March 3-20
Quo vadis, A-Rod?

March 16, 2006
"The U.S. suffered a shocking 2-1 loss to Mexico on Thursday which ended their the World Baseball Classic title hopes...semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday in San Diego with Cuba taking on the Dominican Republic and South Korea facing Japan..." Los Angeles Times
I'm guessing it'll come down to Cuba and South Korea...

Yeah, but what will the champions of this tournament be called? World Champions? Seeing as MLB/media likes calling its annual champ World Champs as its title is the World Series ...

Maybe they should have the winner of this tournament play the WS champs for title of World Champions.

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" The universe is running away
I heard it on the news just the other day
There's this new stuff called dark energy
We can't measure and we can't see..." - from Jimmy Buffett's What if the hokey pokey is all it really is about?

I think they should take the winning team from each country's league championship and have them play at the end of the year. Best of 5 or 7. Something like that. None of this 'Dream Team' stuff.


Then the winner could truly be called the WORLD champions.

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"It was a crime of passion! Not premeditated dentistry!"

Good question:

Japan 10, Cuba 6

Finally, somebody beat the communists!! Take that Castro.

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"It was a crime of passion! Not premeditated dentistry!"

It struck me, as I was watching the final game, that the two teams represented countries that have their own very active baseball leagues, plus only a relative few of their players have gone to the US to play (In Japan, because they pay their players well to stay in Japan, in Cuba due to the great difficulty in defecting).

Take that, MLB!

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

To be honest, from an Australian perspective, this whole enterprise was a bit of a crock.

We played a team representing Italy that was made up almost exclusively of American born Italian-Americans! Just how on Earth is that a truly Italian national team?

Reminded me quite a bit of the farce that is the Rugby League World Cup. Anyone with Russian blood was allowed to represent the Russians for instance - an absolute sham.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer - renowned 19th Century German philosopher.

When the Olympics allowed professionals, it became obvious that countries with facilities and money had a definite advantage. Many Third World athletes train in these industrial countries. I think taking pride in one's roots is a healthier approach to sports than focusing on national patriotism. Venezuela acted like they won the World Series even though White Sox manager brought home the major opportunities made available here in the States as more instrumental to his accomplishment. I disagree totally with Castro/communist label upon Cuban people. What is really cool is that there will be more and more athletes who will be eligible to play for any number of these teams since both sides of family may have diff/ethnicity AND the family moved to three or more countries over the lifetime of player. Some high schooler now can boast of 7 or more legitimate roots! Congratulations to Japan- the best in the world ..... until next week.

What's hilarious is that they came up with a 'World Champion' in two and a half weeks versus Major League Baseball's 8 months!

You are right. People's attention span must be decreasing. (giggle.)