A T.O. with T.H.

For those of you who noticed and based on the TV ratings you haven’t) The World Baseball Classic has been going on for the last couple of weeks.

When they originally held it in 2006, I thought it sounded like a cool idea. Major League Baseball players competing against one another in world competition sounded like a gold mine for everybody involved, including the sports fan.

Then we stepped back and saw the classic for what it actually is.

This tournament is nothing but a bunch of overpaid weenies who don’t want to be there, a group of has-beens and some never-going-to-be players.

That doesn’t make for compelling sports action.

I know that as an American I am supposed to be patriotic, but why should I care if the American team beats Venezuela, or vice-versa?

Granted, Tuesday night’s walk-off thriller between the U.S. and Puerto Rico was a great game. But it didn’t make me want to chant U-S-A! U-S-A! All I wanted to say was, “forget this, bring on the real baseball.”

Watching a bunch of guys who want to be at spring training play in an empty stadium doesn’t exactly sound like fun, even for me.

The other issue is the injuries.

This tournament is in such an awkward place on the calendar, with only a little under a month left till opening day, that it actually poses danger to the teams that are willing to send their players to the tournament.

Having the tournament right in the middle of spring training with the season right around the corner is irresponsible.

So the idea of an international baseball tournament is not a good idea.

But hey, congrats to the Japanese and Korean teams when one inevitably wins the classic, much like the Japanese did in 2006. It is good that they have to play hard in order to prove their leagues can hold a candle to Major League Baseball. And by the way . they can’t.