I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding "these guys are ruining the game by not doing fun bat flips" discourse to be every bit as tiresome as "these guys are ruining the game by doing fun bat flips" discourse.
I'm just so confused by the US approach to this tournament. I don't follow MLB that closely, but I had never heard of yesterday's starting pitcher. Alex Bregman is a fine player, but he's surely not our best third baseman. Where was Mookie or Crochet? Bo Bichette? Kyle Tucker?
It's not just the lack of joy. It's the lack of interest. We deserve to lose, and we did.
Awesome column, Joe. I like the WBC in the beginning of the year. I look at it like a preview at the movies. Sometimes the preview is better than the main attraction, but sometimes it sets up the main attraction beautifully.
I turned it on while they were introducing the U.S. team and was struck and saddened by the fact that none of them smiled. Why wasn’t Bryce Harper clapping and grinning and dancing around the bases when he hit that homer?
This was great. And I guess I was bothered less by some of the US antics because the joy surrounding everything else was so awesome. If MLB had half a brain, they would really embrace this. Like, why not make it something like the Ryder Cup or even World Cup and do it every other year or every four years. But then do it in the middle of the summer and just pause the season for the games. And if the players sign up to play, then by gosh, they play. No calling the manager and telling them not to pitch someone.
Watched very very little of the WBC. Not that I wouldn’t, it just didn’t happen.
I’ll tell you where you can go to see that joy. Go watch a local high school game, or a local Little League game. I’ve been doing more and more of that. Very enjoyable! And, you can eat dinner at the ballpark for something like five dollars.
I felt like the Mets had some of that joy last year and especially the year before in the playoffs. I’m biased because the polar bear is my favorite player. So of course they broke up the team.
But I think the Blue Jays had some of that as well. You see it once in a while in the pros.
A fantastic column, Joe, and one that obviously speaks for so many people (judging by the comments). I have to add that the sense of joyous, angry militarism that seemed to bubble under the surface of how Team USA presented itself was (sadly) a good fit for the broadcast on Fox, a network that is part of the media machinery that seems to want to elevate soldiers (and military-style police) above all of us ordinary citizens--as if our country exists to serve the military.
I trust Paul Skenes to make and express his own reasoning for why he plays in the WBC. If you don’t agree with Paul’s reasoning, that’s great, but please don’t denigrate his ability to speak for himself. Thanks!
I appreciate the feedback. I have no beef with “I certainly respect Paul’s statement, but I think he has it backwards.” Semantics? Maybe, maybe not. Thank you for sharing.
Joe disagreed with the way Paul was looking at it. I disagree with the way Paul was looking at it and Paul's statements made me cringe. Neither Joe and I are trying to stop his ability to speak his mind. We just disagree.
Love your thoughts Joe. I am so weary of making our patriotism/national pride be about the military. It’s about all of us! All the people you mentioned deserve to be noticed. We also need to stop sacrificing our young people in wars for the ego of government leaders and industrial military complex executives!
Here’s something else for us all to ponder. When has harming the people of a country worked to cause positive regime change? Because we have tried it many times.
Two of the main reasons people care about sports are tradition, and passion of the fans. The WBC had to start from ground zero in tradition but has really nailed the passion. And it's starting to pick up in tradition now, after the legendary ending in 2023 and this whole tournament that provided a lot of memories.
I wish the people who ran sports understood how important tradition and passion are to the fans that they make so much money from.
Joe, this was wonderful, I had so much more fun watching Italy, Canada, the DR, Venezuela etc... than the U.S. You articulated the reason why much better than I ever could. Thank you.
Real patriotism is not the mindless, hollow jingoism that is so prevalent today. Real patriotism is celebrating all of the ordinary Americans that (often thanklessly) make this country work every day and all of the wonderful, diverse, unique aspects of American culture.
Joe - this a great piece and nails some of the feelings I had as I watched.
I was cheering hard for Venezuela, even though I’m glad to live in the USA, for several reasons:
1. Team USA was like literally ALL of the “bad guy” teams in my childhood sports movies. My first thought was Mighty Ducks. The “bad guys” were the Hawks and they were all about winning and destroying. Shaking an opponents hand was a sign of not taking the game seriously enough. Smiling was unacceptable and distracting. Bryce Harper rounding 3rd last night was a remake of every sports villain from my childhood.
2. I couldn’t help but think about the different childhoods of the players on each team. I did some basic research and several of Venezuelas players grew up hitting rocks with sticks or making a ball out of crumpled newspaper and tape or hitting bottle caps. I don’t know the childhood experiences of anybody on team USA, but I’m certain they had it a little easier.
3. Joy. As you stated Venezuela was just so much more fun to watch. The US vibe was like watching a Cold War era Russian team stressing that if they didn’t win the gold medal it meant no food for their family.
Not disagreeing with you, but I’m an American who as a kid in the early 90s made baseballs out of whatever I could find (including newspaper and tape or used aluminum foil) and used whatever somewhat straight object was available to start baseball games in the front yard. And I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding "these guys are ruining the game by not doing fun bat flips" discourse to be every bit as tiresome as "these guys are ruining the game by doing fun bat flips" discourse.
I'm just so confused by the US approach to this tournament. I don't follow MLB that closely, but I had never heard of yesterday's starting pitcher. Alex Bregman is a fine player, but he's surely not our best third baseman. Where was Mookie or Crochet? Bo Bichette? Kyle Tucker?
It's not just the lack of joy. It's the lack of interest. We deserve to lose, and we did.
Our best third baseman was on the bench and didn't get to hit until the ninth inning, because Mark DeRosa is a numbskull.
Awesome column, Joe. I like the WBC in the beginning of the year. I look at it like a preview at the movies. Sometimes the preview is better than the main attraction, but sometimes it sets up the main attraction beautifully.
Just upgraded to a paid membership after reading this
I turned it on while they were introducing the U.S. team and was struck and saddened by the fact that none of them smiled. Why wasn’t Bryce Harper clapping and grinning and dancing around the bases when he hit that homer?
This was great. And I guess I was bothered less by some of the US antics because the joy surrounding everything else was so awesome. If MLB had half a brain, they would really embrace this. Like, why not make it something like the Ryder Cup or even World Cup and do it every other year or every four years. But then do it in the middle of the summer and just pause the season for the games. And if the players sign up to play, then by gosh, they play. No calling the manager and telling them not to pitch someone.
Watched very very little of the WBC. Not that I wouldn’t, it just didn’t happen.
I’ll tell you where you can go to see that joy. Go watch a local high school game, or a local Little League game. I’ve been doing more and more of that. Very enjoyable! And, you can eat dinner at the ballpark for something like five dollars.
I felt like the Mets had some of that joy last year and especially the year before in the playoffs. I’m biased because the polar bear is my favorite player. So of course they broke up the team.
But I think the Blue Jays had some of that as well. You see it once in a while in the pros.
A fantastic column, Joe, and one that obviously speaks for so many people (judging by the comments). I have to add that the sense of joyous, angry militarism that seemed to bubble under the surface of how Team USA presented itself was (sadly) a good fit for the broadcast on Fox, a network that is part of the media machinery that seems to want to elevate soldiers (and military-style police) above all of us ordinary citizens--as if our country exists to serve the military.
Nailed it Joe. I was kind of sickened by the salutes
It’s a pretty spot-on illustration of the difference between patriotism (yay!) and nationalism (uhhhh) and the dangers of conflating the two.
How about nationalism (grrr) ?
I trust Paul Skenes to make and express his own reasoning for why he plays in the WBC. If you don’t agree with Paul’s reasoning, that’s great, but please don’t denigrate his ability to speak for himself. Thanks!
I appreciate the feedback. I have no beef with “I certainly respect Paul’s statement, but I think he has it backwards.” Semantics? Maybe, maybe not. Thank you for sharing.
He didn't.
“Yeah, that’s backward” is far from an affirmation or a neutral statement.
Joe disagreed with the way Paul was looking at it. I disagree with the way Paul was looking at it and Paul's statements made me cringe. Neither Joe and I are trying to stop his ability to speak his mind. We just disagree.
Saying he can't have thoughts and saying that his thoughts are wrong are two completely different statements
"That's backward" is a statement of disagreement, not a denigration of anyone's ability or right to speak for themselves.
Love your thoughts Joe. I am so weary of making our patriotism/national pride be about the military. It’s about all of us! All the people you mentioned deserve to be noticed. We also need to stop sacrificing our young people in wars for the ego of government leaders and industrial military complex executives!
Here’s something else for us all to ponder. When has harming the people of a country worked to cause positive regime change? Because we have tried it many times.
I think we made the right decision to overthrow Hitler, killing many Germans along the way.
Damn, Joe. This is a good one.
Two of the main reasons people care about sports are tradition, and passion of the fans. The WBC had to start from ground zero in tradition but has really nailed the passion. And it's starting to pick up in tradition now, after the legendary ending in 2023 and this whole tournament that provided a lot of memories.
I wish the people who ran sports understood how important tradition and passion are to the fans that they make so much money from.
Joe, this was wonderful, I had so much more fun watching Italy, Canada, the DR, Venezuela etc... than the U.S. You articulated the reason why much better than I ever could. Thank you.
Real patriotism is not the mindless, hollow jingoism that is so prevalent today. Real patriotism is celebrating all of the ordinary Americans that (often thanklessly) make this country work every day and all of the wonderful, diverse, unique aspects of American culture.
Joe - this a great piece and nails some of the feelings I had as I watched.
I was cheering hard for Venezuela, even though I’m glad to live in the USA, for several reasons:
1. Team USA was like literally ALL of the “bad guy” teams in my childhood sports movies. My first thought was Mighty Ducks. The “bad guys” were the Hawks and they were all about winning and destroying. Shaking an opponents hand was a sign of not taking the game seriously enough. Smiling was unacceptable and distracting. Bryce Harper rounding 3rd last night was a remake of every sports villain from my childhood.
2. I couldn’t help but think about the different childhoods of the players on each team. I did some basic research and several of Venezuelas players grew up hitting rocks with sticks or making a ball out of crumpled newspaper and tape or hitting bottle caps. I don’t know the childhood experiences of anybody on team USA, but I’m certain they had it a little easier.
3. Joy. As you stated Venezuela was just so much more fun to watch. The US vibe was like watching a Cold War era Russian team stressing that if they didn’t win the gold medal it meant no food for their family.
Not disagreeing with you, but I’m an American who as a kid in the early 90s made baseballs out of whatever I could find (including newspaper and tape or used aluminum foil) and used whatever somewhat straight object was available to start baseball games in the front yard. And I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.