As an outspoken critic of the World Baseball Classic, I think it is about time that I put my big stupid foot in my big stupid mouth.
Monday night’s championship game between Japan and Korea was one of the most exciting baseball games I have seen since Matt Holliday’s 13th-inning game-winning slide in the 2007 National League Wild Card Tiebreaker.
As a native New Yorker who lives and dies vicariously through the New York Yankees, it is unnerving to the brink of madness to watch as my iconic shortstop Derek Jeter steps up to the plate in a game that means absolutely nothing in terms of bringing a 27th World Championship to the Bronx.
Anything could happen. He could get hit in the face by a pitch thrown by some Dutch amateur who wants to make a name for himself by ending the career of a legend.
The excitement of Monday’s game has alleviated some of my concern. Extra innings in the championship game in front of 50,000 screaming fans is a setting we can only hope the MLB boys can replicate. After a $400 million Yankee off-season, I expect nothing less. Twelve days, folks. Go Yanks!
