

tcclark — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:46:17 +0000

While that may have hurt Canada a bit (although not much since their NHL all-star teams were consistently embarrassed by the Soviet National Team), that wasn’t the reason America was an underdog in the Olympics. Hockey wasn’t a popular sport to play in America at the time. The best American players at the time were guys like Peter McNab, Reed Larson, and Paul Holmgren. Easily the Best American NHL player was Mark Howe, but by 1980 the last country he had represented in international play was Canada in the 74 Summit Series. Outside of those players, arguably the best american players were already on the American Roster. Guys like Dave Christian, Dave Silk, and Mark Johnson were some of the best of the best for America, but they were nothing compared to the players the Soviets boasted.

With all that being said, this is still nothing like the Miracle on Ice. To even compare this WBC team to that hockey team is an embarrassment to all that that hockey team accomplished. This baseball team has 3 former MVPs and a Cy Young award winner and they’re playing in a meaningless tournament against very beatable opponents.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:31:52 +0000

Sorry. Withdrawals.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:17:28 +0000

Russian Day was yesterday.

By: PhillyPhanAnalysis

PhillyPhanAnalysis — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:15:19 +0000

I know that Cuba is in midseason. It is mostly all the Caribbean teams. They have the luxury of competitive baseball year round, with all the fall and winter leagues. Not to mention the Caribbean World Series just ended not too long ago.

Yeah, the asian teams are all similar to MLB, but they also care so much more as a culture that they not only know what their team will be ahead of time, but I would imagine they are practicing well before the American’s even know who is gonna be on the team. It certainly makes a difference.

I just had a thought though. Maybe I am way off base here, but maybe this is exactly what the MLB wants…

Think about it, if the US was winning every year, it might actually hurt the popularity around the world. With other countries winning every 3 years, maybe that lights a fire under some of the young players around the world because they want their chance to beat the big, bad Americans. haha

Like I said, maybe I am way off base, but I wouldn’t put it past them either.

By: jdouble777

jdouble777 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:03:22 +0000

This article is our chance. If Miggy, Reyes, Hanley, A Gon, etc are playing then there is absolutely no excuse. Our players are disrespecting our nation and us…the fans who hold great pride in OUR pastime. There is not a single sliver of rationale that would justify Verlander not being on that mound, or Kershaw, Sabathia, Hamels, Weaver, Price, Grienke, etc. Dickey is a unique talent that requires uncanny touch to be effective, which is absolutely unreal when locked in, but to expect that right now is pathetically illogical.

We need to stand up and with a unified war cry proclaim that it is their duty to represent us. If you care, let your voice be heard, demand change, leave the cynicism of this article for the pundits.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:58:58 +0000

Arencibia was on the roster to catch for Dickey as the the 2 Nashville residents had practiced together in the off season. Do not blame Arencibia. It was Dickey who is having a poor spring and gave up the early runs that put the US in the hole.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:02:01 +0000

For 1930, that is pretty impressive…..especially considering that 40 years before soccer wasn’t a particularly well known or popular sport outside of the the British Isles.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:55:00 +0000

can we dig up some media coverage to see if fans/media made fun of it for poor attendance and participation?

The first WC had over 90,000 people show up, in Montevideo Uruguay.

By: misterchainbluelightning

misterchainbluelightning — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:45:16 +0000

I’m sorry, this ^ is ignorant as it gets

By: misterchainbluelightning

misterchainbluelightning — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:44:18 +0000

“Never” poor choice of words, people said that in the 1980 Olympic hockey system Team USA could “never” win Gold in 1980.
It’s a small tourney and anything could happen in those.
And it was less likely that the US would win gold in 1980 in hockey than US winning a WBC, but it happened.

Think twice before using the word “ever or never”

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:43:33 +0000

abaird, I thought of that, too. They’re basically restricted to ex-MLB managers like Torre and Valentine. It would be a fun experiment to see if Bobby Valentine could destroy a team in only a month. Bobby Cox might have been a good choice.

By: abaird2012

abaird2012 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:39:56 +0000

That’s pretty much what happened, isn’t it?

By: abaird2012

abaird2012 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:35:58 +0000

Bobby V!

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:27:01 +0000

Who’s in mid-season form? The Australian League ended a month ago, but their team went 0-3 and may finish dead last in the tournament.

By: bostonfreeparty

bostonfreeparty — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:23:25 +0000

Sarcasm aside, the NHL does in fact pause its season every four years for the Winter Games. My bad on the NBA, the Summer Games are two months into their offseason. The NBA is the best example of a sport that really grew their brand globally. What was the biggest catalyst behind it? The Dream Team. Put MLB players in the Olympics, the best players would want to play for gold.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:15:58 +0000

That was a little different. The NHL was recognized as the only “professional” hockey league in the world, so the US and Canada were unable to send their best players. The Soviets were able so send players from the Soviet Championship League and they dominated international hockey competition for decades. I’m sure that Wayne Gretzky would have liked to compete for a gold medal as much as Viacheslav Fetisov (or Вячеслав Фетисов, если предпочитаете), but he wasn’t allowed to.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:10:05 +0000

The NBA does not pause their season, international tournaments take place during their offseason. And does hockey actually pause their season for the Olympics, or have they just happened to be locked out the last couple of times? It’s hard to tell, really.

By: bostonfreeparty

bostonfreeparty — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:43:01 +0000

I agree, MLB is doing this only to benefit themselves. Until the Olympic Committee puts baseball back in the games and MLB allows its players in, the whole patriotism angle is crackpot.

If the NBA and NHL can pause their season for 2 weeks of Olympic play, baseball can to. If that means cutting out 2 weeks of games, so be it. Does the sport really need to play 162 games?

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:24:36 +0000

Ok, get on that and get back to us.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:21:08 +0000

I think it’s interesting that Verlander said he was interested in playing but didn’t. Meanwhile, other Tigers like Miggy and Dotel are playing. There may be team pressure not to participate, but that doesn’t seem to dissuade some players. So, yeah, it suggests that US-born MLB players don’t care.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:17:29 +0000

GOOOD BLESS AMERICAAAAA/LAND THAT I LOOOOOVE/STAND BESIDE HER AND GUIDE HER/THROUGH THE NIGHT/WITH A LIGHT FROM ABOVE

FROM THE MOUNTAINS/TO THE PRAIRIES/TO THE OCEANS/BLACK WITH OOOOOOIIIIIILLLL/GOOOOD BLESS AMERICAAAAA/MY HOME SWEET HOOOOOOOME

GOD BLESS AMERICAAAAA/MY HOOOOOME SWEET HOOOOOOOME

freaking Taliban

By: dirtydrew

dirtydrew — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:08:06 +0000

I’m sorry, but R.A. dickey blows. I don’t view a knuckle baller as legit pitcher. We ought to be throwing out Matt Cain, Verlander, Kershaw. The best. American players should be playing for America. That is the real problem. We have guys who are from the U.S. playing for other countries. Making Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands better than they really are. FANS, if you want this lame money grab to end, don’t watch. It is made for TV. Not to mention that they want the US to loose. We trotted out Dickey, and Torre is an overrated manager.

By: mclovinhockey

mclovinhockey — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 14:38:35 +0000

As someone who barley watches baseball, I only have heard of like 3 players in that article. Which means none of the good players care. This is not like the Olympics for hockey where all player want in, or even the world JRs. USA baseball players do not take pride in their country’s baseball.
Most my non sports watching friends always criticize baseball for calling the US pros league the World Series when we are not competing against the world. Here is our one chance to show that the US is better than the world in Baseball and no one shows up.
Some of these athletes are paid more in a year than entire NHL teams for hitting a ball and running around. These players worry more about money than pride. It’s sad.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 14:20:30 +0000

Yeah, probably hard to get an active manager/coach to do it though….but Torre? Ugh.