Comments on: United States loses, baseball wins at World Baseball Classic

By: jaguar392003

jaguar392003 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:40:03 +0000

You may not know it, but we in Puerto Rico pay more than you think, either in taxes or in a variety of forms. Let me share some data:
EVERYTHING we buy in any store, has to be brought in by ships bearing the US flag. By the way, US marine merchant is the most expensive world wide, therefore when you pay $4 for a shirt, we might be paying $10. By doing that we are maintaining your marine merchant industry.
We do pay 15.22% social security tax (7.61% employee, 7.61% employer), so at this moment I might be paying you social security monthly check.
All mortgages are either Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac and we are paying for that financing, its not free.
Many drugs are been manufactured here, shipped to US, then shipped back to PR and sold at overprice. By the way US is so good hearted that we can only buy US drugs at whatever price is set in US. By doing this we are maintaining US drug industries.
Unemployment benefits are not a gift from US, Puerto Rico employers has to pay unemployment taxes, locally and also federal.

I can keep going on and on, but this is only to demonstrate how ignorant you are. You should get info, get educated then and only then write a logical opinion, not based on discrimination.

By: jaguar392003

jaguar392003 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:13:37 +0000

Ironic, isn’t it? You should ask that to your congressmen.

By: hcolon555

hcolon555 — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:26:51 +0000

It’s amazing how myopic most baseball fans are in the U.S. It’s great to root for club (I grew up a die hard Yankee fan) but rooting for country helps grow the game around the world. I am now a big soccer fan and part of the appeal of soccer is not only watching Real Madrid and Barcelona, but rooting for U.S. national team.

It should be a great concern to baseball fans here in America that countries like Puerto Rico and Cuba are not only seeing a decline in interest in baseball, but a corresponding rise in the popularity of soccer. Even Venezuela has a competitive national soccer team! The WBC is baseball’s world cup, and should be embraced by all true baseball fans. Just as I look forward to the Euro Cup, World Cup, and CONCACAF Gold cup, baseball fans should look forward to the WBC.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:34:44 +0000

Actually, you were the least obnoxious offender there.

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:59:53 +0000

2nd baseman’s gotta bat second!

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:58:42 +0000

Yeah, I don’t really know where I got “all of the natural resources of PR are owned by america” from, since thats obviously not the case – I was just irritated and reacting without thinking about shit. I suppose I could have said something more like “Puerto Rico’s current status doesn’t just = their citizens getting free shit from america without consequences – there has been a long and fraught history of US involvement in their government/industry that has not always been benevolent, and has sometimes been arguably exploitative.” the only areas I actually know in depth are pretty much baseball, rock music and its offshoots 1960-2000 (and rock criticism), and ‘literary’ sci-fi books. (so i’m basically an idiot) – I’ll leave the history to you, man.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:13:01 +0000

Of course, I have no idea why torre was batting rollins and phillips 1 and 2, but that’s on him.

Cause Charlie Manuel told him to.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:23:16 +0000

Seriously, everyone is killing me on here with their bad historical understanding. Just stop.

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:14:27 +0000

for the record, I’m totally aware that statehood is a complex issue, and the US hasn’t been a cartoon villain in regards to PR (my wife is puerto rican, and we’ve had long discussions on the topic before obviously). I was probably overly strident there – just chafed as the tone of the poster. and it is worth pointing out that they do have to pay federal income tax, no taxation without representation, yadda yadda yadda.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:09:02 +0000

There have been status referendums in Puerto Rico going back to 1967, with the choices being independence, statehood, or status quo. Status quo always won until last November. We shall see what happens.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:41:00 +0000

Link?

First, those resources are not government property…the US isn’t Mexico.

Second, PR uses far more oil that is produces, about twice as much.

Yeah, he was being a dick, but you are incorrect in a lot of your assertions. You know why the US really kept PR after it’s military uses expired? As a social experiment, to determine how well “americanization” of latin americans would work.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:36:34 +0000

Mississippi and PR are actually pretty similar in federal tax status, over the last 20 years each has received 250%+ more in federal monies than they pay.

By: gabeguterres

gabeguterres — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:35:47 +0000

I wasn’t clear in my assessment. I am fully aware that injuries happen in spring training (or getting sandwiches, or throwing away gum). My assertion is that Wright’s injury will be perceived, by some key people, as being the WBC’s “fault.”

Front offices and managers will be reminding their star players of Wright’s injury while the players are considering whether or not to play for the USA team. That’s all I was saying.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:30:32 +0000

Oh, come one….IBAF rankings mean jack squat….some countries (e.g. Cuba) stop everything for international tournaments and prepare for them while other countries don’t even participate in many competitions. Those rankings are based more on how often a country plays than how well.

By: statslady

statslady — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:25:01 +0000

Why? Players are people and anyone, ANYONE, can be injured at any time doing anything. Injury is not only a part of sports, it’s a part of life.

And while we’re at it, this has nothing to do with conditioning. These players have known for 4 years that this event was coming up, and those who participated have known for months that they would be or might be doing so. These day, too, players stay in shape year round. So, your argument about injuries being related to a lack of conditioning simply doesn’t hold water.

What’s your real problem here? Is it that the US has never mad it so far as the semi-final round? That’s because they don’t play as a team, but as a group of individuals. Every other team had been playing together in exhibition games (or, for those from the Caribbean, winter ball) while the US team bothered to get together for one day before the tournament began. That’s NOT about the players not being ready, but about American baseball arrogance, the sense that all that the US needs to do is to show up in order to win it all. Once that attitude is gone (and at the point, you have tow onder why it hasn’t already sunk in that this isn’t the way to do things), the US will have a real shot at wining this tournaments.

AKA, you’re not even whining over spilt milk.

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:17:06 +0000

I’ve gotta say that people who are upset that the US ’didn’t put their best players on the field’ have way less of a point than they think they do – as far as pitching goes, that’s true to an extent (though most WBC teams have pretty thin pitching – I mean, Nelson Figueroa isn’t exactly Felix Hernandez), but while you could quibble about what specific US players you’d have liked to see, that US lineup is pretty fucking good (even moreso if Wright was still in and Zobrist slid over to 2b), and any MLB team with those players would easily be one of the top (if not THE top) offensive team in the majors. I mean, a Stanton-Jones-Braun outfield is nasty. Of course, I have no idea why torre was batting rollins and phillips 1 and 2, but that’s on him. The US got beat, no need to go overboard making excuses. It’s kind of incredible to see the amount of whining that people have been doing about this, in between being all ‘whatever, i don’t care’ when things go badly for the american team.

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:15:27 +0000

Oh come on, dick. Do you think that the US has PR as a commonwealth out of the kindness of our hearts? It’s not like, ‘oh, heres some money, because we’re so nice and noble’ – all of the natural resources of PR are owned by america (minerals, oil deposits, etc). They had heavy-handed control over their political system for much of the last century. Have you ever heard of Vieques? Also, where the fuck are you seeing puerto ricans complaining about that here? kind of a non-sequitur.

By: raisedeyebrows82

raisedeyebrows82 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:09:49 +0000

I don’t know, this seems like a weak excuse. The US lineup was pretty fucking awesome, and clearly ‘better’ on paper than puerto rico’s. we got beat, accept it – mike trout is great and all, but it’s not like adam jones is a scrub.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:16:12 +0000

Puerto Ricans pay federal taxes, just no personal federal income taxes.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09db05co.xls

By: robertpack55

robertpack55 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:09:20 +0000

“none of the pitchers would seem to have grand futures in MLB, either”

You forgot JJ Berrios.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:05:06 +0000

If you don’t want other people dancing on your lawn, win the damn game.

By: welovemarines

welovemarines — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:53:12 +0000

I think the US should have a provisional roster much earlier. Japan had its ready in November and has been training since then.

By: dafern0560

dafern0560 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:43:45 +0000

Even if the best American MLB players were in, team USA WOULD NEVER beat Japan or Dominican Republic. Is not our game anymore, let it go !!

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:39:25 +0000

I think it would also add interest if the Puerto Rican team was named the Sharks and the Italian team was named the Jets.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:38:07 +0000

Absolutely. Buddha forbid they be allowed to have lives of their own.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:35:52 +0000

No representation without taxation!

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:32:42 +0000

Actually, the deal was that if they beat us, we’d stop bombing Culebra. It was scaring the tourists away.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:28:43 +0000

If the Mexicans had weenter, they would have been tough enough to stand up to the Canadians. Seven months of chopping wood and hauling cords to your porch every year will toughen you up faster than a bath in natron.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:21:51 +0000

How about posting the rosters in October though so the players can train accordingly for the event? So many bowed out of the tourney because they weren’t ready to truly compete.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:17:33 +0000

No taxation without representation!