Like many, I invested some time watching the WBC, the World Baseball Classic, not the World Boxing Council.  Not anymore.

What immediately puzzled me was the citizenship of the players.

Why do so many Netherlands players have Spanish surnames!

Surprise!  Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are all former Dutch colonies and are supplying players under the Dutch flag.   Ladies and gentlemen, I call a party foul.  This fact eliminates any discussion about the "Greatest Upset Ever" over the A-Roid-less Dominicans!

This isn't the wooden shoe crowd on the field.  They're ringers.  You don't see Puerto Rico importing dudes from New Jersey.

******

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch." 

----Nigel Powers in GOLDMEMBER
*******

You'll notice U.S. citizens playing for Italy and others.

Mike Piazza is a coach for Italy.  The dude's not an Italian, but a grandparent probably was and loose sports citizenship rules allow teams to load up with foreign born and bred players who've never set foot on the motherland.  Plenty of these guys weren't good enough for their own nation's team, so they're playing mercenary.  Whatever these sellouts endorse, I'm not buying, ever!

Whassupwitdat!

There's no true David vs. Goliath here, so I'm off to do other things.

Sorry Bud(Selig), I'm through with this baseball farce.  Until you turn this into RollerBall, I'm gone.

I'll be following March Madness until MLB begins.

Hey, what's the latest T.O quote?