Article:Team USA: In it to Win it!

I am officially tired of hearing the phrase “the World Baseball Classic is a joke.”

Yes, it’s quite obvious that some changes need to be made, but that will come with time. This is, in fact, only the second WBC so far. I feel as though the fans of baseball, especially here in America, should respect the ‘Classic and enjoy watching 16 Nations battle for bragging rights, especially since both baseball and softball have been dropped from the Olympics (for now, at least). If so many people enjoy the Olympics, why not the WBC? Other than the bad timing, what have you got against it?

I don’t think the whole “injury risk” excuse is a good enough answer, to me. You are getting paid millions to play the sport you love, and always will love, and every player trains hard to avoid injuries as much as possible, but you risk injury just waking up in the morning. Has that ever stopped anyone before? No.

I, for one, am glad that there are guys like Adam Dunn, Jake Peavy, Jimmy Rollins, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedrioa and all the other current USA ballplayers that appreciate the gift they have been given.

If there is anyone out there that says the USA players don’t want to win this, then you obviously have not watched any WBC games this spring. They have certainly shown the kind of fire that is needed to win the trophy, dethrowning the defending champs, Japan, in the process.

If the above statements is not enough to convince you that Team USA is competing to win, take a look at this article written by ESPN.com’s Amy K. Nelson: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2009/news/story?id=3991721

Mark my words, Team USA will put up a heck of a fight against Japan come Sunday night (8 PM ET), with Houston Astros ace, Roy Oswalt, on the mound.