Because Curacao, which is a sovereign country

They are as sovereign as the state of California. Foreign Policy and Defense fall under the purview of Kingdom. It is a constituent country of the Kingdom which is a big difference from sovereign. Not that it matters much, just pointing out how off the rails you are getting. This one is on par with people from St. Bart not being French.

…and for the record. The Dutch NEVER colonized Curacao.

Yes they did, Colonization doesn’t preclude occupation. Spain landed in 1499, they enslaved the local population relocating a number of them and then lost interest when they couldn’t find gold or any valuables.

Sure, everything in the Caribbean was “Spaniard” in the 16th and 17th Century. The Dutch claimed the island for their own later in the 1600s, established a city and made hay. You make it sound like they attacked and sacked a Spanish city or something. They took islands and built forts to defend their own trade interests, which inlcuded slavery yes, not sure why you bring that up? I mean they certainly didn’t have a monopoly on it. The rest of the European nations engaged in it quite willingly. Did you include that tidbit to cast them in some unfavorable light? If it’s for completest sake you should mention that all this happened while they fought Spain for their own Independence at the same time.

Basically when I compare the contributions of the Dutch vs that of Spain, the Dutch had far more impact than Spain. They actually DEVELOPED the place, which is the point of COLONIZATION. Spain could have cared less. It’s the big #1 Reason Guyana is English rather than Spanish. The same thing happened there. It was a nominal territory of Spain. Britain took over and occupied it, and then they settled and colonized the empty areas. By YOUR logic the fine people from Guyana were never Colonized by Britain and were in fact colonized by Spain. But we know that’s not the case.

Make up whatever fantasy you want

I’m not making up fantasies. Facts are facts. Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Fact. The people there are Dutch citizens of the Kingdom. Fact. Although Curacao could have insisted on participating as their own country they are instead participating in the WBC as the Netherlands alongside countrymen from different parts of the Kingdom (Holland/Aruba/Dutch Descendants) Fact.

If you want to criticize that the Netherlands Teams leans heavily on people from Curacao that’s fine, it doesn’t make it any less Team Netherlands however because that’s the country they are representing in the tournament.

If anything I’m amused that you have blind spot. It’s like arguing with a young Earth Creationist.

Puerto Ricans are more American than those from Curacao are Dutch.

You’re ignoring the fact that the Dutch colonized the island and contributed to its cultural heritage since 1634. To this day you can observe Dutch architecture in Wilemstad. Being Dutch is very much part of Curacao today which is a reflection of their institutions and history.

Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony that was forceably taken away by the United States and converted into a dependent territory at the turn of the 20th Century.

If anything it’s the other way around: Curacao is more Dutch than Puerto Rico is American.

You mean like the meaningless exhibitions called the WBC?

I think you’re doing a disservice when you keep insisting on calling the Netherlands team Curaçao. You’re always big on Facts, why do you have so much trouble swallowing this one?

If MLB was going to allow their players to play in the Olympics, then they would have done it before letting baseball be eliminated as a sport. Right now, there is no reason whatsoever to allow MLB players to play in the Olympics.

“For starters, it’s not globalizing baseball in a basic sense, because as Twitter friend @yakyunightowl noted last night: [the two countries in the semifinals have been playing baseball for a long time].”

So let me get this straight, Craig. You are arguing that the WBC doesn’t globalize baseball, and your proof of this is that two teams WHO HAVE REACHED THE SEMIS (!) have been playing baseball for a long time? Of course they have! That’s why they were able to reach the semis!

Your logic, apparently, is that if none of the final four teams in the WBC come from countries where baseball is new, then the tournament is failing to globalize the game. You’re smart enough to realize how flawed that thinking is, I hope.

Have you considered the impact of the WBC in China? With baseball out of the Olympics, literally the only reason China even has a national baseball program is to compete in the WBC. No WBC, no baseball development in the world’s largest country.

And hell, lets just look at the Netherlands, even though, as stated above, they’ve been playing baseball since 1911. At the 2009 WBC, do you know how many members of the Dutch media covered the second round after they beat the Dominicans? 1. Do you know how many members of the Dutch media are in San Francisco covering tonight’s game? 14. That’s a direct example of baseball being grown in a country specifically because of the WBC.

Craig, reading your posts about the WBC is just like reading all the articles by NFL writers about baseball’s declining TV ratings. You know, the ones you bend over backwards to discredit by pointing out that they have an agenda and are ignoring certain metrics to support it. You’ve built your own narrative around the WBC, and you’re cherry picking facts and anecdotes to support it. Its a stunning lack of self-awareness from someone who usually eviscerates that kind of writing.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Freebird

John Lennon: Free As A Bird

I just had to get in a Lynyrd Skynyrd reference first.

I swear I’m not making this up, Freebird was my prom song.

All of these systems are deeply flawed at crowning the true champion. Only the WBC gets constantly degraded for it.

So what would work for you – team with the best record at the end of the season is the champion and that’s that?

NCAA Tournament
NFL Playoffs
MLB Playoffs
BCS
The World Cup
Any Olympic team sports event

When a 15 seed beats a 2 seed on Thursday, are you going tweet about the NCAA tournament being a joke because of small sample size?

I can’t stand the constant need of a certain faction of the baseball media to constantly bitch about the flaws of the WBC, while mostly ignoring everything that is great about it. This is what’s becoming of the American sports media in the internet age: we’d rather bitch and snark about something rather than enjoy it for what it is.

Craig, you say that the WBC is fun and cool, and yet you guys can hardly be bothered to actually write about the coolest part about it: the games themselves which have been phenomenal. If you can’t complain about it, its not worth your attention.

That could lead to bigger and better prime time TV money, of which MLB, because of it’s concession, could ask for.

In other words, money for taking a couple of weeks off. And they could get by with three game series I think or the round robin as it is.