The other issue to point out is that "national pride" is not a huge draw to sports in this country. While many countries practically shut down when it comes to soccer's World Cup, most sporting events of this type barely draw a notice in the U.S.    Even the Olympics has a passing interest here.   The 1980 Hockey team drew a lot of attention, but the story was more of cheering on the underdog than the national angle. While coverage in this country tends to overwhelming concentrate on the U.S. players, the media is quick to recognize international success stories in Olympic competition.

With baseball, this recent event was not much more than an exhibition. Many MLB teams downplayed it, and the NY Yankees went out of their way to suppress participation. I understand that Japan was also not enthused about how the competition was organized.

Professional baseball players are not going to risk career ending injuries in a competition like this. The World Series, even if people in other countries cannot understand the signficance of the title and consider it a misnomer, is more important than any national competition could ever be.    I see nothing wrong with that.

On one hand, the U.S. is criticized for being "bloated" and assuming superiority, yet we do not give a rats petootie about an event like a World Cup, we are mocked for lack of pride.   Go figure. On second thought, why bother.