One more on the WBC, and then I promise to stop...

so i just want to state...despite the us losing last night, i want to take back all the reservation i had about the wbc...sure there were problems and they will make some changes for next time, but i believe that 50 yrs from now, the start of the wbc will be viewed as one of the most important events in the history of the game, and Bud Selig deserves an enormous amount of credit for ignoring the whiners and complainers and pushing it through
I guess the only other issue that needs a touch of attention is the possibility that the tournament may lose a bit of respectability due to (perceived) bias towards the United States. I have seen 3 examples of this in the press, but there may be others...First, some people say that the US was in the "easy" bracket. I don't believe this is true. The 3rd place team in the US bracket, Canada, was stronger than 2 of the other 3rd place teams (Taiwan and Italy) and I'd take them in a 7 game series against the Netherlands or Panama also. Plus, both logistically and for fan interest, it made sense to set up the first round by geographical region...hence you end up with a US/Canada/Mexico bracket. Second and third are the 2 badly blown calls, one each in the Japan and Mexico games, the former likely changing the outcome of the game. I haven't seen the replay of the call from the Mexico game, but I hear it was a horrible miss. However, and those of you who know me know i love a good anti-Selig conspiracy theory, I have a real tough time thinking that the fix was in here. I don't even know it was in the best interests of the sport to have the US in the finals; the carribean/asian exposure that these results will have should be a great thing for the sport.

Looking fwd to 2009...