World Baseball Classic, Anyone going to any of the games? Options

[edstipe]

Just curious if anybody else is going to be attending any of the World Baseball Classic games. I'm pretty excited to see the U.S. team -- Jeter, ARod, Clemens, Willis, Lee, Griffey, etc. -- as well as to see some of the international players I'd never have a chance to see otherwise. Kind of like going to the All-Star game but with patriotism and an actual meaning to the games. I expect most countries to take the competition very seriously, especially those seeking recognition for the sport in their homeland.

I'm a baseball freak, but I think a lot of people will get excited over this once the games start getting played, especially if any tempers start to flare between/among countries.

I'm going to the Sunday March 12th night game at Anaheim. It will pit the winner of Pool A vs. the winner of Pool B, which I *hope* will be the United States vs. Japan.

Anyone else?

[mrmcpheezy]

I'm not going to any of the games. I like the idea, but I hate that it takes place prior to the mlb regular season. If somebody gets hurt, they're going to miss games. Have it at the end of the year, so that if anyone gets hurt they'd have the entire offseason to recover.

[edstipe]

I'm not going to any of the games. I like the idea, but I hate that it takes place prior to the mlb regular season. If somebody gets hurt, they're going to miss games. Have it at the end of the year, so that if anyone gets hurt they'd have the entire offseason to recover.

They'd never have it at the end of the year. Too many conflicts with players, promoters, agents, announcers, etc. Plus, it would be completely ignored because the end of the baseball season = the heart of the football season.

There has been talk, however, of having an extended All-Star break, getting rid of the (meaningless) All-Star Game, and having the tournament in the middle of the season. This would work well because players would be more physically ready to play and, hopefully, less likely to back out for some of the reasons they are citing now (adjusting to a new team or position, missing out on the comradrie of Spring Training, recovering from off-season surgery, etc.).

That would seem to be the best solution.