JAG’s Sports Blog

Add the USA baseball team with their 3-3 record in the newly founded World Baseball Classic as the latest disappointment in international competition. The United States is no longer feared in basketball and the hockey team played competitively in the 2006 Olympics, nonetheless, defeated soundly. The biggest surprise to demonstrate our fall in grace is that the US soccer team is actually ranked #5 in the world now for the World Championships. Things are so bad now that you have to wonder if we’ll introduce ‘American’ football as a worldwide competition to finally win in something and we’ve already done that with snowboarding events in the Winter Olympics.

I attribute part of the problem to lack of interest and greed on the behalf of American players. We see so many players with excuses as to why they can’t play or because they really don’t get much financial benefits from it. I can understand the 3-year commitment that’s expected from the basketball players for the next Olympic Games scaring off some players, but what about the baseball players. The NHL hockey players seem to really take pride in representing their country, but there’s no continuity between them and the young players aren’t ready to blend in and have a strong impact quite yet as compared to the other countries.

I hate to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but we really need more Tim Duncan “Mr. Fundamental” type players and less kids wanting to grow up and be the “ESPN Sports Center Highlight Reel” type players. I still believe we have the most talented players in the world, but the rest of the world also realizes this and stresses the basic, fundamental aspects of the game and that’s what seems to drive our players crazy. The international 3-point line is closer in, therefore, forces defenders to play tight defense every possession, not just whenever you fall behind or someone tries to score in the paint.

The baseball team wasn’t very impressive because you get the impression that everyone wanted to treat this like an all-star game and hit a home run every at bat. The baseball team was simply outplayed and except for the game against the scary South Africa team, their bats never really showed up. The two teams that will meet for the championship of the World Baseball Classic are Cuba and Japan. Cuba is the biggest surprise because even though they play together often and win almost every international competition, they usually don’t play against other professional players in these tournaments. Japan is famous for playing fundamental baseball and have far fewer hitters that are considered “bashers” in the game. This will be an interesting game Monday Night on ESPN. The United States audience would be highly recommended to watch this game. I actually left out the fact that Korea was actually the best team this tournament, but finally ran out of gas against Japan, losing their only game Saturday Night. 

I also forgot to mention the Ryder Cup and Davis Cups in golf and tennis as sports where American teams are having hard times winning the titles now. It used to be that the other countries were glad to hate us and upset us once every few years far and in between, but now they come in and get upset when they don’t win. The Europeans were furious at what they considered boorish behavior from the Americans during the 1999 Ryder Cup when the Americans stormed the course after Justin Leonard made a long putt to win the Cup. The Europeans technically still had a shot to tie the match, but the Americans knew it was over after that shot. The Europeans expected to win, so they were upset at the bad sportsmanship from the Americans. Rarely do we see this level of emotion from any American sports team because it used to be so common to win every level of competition against our international brothers and sisters.

The United States is the place where every other athlete in the world wants to come to prove themselves, but it’s fast becoming a place where players no longer fear the competition. The well-rounded players in basketball, hockey, baseball and other sports now realize the style of play where they honed their skills is the best place to learn their trade. They may not be as physically talented as their American counterparts, but they certainly have learned more of the fundamental elements of the game. Combine this with a team full of fundamental players and the international scene has become an improved version of the old Princeton Tigers or any Ivy league school battling the ‘big time’ schools in the NCAA every year.

Where oh where has the American swagger and talent gone in international competition and can we truly ever get it back? And to think, we look so negatively on coaches like Bobby Knight, who are considered taskmasters of fundamental play in sports. I guess we’d rather lose than win in a boring fashion.