Sports

Baseball is actually fun–for a change

I had almost written off Major League Baseball (MLB) this season.  Illegal use of performance-enhancing substances such as human growth hormone (HGH) and steroids sullied the game’s reputation, raising questions surrounding the legitimacy of Barry Bonds’ passing Babe Ruth on the All-time Home Run list and culminating in the 50-game suspension of Arizona Diamondback Pitcher Jason Grimsley for taking HGH.  Team salaries remain so disparate that the top team in the league, the New York Yankees, spends more on player salaries than the bottom five teams do collectively.  Teams such as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates remain perenniel underachievers.  And my two favorite teams, the Seattle Mariners in the American League and the Washington Nationals in the National League, were both cellar dwellers in the spring.
 
I had almost written off Major League Baseball this season, but recently I saw a spark of excitement in MLB that’s been absent since the Red Sox won the World Series (unless you’re a Chicago White Sox fan).  The hapless Detroit Tigers, doormats for years, now have the best record in the league.  The Boston Red Sox are on a 12-game win streak, sweeping the first-place New York Mets in Interleague Play.  The Atlanta Braves, for the first time since the 1980’s, are flirting with last place in their division, likely missing the playoffs.  The New York Yankees would be out of the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1994 season–if the playoffs were held today.  Old favorites such as Ken Griffey, Jr. and Ichiro are having stellar seasons.  Players off the juice such as Jason Giambi are playing well without the benefit of steroids.  And the Seattle Mariners are actually competitive for the first time since 2001, just two games back of the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics.  The Washington Nationals are still in last place.
 
While I still cringe when I think of the inequities existing in Major League Baseball, and I revel in the beauty of the National Football League, I’m optimistic that 2006 will be a good season for baseball.  All but three teams have won between 30 and 50 games so far this season–a narrow spread indicating that a majority of MLB teams are still in the race for a playoff spot.  While I’m happy the Mariners are again in the playoff hunt, I’m even happier that Major League Baseball–for a charge–is competitive and fun to watch.

Poor Barbaro

Another mighty warrior has fallen.  Barbaro, winner of the Kentucky Derby and heavily favored to win the Preakness, sustained a career-ending and life-threatening injury to his right rear leg.  The three-year old colt won the Kentucky Derby by a commanding margin, drawing comparisons to Secretariat, the legendary Triple Crown winner.  Barbaro could have become the first horse to win the Triple Crown of horse racing (Kentucky Derby/Preakness/Belmont Stakes) since Affirmed won the coveted trifecta in 1978.  Barbaro’s fractured leg was an unexpected shock, dousing any flickering hopes for a Triple Crown winner this year.  Sports fans, especially horse racing aficionados, have been left wondering when the next Triple Crown winner will seize victory from the grip of defeat.
 
Barbaro’s tragedy is reminiscent of other recent failed Triple Crown contenders.  For those who enjoy watching thoroughbred horse racing, who could forget underdog Smarty Jones in 2004, when he fell short of the Triple Crown at the hooves of stronger rival Birdstone?  Or Funny Cide running away with the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, only to be stopped by favored Empire Builder in the Belmont Stakes?  In the 28 years since Affirmed’s Triple Crown, 17 colts have teased fans with two Triple Crown victories, but none have won all three races.  Barbaro’s fall is especially bitter because he was such a dominant horse–the kind you knew had the potential to win it all.  Like many great competitors, Barbaro fell in defeat astonishingly fast.  No longer is winning Barbaro’s objective–it’s survival.

Way to go, Korea

Korea beat Japan 2-1 today in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic to advance to the semifinals.  Way to go!  Not only did Korea’s victory secure the team a spot in the semis, but it also lifted Korean national pride as its national team beat Japan, its archrival and frequent nemesis, in a sport at which both nations excel.  Most westerners cannot fathom how deeply the outcome of a game like today’s can affect the Korean psyche.  To most westerners, baseball is just a game (except perhaps for Boston Red Sox fans).  To many Koreans, today’s game was an opportunity to show the world that Korea is in elite company, finishing ahead of Japan.  At work today, I noticed a significant lull in our workload as I waited for Koreans to finish watching the game.  I don’t think that has happened since the 2002 World Cup.  After the baseball game ended, I heard a thunderous applause erupting from our Korean visitors before they streamed in to talk to me.
 
To understand how just how deeply a competition such as this influences Asian sentiments, consider this.  Ichiro Suzuki, the Japanese sensation who plays outfield for the Seattle Mariners and who happens to be one of my favorite baseball players, said before the WBC that "I want to beat South Korea so badly that the South Koreans won’t want to play Japan for another 30 years."  The commentary, atypical of the normally collegial Ichiro, caused quite an uproar among Koreans.  In another incident, Korean baseball players allegedly complained that their Japanese counterparts were staying in better accommodations in Phoenix.  Stories such as these are common whenever national pride and bad blood spills onto the playing field. 
 
Well, congratulations, Korea.  You did well in the Winter Olympics, especially in short-track skating, and avoided controversy.  Now you have advanced to the upper eschelon of baseball’s version of the World Cup.  Alas, if you advance to the finals, you will face even more formidable opponents, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.  I wish you luck.  Both teams will be very tough to beat.
 
Blog Notes:  Editfish, regarding my Spanish study–when I found out that I already had the required proficiency to bid on Spanish-language assignments, I decided to quit while I was ahead.  I didn’t know whether I would move to China or to another country where Spanish is unnecessary.  I also figured that if I had studied and tested in Spanish again from Seoul, my exam score could have actually decreased.  I scored a 1 in speaking and 2 in reading, so anything less would have disqualified me from Spanish-speaking assignments.  A score of 1/2, 2/1 or 1+/1+ is required to qualify for top-off.  My worst nightmare would have been to score less than 1/2 in Spanish and disqualified myself.