1 of 1- forsberg_us
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Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
Hanley Ramirez to miss 2 months of the season due to a thumb injury suffered in the WBC.
Why again do they play this stupid exhibition tournament?
- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
forsberg_us wrote:
Hanley Ramirez to miss 2 months of the season due to a thumb injury suffered in the WBC.
Why again do they play this stupid exhibition tournament?
Maybe because the popularity of baseball continues to sink, and they are looking about to other models to revive interest, such as Football World Cup, which is arguably the most popular sporting event in the world.
- artie_fufkin
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
"Football World Cup, which is arguably the most popular sporting event in the world."
There's no argument. Two billion people watched the final in 2010.
The WBC got huge television ratings in the other countries/territories that participated. I read somewhere that 74 percent of the TVs in Puerto Rico were tuned to the final.
The main problem with the tournament is the timing, and I don't know what you do about that.
- forsberg_us
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
Hanley Ramirez to miss 2 months of the season due to a thumb injury suffered in the WBC.
Why again do they play this stupid exhibition tournament?Maybe because the popularity of baseball continues to sink, and they are looking about to other models to revive interest, such as Football World Cup, which is arguably the most popular sporting event in the world.
The popularity of baseball in places where it matters can't be too bad if new television revenue has allowed teams with new deals to go on absurd spending sprees.
Be honest, did you watch any of the WBC? I can honestly say I didn't watch a single pitch.
Other than Boggs (because he's with the Cardinals), David Wright (because he got injured) and R.A. Dickey (because Artie mentioned him in another thread), I couldn't even tell you a single player on Team USA.
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Thread Starter- Max
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
The NFL has triumphed as basically a one-nation sport. The NBA became huge went they went international. Baseball probably sees a better chance of survival by going international than they do of beating NFL. So the WBC makes sense as ling as it doesn't grossly piss off MLB fans here in the USA in large numbers.
I for one would rather have baseball survive as a major sport for another century.
- forsberg_us
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
When did the NBA become huge? I'm sure my view is jaded given that St. Louis doesn't have a team and you couldn't pay me to watch an NBA game, but aren't about half the teams struggling to survive?
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Thread Starter- Max
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
Should have said, "basketball went huge".
NBA benfitted from a Jordan bump, which they have partly squandered.
- artie_fufkin
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
"Be honest, did you watch any of the WBC?"
I watched quite a bit. At least the San Juan and Phoenix regionals, and then the Miami round, and the San Francisco games. Can't say I got up at 5 a.m. to watch the Far East regionals.
Granted, I don't have a lot of conflicts with other sports. I'm more of a Bruins' fan than a real hockey fan, I don't watch the NBA and I only watch a little bit of college basketball.
- artie_fufkin
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
Should have said, "basketball went huge".
NBA benfitted from a Jordan bump, which they have partly squandered.
A-hem. Let's not revise history here, Max. The Lakers and the Celtics, and more specifically the Bird/Johnson rivalry, rescued the NBA. The NBA in the late '70s was on life support and had to broadcast its games in the Finals on tape delay because CBS preferred to show Barnaby Jones in the time slot.
- APIAD
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Re: Hey, at least the DR won the WBC
Bud was asked in an interview and i dont know if i read this or watched it. Anyway he said his vision of the mlb road the road, after he is gone, is that it goes globle. That the mlb itself wiill be globle. I think that has to be what the wbc is all about. His vision.