The World Baseball Classic didn’t cater to the U.S. audience, but that didn’t stop the nattering nabobs of America’s pastime from whining about it for weeks. Clearly the U.S. media, and unofficial media-and you know who you are-didn’t get the Bud Selig memo. The WBC cultivated a foreign television audience, for the purpose of growing the global business of the MLB, for the purpose of paying for the national game’s debt, sound familiar? The games were on late for the convenience of other countries, where many of the best players from the Red Sox & Yankees come from.
The absurd new Yankee stadium stands as a ready symbol for the awaiting Era of Inflation, that will sweep across this great indebted land. But who will pay for the luxury boxes, zillion dollar seats, and quarter-billion dollar salaries? Apparently not the dollar, which was just voted down as the future global currency of choice. Instead, be on the lookout in the Bronx for Vladimir Putin, dressed as a tourist, pricing seats pegged to the ruble.
The world seems beset by dying and decaying institutions, ideas and processes. Can the only solution be youth, and the necessary death of that, that has aged? New England professional sports teams have had their best run ever, with the Patriots, Red Sox & Celtics all winning championships. Yet in time tarnish is appearing through revelations about steroid use, financial squabblings, and the continued saga of Manny the personality Cancer. Who are these new guys in Spring Training, with a zip in their step and an unknowing smile.
Big money and guaranteed contracts dominate baseball in America, so the WBC is a chance to see the game in a slightly simpler form. The Red Sox team of twenty-five will be spread out over six separate time zones for the WBC Classic. The Nation is moaning and groaning over this, so prepare for it to be an excuse all season long if and when anything goes wrong. But C’mon, the WBC is advanced Spring Training for baseball-on-television junkies. There will be ratings.
The City that Sleeps The 2010 Red Sox will be a very efficient team to watch and root for. No more endless games for the impatient Remdawg. Great pitching, good defense and no hitting should result in quick two-hour games, lights out by 10pm. Boston is the city that sleeps! Befitting a town more early to bed and early to exercise.
Theo Epstein has a roster that closely matches his temperment, and that of his non-tempermental owner John Henry. It’s the year to test their sabermetric defensive equations. The Red Sox are pre-season favorites, the sellouts continue, 94 wins is the goal. The commoditization of Fenway continues.
Play ball! (0)