10 Reason Not to Watch the World Baseball Classic

February 1 , 2005 Sometime last year while sitting at my desk I began to feel excited. No, it wasn't because my new pair of jeans was slightly too tight and applying too much pressure on my prostate. It was because I realized how exciting of a sports year 2006 was going to be. Besides the usual great events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness there was also the World Cup of Soccer and Olympic Hockey to look forward to. But just when I thought it couldn't get any better than that, the powers that be added the World Cup of Baseball, or the World Baseball Classic as I later found it to be named. Three huge global events in a matter of 6 months with March Madness sprinkled in the middle, how can you top that? Well that was then, and this is now. In reality, I have no one to blame but myself for the let down that I have come to experience. How could I have been so stupid? I mean, surely I should have realized that Bud Selig was running the show and that doom was certainly impending. It may look all well and good now, but here are ten reasons why I wont be watching the World Baseball Calamity, err, Classic. 10. No Yankee pitchers will be allowed to pitch. There is no way that Steinbrenner is going to risk his investments and allow his pitchers to participate in this tournament. Chin Ming Wong is currently listed on the roster of Chinese Taipei, but look for that to change in the next month as they trim rosters from 60 to 30 (this will be a recurring theme throughout the countdown). 9. Chinese Taipei. Just the fact that Chinese Taipei has a team in this thing makes me question its very fabric. Im not exactly sure yet if this is a real country, or just a made up land where every Asian with a hyphenated name was forced to migrate to. 8. Mike Piazza playing for Italy. Give me a break. If you're going to allow a country to play in the WBC then at least let them lose with their own players. Putting a future hall of famer in their lineup just because his name ends in a vowel seems a little vulgar to me. 7. South Africa. Check out the teams that have been slated in Team USA's pool: Canada, Mexico, and South Africa? Its one thing to throw this country into the WBC mix, which joins China as being the only teams with a roster that lacks a player who plays on a current major league team, but to put them in a pool with the other North American countries just to give USA one less challenge? Seems pretty obvious to me what's going on here, not to mention pathetic. 6. Players choosing their country. One of the things that was an initial draw for me was that, being called the World Baseball Classic, I assumed I would be watching the best that each country had to offer while they battled it out against each other. Well, apparently baseball players get to choose where they would like to have been born, and then play for that country. Besides Piazza playing for Italy, you have A's pitchers Kirk Saarloos and Danny Haren joining former A's pitcher Mark Mulder on the Netherlands (and after all, Mark Mulder was in fact born in South Holland, Illinois, which, besides the fact that the city contains the word Holland in it, is practically right next door to the Netherlands), and American born Nomar Garciaparra is playing for Mexico (although Michael Young who is half Mexican is playing for Team USA). You also have Alex Rodriguez playing for the Dominican Republic, but then not playing at all, and now apparently playing for the US, even though both the Dominican and US rosters list him as a player for their team. My guess is that by next week he may just decide to play for a World Series of Poker bracelet. While they're at it they might as well let Barry Bonds play for South Africa. The list goes on and on, which once again shows that this tournament has little to do with national pride, and a lot to do with the financial gain of major league baseball. 5. Drug Testing. Because of the strict Olympic style drug testing, you will be sure to see many more players for the US and other countries drop out of this just as Barry Bonds did. Bonds, who is once again under the delusion that people actually think he is clean, first said he would be honored to play for his country, but recently dropped out, citing the fact that he wants to take more time to rest his knees. Interestingly, he had ample opportunity to announce this in front of the large number of media that was in attendance during a recent celebrity golf tournament Bonds attended, but he instead chose to make the announcement via his web site where he of course is able to avoid any questions that people may want to ask of him. Look for other big names, most notably Roger Clemens, to drop off the roster before they go from 60 to 30 in the next month for similar reasons. The fact is that MLB's drug testing policy is a joke, and no urine test is going to come close to detecting HGH or anything else that has been newly developed. Even some blood tests will not detect the new designer steroids out there, but it does increase the chance that you will get exposed. However, that is another discussion for another day. 4. All about the money. Let's face it; the only reason that we are even talking about the World Baseball Classic is because Major League Baseball wants to generate more revenue. Just look at the adds throughout MLB.com. They are even using guilt in order to sell tickets, such as "Your favorite players are supporting their countries. Now its your turn to support yours." Give me a break. Kind of funny how the rosters are still at 60 players. Wouldn't it be funny it right after the tickets were sold out they just happened to cut the rosters down to 30, and all the players you wanted to "support" decided they didn't want to play in March and risk injury? Interesting how that works out. 3. Pitch Counts and Mercy Rules. You heard me right, the WBC has set pitch counts for each round of the World Baseball Classic. For the first round it is set at 65 pitches, and it increases to a whopping 80 pitches in the second round and 95 pitches for the semi's and finals. Apparently if a pitcher reaches 65 pitches in the midst of an at bat he may finish out that batter, which begs the question does a pitcher who is coming up on his 64th pitch try even harder to throw a strike, regardless of the count, in order to force the batter to make contact in the hope of being able to face one last batter? Talk about changing the way players play the game! They also adopted a mercy rule of 15 runs after 5 innings or 10 runs after 7 in order to end blowouts in a timelier manner. If I wanted to watch little league baseball I would wait until the summer time. 2. March Madness. Talk about poor planning. The WBC takes place smack dab in the middle of March, right during the peak of college basketball's tournament season. Last year baseball tried to upstage the NCAA with their steroid hearings, and now this? Nice try Bud. 1. Bud Selig. The definition of a poor leader. Sure he got lucky with realignment, the wild card, and interleague play (which by now has kind of lost its luster), but any moron who just happened to be the commissioner during the 90's would have come up with the same ideas. It was just a matter of time. He single handedly made football the most popular sport in America, and let the issue of steroids run amuck in the world of baseball. Say what you will about George W. Bush, but at least he surrounds himself with competent people. Selig's cronies are just as clueless as he is. Once again Selig is proving that he's just about putting money in the pockets of his owners, and that he will continue to milk the fans for all they are worth. So before you tune in to see just what the World Baseball Classic has to offer, remember these ten things I have laid before you. Don't make the same mistake you did last year and miss some exciting college hoops because you want to see how uncomfortable some congressmen can make Mark McGwire and Donald Fehr look. Watch something that really matters, not spring training baseball masquerading as the real thing. RAC'S RANT will appear twice each month on SportsLizard.com. You can contact Dick Richards at racsrant@hotmail.com Sign up to receive the SportsLizard.com Newsletter Tell your friends about SportsLizard.com because you know you should. Return to SportsLizard.com Home