WBC (who bleepin' cares) (3)

As a die-hard sports fan, I consider this time of year to be extra-special as the professional baseball season is about to begin and the field of 64 Div. 1 college basketball teams are about to compete at the BIG DANCE (a.k.a the NCAA Tourney). For the past few years though, a new event has been slated to take place during these late winter weeks--namely the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The WBC is a double-elimination tournament between the best and most gifted baseball players from all over the globe (i.e. Chinese Taipai, Dominican Republic, Japan, Italia, and the US of A). Many spectators and analysts have compared this culturally-charged sporting event to the World Cup; however, the general consensus is that there is no comparison! The sport of soccer has had much more cultural and historical relevance to just about every country (regardless of population or fan-base) throughout the world. One of the main reasons why the WBC has been under a lot of scrutiny since its inception is that the WBC games take place in the middle of MLB's spring training season, when managers and players are trying to prepare for their long and grueling 162-game season. Over the past few years, numerous MLB players and coaches have claimed that participation in the WBC has brought them early fatigue and thrown off their schedule & rhythm heading into April. Personally, I think it is a great thing, but unfortunately, like anything new, it hasn't been around long enough and many of the international players are simply unrecognizable, compared to the much more notable players who play in the Major Leagues. There has been some discussion as to whether a better time of the year (such as after the World Series) to hold these contests, but the jury is still out on what to make of this cultural event.