Crazy thing is... I'm sure nobody in Italy cares. This isn't exactly the Miracle on Dirt.
Hate to be a skeptic, but these aren't real teams, and most of them aren't real Italians.
If the US defeated India in a first-round matchup, most Americans wouldn't really care would they? And at least the US Cricket team is actually a real team, albeit loaded with a bunch of Indian-Americans at least they're Americans. The same cannot be said about the team "Italy" WBC roster.
The game last night proves this absurdity of most of the WBC teams. Most of them aren't really Italians, they're really just a bunch of Americans major leaguers beating another bunch of American major leaguers.
HUGE upset, by the way. Props to them. Because they are a bunch of American major leaguers, none good enough to make the USA roster, beating a team of Americans who actually were good enough to make the USA roster.
What I love was A’ja Wilson pointing that she no longer has the scoring record in her own house now, a point that I believe Bam will raise once, and then any future times to his peril.
In the 8th inning, the TV showed Kershaw warning up in the pen. Given the circumstances, this was very confusing. The US was trailing in the game and preventing more runs was an absolute priority.
The only logical explanation I have is if Italy had cleared the bases in the 8th - making the game a true blowout - then DeRosa might have pitched Kershaw just for kicks.
All in all, just a very poor first 6 innings by the USA team. I do think their odds are favorable to advance.
Not even mentioned in the weird sports night is that the biggest move of the NFL's beautifully named Legal Tampering Period was nixed because a player who refuses to leave the field failed a physical.
Joe, I got a disagree with you on the whole Shawn Green versus Adebayo comparison. Green had six AB‘s, Bam virtually had unlimited shot capability. Nobody ever had 19 total bases before or since in 150 years of baseball.
on the US potentially being knocked out by confusing tie breaker rules, it's the same thing that happened to Mexico in 2017 where Italy went to the quarterfinals.
As a Mexican, I agree it'd be funny if the US also didn't advance because of confusing rules, but I think what's missing from American players and fans is to not think this way and always prefer your team to advance even if the alternative is funny. (not saying that you said that you'd prefer the US to not advance but the general sentiment I've read/heard from Americans is that this tourney is as important as spring training)
I used to film microfiche for the MIT Libraries. Even wrote software to capture titles from the catalog and feed them to the fiche camera. But yes, I’m older than Joe.
Wilt averaged 45.6 minutes per game over the course of his career. In 1961-1962, he averaged 48.5 minutes a game. He only played less than 48 minutes in one game that year.
Adrian Dantley currently works as a crossing guard (at least, as of a couple years ago), and was the referee in one of my (then) 10-year old son's basketball games in a county-run rec league. As was appropriate for a member of the Bad Boys Pistons, Dantley did not call a lot of fouls.
Dantley was definitely a scorer when he was on my Pistons, but I also think he represented the worst kind of basketball player from a fan experience. There is nothing entertaining at all about watching a guy whose game is based on drawing fouls like Dantley, James Harden and now Halen Brunson. Totally within the rules, it just makes the game ms unwatchable.
As a Celtics fan, I hated the guy. I hated everyone on that team, and I'm not sure I respected all that many of them other than Joe Dumars and Vinny Johnson. But I was glad to shake Dantley's hand and thank him for being a part of some of my best childhood memories. All he said in response was, "that was a long time ago."
Malcolm Gladwell did a whole Revisionist History on the ridiculousness of basketball players refusing to use the most effective free throw shooting method:
I haven’t listened, but is it safe to assume he cherry-picked a data point and then extrapolated that to fit whatever narrative he decided would make the most entertaining story?
Great piece as always, Joe! But I'm surprised that you discussed Wilt's amazing 100-point game and noted his impressive free-throw shooting without mentioning the reason he was so much more successful with his free throws that game: he used the more reliable, underhanded "Granny" style of free throw shooting. When he used that style, he shot a much higher percentage. But he abandoned it. Why? Because he thought it made him look wimpy or unmanly. Imagine how many more points he could have scored in his career if he cared more about scoring than how he looked!
I remember microfiche because using an actual fish through the machine would have been easier.
Three things about the USA being in peril of being knocked out in the WBC:
1. Baseball is weird
2. The USA lineup is stacked but the pitching staff is not
3. We can stop worrying as soon as Mexico scores at least five or Italy scores at least four, unless, God forbid, they go into extra innings...
Did I mention, baseball is weird?
Crazy thing is... I'm sure nobody in Italy cares. This isn't exactly the Miracle on Dirt.
Hate to be a skeptic, but these aren't real teams, and most of them aren't real Italians.
If the US defeated India in a first-round matchup, most Americans wouldn't really care would they? And at least the US Cricket team is actually a real team, albeit loaded with a bunch of Indian-Americans at least they're Americans. The same cannot be said about the team "Italy" WBC roster.
The game last night proves this absurdity of most of the WBC teams. Most of them aren't really Italians, they're really just a bunch of Americans major leaguers beating another bunch of American major leaguers.
HUGE upset, by the way. Props to them. Because they are a bunch of American major leaguers, none good enough to make the USA roster, beating a team of Americans who actually were good enough to make the USA roster.
Congrats, guys! Great upset!
The Shawn Green comparison seemed perfectly adept to me. Another one that came to mind is Jamal Lewis' 295 yard game against the Browns.
What I love was A’ja Wilson pointing that she no longer has the scoring record in her own house now, a point that I believe Bam will raise once, and then any future times to his peril.
We have an imbecilic TV celebrity running the USA, apparently.
Oh, and the manager of the Team USA in the WBC isn't too bright, either.
In the 8th inning, the TV showed Kershaw warning up in the pen. Given the circumstances, this was very confusing. The US was trailing in the game and preventing more runs was an absolute priority.
The only logical explanation I have is if Italy had cleared the bases in the 8th - making the game a true blowout - then DeRosa might have pitched Kershaw just for kicks.
All in all, just a very poor first 6 innings by the USA team. I do think their odds are favorable to advance.
Not even mentioned in the weird sports night is that the biggest move of the NFL's beautifully named Legal Tampering Period was nixed because a player who refuses to leave the field failed a physical.
Joe, I got a disagree with you on the whole Shawn Green versus Adebayo comparison. Green had six AB‘s, Bam virtually had unlimited shot capability. Nobody ever had 19 total bases before or since in 150 years of baseball.
on the US potentially being knocked out by confusing tie breaker rules, it's the same thing that happened to Mexico in 2017 where Italy went to the quarterfinals.
As a Mexican, I agree it'd be funny if the US also didn't advance because of confusing rules, but I think what's missing from American players and fans is to not think this way and always prefer your team to advance even if the alternative is funny. (not saying that you said that you'd prefer the US to not advance but the general sentiment I've read/heard from Americans is that this tourney is as important as spring training)
I used to film microfiche for the MIT Libraries. Even wrote software to capture titles from the catalog and feed them to the fiche camera. But yes, I’m older than Joe.
Wilt averaged 45.6 minutes per game over the course of his career. In 1961-1962, he averaged 48.5 minutes a game. He only played less than 48 minutes in one game that year.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/chambwi01.html
Adrian Dantley currently works as a crossing guard (at least, as of a couple years ago), and was the referee in one of my (then) 10-year old son's basketball games in a county-run rec league. As was appropriate for a member of the Bad Boys Pistons, Dantley did not call a lot of fouls.
Dantley was definitely a scorer when he was on my Pistons, but I also think he represented the worst kind of basketball player from a fan experience. There is nothing entertaining at all about watching a guy whose game is based on drawing fouls like Dantley, James Harden and now Halen Brunson. Totally within the rules, it just makes the game ms unwatchable.
As a Celtics fan, I hated the guy. I hated everyone on that team, and I'm not sure I respected all that many of them other than Joe Dumars and Vinny Johnson. But I was glad to shake Dantley's hand and thank him for being a part of some of my best childhood memories. All he said in response was, "that was a long time ago."
Malcolm Gladwell did a whole Revisionist History on the ridiculousness of basketball players refusing to use the most effective free throw shooting method:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1297-revisionist-history-27866583/episode/the-big-man-cant-shoot-27866665/
I haven’t listened, but is it safe to assume he cherry-picked a data point and then extrapolated that to fit whatever narrative he decided would make the most entertaining story?
I listened to it some time back; IIRC, that data point was "Rick Barry's career."
Great piece as always, Joe! But I'm surprised that you discussed Wilt's amazing 100-point game and noted his impressive free-throw shooting without mentioning the reason he was so much more successful with his free throws that game: he used the more reliable, underhanded "Granny" style of free throw shooting. When he used that style, he shot a much higher percentage. But he abandoned it. Why? Because he thought it made him look wimpy or unmanly. Imagine how many more points he could have scored in his career if he cared more about scoring than how he looked!
Yeah, but he might’ve scored with fewer women, and that was equally important to him.