WBC Finals!
 

Go JAPAN!

Up 5-1 at the moment. Japan's defense has been good so far as well, so Cuba is going to have an uphill battle.

Jeez, that Japanese relief pitcher's submarine motion had gotta be tough to get an eye on.

A true gambling story. (I know. The only people who enjoy these types of stories are the people telling them) Me and a friend were on an online gambling site a few months ago and one of the "futures" bets was Cuba +10000 to win the WBC. (At this point it was in question whether the US was going to even let them play) I was about to put $5 to win $500 but decided instead to make the same bet on the Missouri Tigers winning the NCAA basketball title. Great call, eh?

I could be hedging $250 on Japan and winning either way!

Getting interesting... 6-3 Japan. Cuba scores 2, has 1st and 3rd, 1 out.

Double Play to get out of the jam!

Japan is falling apart... what happened to the fundamentals they've displayed so well during the tourney so far? One time its going to hit them in the ass.

More dolas!

What a HR by Cuba... 1 run game now!! :eek:

What a game... wow. I'm not a small-ball fan per-se, but Japan is absolutely amazing at this. Meanwhile, the guts of the Cubans is amazing. What a game...

Now the Japanese break it open 9-5 Japan.

How long has this inning lasted?

Wanna see what the trophy looks like.

Just saw that American kid who was the bat boy for Japan. lol

Japan wins it!

Class on the parts of the Cubans - coming back out to congratulate the Japanese. Cepeda, for one, would look great in Pac Bell... :D

yeah...that trophy is huge. great game and it was cool seeing how excited the Japanese were to win. Unlike if we'd won, where it'd have been like winning the All-Star game.

Though, A-Rod would've been happy to finally get a ring. Any kind of ring.

LOL


Fun final to watch. I think this tournament has success written all over it in the future.

I wonder how this went over financially?

Also, with only 2 major league players in the finals will we ever see this tournament again?

Yeah, I think so. It was the first one and so long as they change the time frame so we're not having to choose between baseball and the NCAA tourney, it'll go over a lot better.

Hell, I chose baseball over the tourney, but I'm probably fairly alone in that regard. :D

The thing is - when is a good time for this ? They aren't going to suspend the season for a couple of weeks in the summer- and the winter is too cold (unless you hold it outside the US, which doesnt make a whole lot of economic sense) - March is probably the only time you can do it.

I agree, there aren't any times that are better than now and it's a good way to get players pumped for the regular season.

I chose baseball over the tourney as well :D. But then I hate basketball and love baseball :). I agree with the timing. Unless you want to hold it in Panama or something in the winter.

Apparently they sold as much merchandise as they thought they were going to sell over the entire tourney in the 1st round alone. So they made well over what they thought they were going to make.

I also heard the TV viewship in Japan, Korea, and Latin America were through the roof.

For the economic reasons, I think that the Classic will return in its next scheduled year, 2009.

Did you see any of the early games? They were freaking packed wall to wall with people.

I still want to see the financial numbers. I can't see this tournament lasting long unless a major Network steps up to the plate.

This year was just a novelty, next time the MLB players are going to want to get paid. As in real MLB money. And, I can't see that happening without a major network.

Anyone got tonights Neilson ratings on the game. Where will it compare to other major sporting events?

Do NBA players get paid for the Olympics? And its every 4 years (well 3 for the next one if they go ahead with plans to hold it in 2009), like the soccer World Cup. National pride may be enough for a lot of these major leaguers, especially from other countries.

Apparently Major League Baseball thinks it has been a great success, so they'll think of something to make it work.

Last time I checked the Olympics were held on NBC during Primetime. Not tape-delayed at 3AM in the morning on cable channel 42!!! Or, are you suggesting that those NBA players do not make any endorsement money that playing on a major network Prime-Time brings?

They drew more fans for this thing than some teams do an entire season and it was only 39-games.

They said that a lot of the tickets were walk-up, day of game tickets..and so, needless to say they made way more than they expected, since it could've easily have been half-empty stadiums of disinterested fans.