Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Japan Wins World Baseball Classic

Last night's WBC Championship game is being labeled as one of the best played and most intense baseball games in recent memory. While it was a great game, whether you think its excitement was on par with the World Series depends on your perspective. Personally, I feel that the World Series is the biggest baseball event, but I can certainly understand how important this game was for the countries that contested it.

In case you missed it, in front of nearly 55,000 screaming fans in Dodger Stadium, Japan defeated South Korea 5-3 in 10 innings. How great it was also to see all the passionate fans packed into stadiums in Seoul and Tokyo to watch the game. Achieving something that the US players wouldn't be able to do by winning, the Japanese players - led by Ichiro Suzuki (4-4 with the game winning hit) - became national heroes by defeating their Pacific Rim rivals and claiming their second WBC title.

This competition represented everything that sports should be about, even if the American fans don't show an interest in it.

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