World Baseball Classic

[Dan Wishengrad]

Congrats to Japan for winning the WBC. I'm sure they want to thank Mexico for knocking off the USA to even give them the opportunity to advance to the semi-final round.

Korea may not have made the finals -- even though they possessed the tournament's best overall record of 7-1. Korea made a grand total of ZERO errors in the event. Lee is an unbelievable power hitter, and his 8 HRs off a variety of pitching is an eye-opening WBC stat.

Cuba has some amazing talent as well. Though others like Borrero get more publicity, I particularly enjoyed watching the Cuban catcher, Pestano.

Japanese starting pitcher Matsuzaka is voted the MVP, with three dominating performances and three wins. This guy is a stud and would be a Cy Young contender if he played in the Majors. Nasty stuff! And then there's Ichiro, who I've had the pleasure of watching here in Seattle. Ichi is a living testament to what the combination of natural talent and the greatest work-ethic in the sports world can produce on the field.

[Wade]

I didn't watch much of the early rounds since I'm more a local team / go to a game fan than a "baseball" fan.

I was at the Cuba/DR semi and the finals on Monday and have to say I thought it was a great event. The Caribbean fans were awesome, bringing an entire brass section to complement the cow bells, rattles, and frying pans to make the game a party. The Japanese fans were fired up as well, but not quite as boisterous. Watching the emotions of the Cuban and Japanese players was awesome as well. They truly cared about the game, something that seems to be missing at times in American sports.

If they didn't play two blocks from my house I don't know if I would have cared, but being a part of it was great and I think the event will gain some traction in future years. Americans may not care but the rest of the world played with something to prove, and did.

[Wade]

Six more teams and it will truly be a National Hockey League!

Unfortunately. It sucked watching a Florida team take the cup home over Calgary, and I grew up hating the Flames.