World Baseball Classic

THE UMPIRES AT THE WBC

It is an honor for umpires or referees to officiate the biggest event of their sport. For basketball, it's the NBA Finals. For football, it's the Super Bowl, and for baseball, it's the World Series. But the next biggest honor for a professional umpire that goes right behind the World Series, is the brand-new World Baseball Classic. It is an event where umpires from all over the nation come together to umpire in games containing some of the best players from all over the world. Ten of the lucky umpires were at the Urban Youth Academy a few months ago for the Umpire camp, which I wrote about above. They will be all over the world and while you are most definitely going to turn on ESPN to watch the players, the umpires will be there too. They will be showcased, just like the players will be. Because you know that if an umpire does poorly, the fans will notice and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will notice. However, if they do well, then they could see themselves possibly umpiring into October next year for the most prestigious event in baseball.

WHAT IS THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC?

To the casual sports fan, seeing competitive baseball in March is extremely unusual...even a spring training game between the Red Sox and Yankees isn't competitive at all, and we know how big of a rivalry those two teams have. But, fans will be seeing competitive baseball for the 2nd time in the last 4 years in March. In 2006, the inaugural World Baseball Classic hit center stage. It was started four years ago by Major League Baseball and the plan is to have it occur every four years, just like the Summer Olympics. Some of the best players in the world represented their countries, including big names such as Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Matt Holliday, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki and much more. In a nutshell, the WBC was created to feature stars from different countries. In the Olympics, professionals do not participate for the United States because it conflicts with the regular season; therefore, the WBC gives a chance for America's stars to shine. In addition to allowing America's best to participate, the WBC also showcases baseball across the world, so that it's recognition goes beyond countries such as the United States and the Dominican Republic.



LAST YEAR'S RESULTS

When Americans think of the best players in baseball, they think of players from the United States, Venezuela and Dominican Republic. But, two countries showed why they are a force to be reckoned with, when they faced off in finals of the WBC at Petco Park in San Diego, Ca. These two countries were Japan and Cuba. Japan knocked off Cuba 10-6 in the finals, to win the first ever WBC. South Korea got 3rd, while the Dominican Republic got 4th.
At the same time that the United States was being introduced to Japan, it was being introduced to a player named Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka, better known as Dice-K, earned 3 wins en route to becoming the MVP of the 2006 All-WBC Team. He soon thereafter signed with the Boston Red Sox. You may be wondering who the Dice-K of the 2009 WBC will be...well look no further then Japan's own, Yu Darvish. Just watch this and be prepared to be amazed.



THIS YEAR'S SCHEDULE
http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/schedule/full_bracket.jsp?team=wbc


If this video doesn't get you excited for the WBC, then I don't know what will.