Steinbrenner can suck it

In the last few weeks I've been from Jersey to California back to Jersey, then to Maine then back to Jersey, then to Georgia and finally back to Jersey. So I've been a little busy to say the least. But that didn't stop me from watching the beginning of the World Baseball Classic. I love this stuff. I really hope this catches on and becomes huge. It's the World Cup of Baseball. World Champion will finally mean something. Yes, I'm excited.

Does anybody else hate George Steinbrenner even more now? I can't stand this guy. Why does he have to complain about the WBC? Can't he support something that would be good for the sport for once? Just this once? People get injured in Spring Training too George so why don't you just shut your yapper. You know he's the reason why Robinson Cano isn't playing in the WBC. The young kid doesn't want to upset his boss, while the older guys know how important it is to represent your country. Come on George, why do you have to suck so much?

So I've been watching some of the games from Pool A. Specifically the Japan vs Korea matchup. This Japanese team is so much fun to watch. They are like the Evil Empire of the far East. I truly enjoyed rooting against them, especially after the Ichiro comments (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just watch one of Japan's upcoming games... they'll mention it approximately 5000 times). They really were 10 times better than any other team in pool A, which made Korea's victory so exciting to watch.

A few things about the game...

All 3 outfielders for Korea were named Lee. Plus 2 other guys in the starting lineup were named Lee. How confusing is that? My favorite was definitly Bum Ho Lee... it just sounds dirty.

Watching the Japanese team is like watching a motorcycle ad. Suzuki in Left field and Kawasaki at shortstop. Can't they find someone named Honda to be the batboy or something?

The reason I can't root for Korea can be summed up in one word... "Thundersticks"... or is that two words? Ummmm... let's move on.

Low point in Pool A play was definitely the annoucers. It was borderline unbareable to listen to these guys. Especially color man Darnel Coles who apparently played ball in Japan. He enjoyed telling us that it's tougher to steal bases off left handed pitchers and that it's easier to score runs when people are on base. Thanks Darnel, nobody knew that already.

Two guys to watch in the next round... Japan's Nishioka and Tamura (don't ask me their first names because I can barely remember their last). Both played 10 times better than Ichiro. Also, Kawasaki is an amazing shortstop.

My predicition: Neither team (Japan or Korea) will match up well with any of the other powerhouses in the WBC (Dominican Rep., Venezuela, USA, Puerto Rico, and Cuba). Japan looked dominate (mercy ruled China and Taiwan), but it's because the other teams were pretty bad. Pitchers rarely came close to reaching 90 mph and are going to get crushed by some of these other teams. When Chan Ho Park is your best pitcher, you know you're in trouble.

USA plays their first game today. So make sure to set your TiVO's!