If you’ve checked out espn.com lately, you may have seen the poll asking whether you think MLB players actually care about the upcoming World Baseball Classic. I clicked “no.” So did 65 percent of those who voted.
World titles just aren’t much without a professional label. I guess neither are inaugural “classics.”
Are professional athletes wrong for ducking out of sporting events on a global stage? To me, no. My dentist back in Orange County said it best when he told me “money isn’t the only thing, but it’s pretty close.”
Injuries don’t result in dollar bills without legal action and because of this, high-profile athletes live in fear off of the playing field – fear of injuries that could jeopardize their family’s financial well-being.
Take for instance, Barry Bonds, who has been in the crosshairs of baseball columnists since announcing that he will not be batting in the cleanup spot for the United States come March. The 41-year-old’s time in the big leagues is dwindling, and since he is fewer than 50 dingers away from tying Hank Aaron for the all-time home run mark, he’s got a decent reason for skipping the WBC.
The same goes for others not suiting up because they don’t think it’s worth it. That’s all the convincing I need. If you aren’t willing to commit 100 percent to playing the game, then let someone else have the opportunity. That’s exactly why Mario Lemieux is sitting out of the Olympics in Torino this winter rather than playing for Team Canada. In December, Lemieux told ESPN reporters he was fine with missing the games.
“There’s too many good young players now to take a spot. Just to take a spot because you’re a name, that wouldn’t be right for Team Canada, or myself,” Lemieux said.
As with U.S. baseball, there are plenty of talented players younger than 40 that will be happy to fill in for Bonds this spring.
It doesn’t matter to me if you skip a tournament such as the WBC because you’re scared of getting injured and missing the upcoming season, or worse. Professional athletes have as much right to look out for themselves as the rest of us. It’s okay to be selfish when planning your career.
I can’t help but admire professional soccer players at a time like this. Here are guys willing to risk their professional careers to play for peanuts in the World Cup. I guess the World Cup IS their career however, or at least the defining moment. I always saw everything else as a tune-up for it. I can’t remember ever hearing of a nation having trouble filling its roster for the World Cup.
That’s what the WBC needs, just more time to get noticed. Maybe in a few years baseball players will come around. Such is the path almost all professional title games have walked.
A lot of people didn’t think the Super Bowl was going to make it past Super Bowl I.
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