World Baseball Classic

[Eric]

What do you guys think of this idea? Personally, I am in love with the WBC. Even though it isn't a classic yet, it will be soon. This is enough to drum up intrest in places like South Africa, Australlia, China, and Italy. Plus, I do believe that many places in Central and South America will be wanting to get in on the action too, countries like El Salvador, Hondurous, Chile, Argentiana, and the list goes on and on.

I have only 2 problems with this.

#1: They can't just play 3 games and say you're done if you get eliminated. If you play 3 games as a team, you really don't get much out of the experience. But, there really isn't anything that can be done about it because if you played 2 round robins, it would run into the regular season and it would feel more a professional league than a international event.

#2: They have to start this thing in mid-to-late February. I think the major leaguers have gotta get back with their teams sooner than they would under these circumstances.

Hopefully, they can fit 5 or 6 teams in a pool just a while down the road, if there is enough national intrest in the sport. I can't really think of many countries outside of Central America that could field a baseball team. When you end up having to stick South Africa in the event, you're pretty much hard-pressed to find a baseball team.

[Spence]

I think sometimes it is nice to see baseball players playing for the love of the sport. Pro Baseballers as a rule are the most spoiled men who walk the planet. Baseball isn't even a team sport at the pro level anymore.

[..fanatic]

Totally uninterested. As with the hockey or basketball tourneys that involve pros, how many MLB players from America's league are playing for other countries. This is just like wholesale free agency. Move the players around and give the teams different names. Why should we give a crap?

Besides, I'll take amateurs over pros everyday. Bring back the college players for USA Basketball. Same for hockey. They play with passion.

[Eric]

Well, that's kind of the case with the international style of play. The players are playing with passion, for their countries. I think it is much better than the MLB because they're actually playing for love of the game instead of millions of dollars.