"This home run is much more important than any other I ever hit. It is even more important than the one I hit off Jeff Weaver in the 12th inning of the fourth game of the World Series to beat the New York Yankees," said Alex Gonzalez. "This one wasn't for a team, this one was for my country and with my people watching." 

That is Alex Gonzalez talking about a homerun he hit in the Caribean Series for Venezuala.  That tells me that all of these people that are dropping out of the WBC are fools, and they will realize that when they are sitting at home watching and cheering their team on enthusiastically, as Nomar Garicapparra said.  This classic will be fun, the next one will be unbeliveable.  With this first tournament, there are  so many unknowns, and the unknowns are making people scared to participate. 

I want Cuba to win this tournament.  This is not a statement of approval of Fidel or anything like that.  I will be a fan of Cuba, so that all of the stars that  are not playing will want to play in the future.  This tournament hopefully someday will have the same status of the FIFA World Cup, and the only way that can happen is if every star, healthy or hurt, wants to play in this tournament.  I believe that it will happen too.  When the players sitting at home watches a country other than their own winning the Classic, I hope that player feels ashamed that he did not try to help.  But more importantly, I hope that all of the high school, college, and other young players realize the mistakes of Nomar Garciapparra, Roy Oswalt, and all of the others that are not playing.  They are the future of the tournament, and if they dream of one day playing in the tournament, then someday this tournament will be huge. 

(p.s. sorry for calling you out like that Roy, but I don't like the fact that you are not playinｇ）   

The Inaugural World Baseball Classic is very unique and makes it very hard for me to confidently pick a winner.  I know that the United States and Dominican Republic have the two best teams but there has to be some reasons why another team could win this tournament.

Last year, Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros missed the first month of the season, and when he did join the rest of the team he did not exactly hit rockets.  He was behind the other players, and had not hit live pitching in quite some time, and that is exatly what could happen to the MLB players in this tournament.  Some of the other teams do not have many MLB players, and that could play to their advantage.  The non-MLB players (minor leaguers included) have something to prove.  They are going to be ready, when non-MLB players like Barry Armitage of South Africa face Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Lee, or any other of the plethora of All-Stars, they are going to have thought about that specific moment for at least the last couple of months.  The non-MLB players have been preparing to play in this tournament, whereas the MLB players are preparing for the season.  I agree that Barry Bonds and the rest of the U.S. team is so much better than the Barry Armitages that it will probably not matter, whether Barry Bonds has picked up a bat in one month or even one year.   

The U.S. Olympic Basketball team reminds me of something ele that is important to winning: team chemistry.  While the U.S. had the best players, they did not win, and that is something else that could slow these juggernaut teams down.  Their managers, Buck Martinez and Manny Acta, will have a good idea of how their stars play, they will not know they will mesh.  And yes, I agree, it does not matter whether you order your 3, 4, 5, hitters as 3)Albert Pujols 4)David Ortiz 5)Manny Ramirez or as 3)Manny Ramirez 4)David Ortiz 5)Albert Pujols, anyway you put these two lineups they are going to score runs.  They will not be the well oiled machine that they could be if say, they played their whole professional career together.

Cuba is being allowed to play in this tournament.  This is what they do.  They have been playing together for their whole careers and each player knows exactly what their role is, not only do they know exactly how they fit on the team, they are prepared.  While they officially just found out that they could play in the tournament, it is a guareentee that Fidel has been preparing for this tournament, although in the players spare time they have probably been practicing sneaking out of a hotel room to defect to another country. 

While the Dominican and the United States are the favorites, they are not going to run away with this tournament.  They both might get to the finals, but it will not be easy.  Cuba, Japan, and the other teams will all want to win this tournament so much that their desire alone will even the playing field, and like so many players have said, "I signed my contract with the                organization and that is what I need to concentrate on."  While I am not saying that I think the MLB players will be playing hard, they will not be playing as hard as an Australian who will be willing to run his body into the outfield fence to catch a foul ball, and THAT could be the difference in the game.

The New Dream

Being the bright college student that I am, I didn't sleep the night before my flight, because I thought it would help with jet lag.  It might have, I really don't know, what I do know is that I could barely sleep on the plane, and I was thoroughly exhausted when done with traveling twenty-two hours after I started.  I slept for about fourteen hours, so I guess it did work. 

I really did not know what to expect, and that is what I wanted.  Any expectations I would have, would be based on United States experience, and this obviously, is not the United States.  In my first days, two things astounded me the most about Japan; the amount of space everyone has, and how many people there are, these two topics go hand in hand.  Just about no matter where I am, I can reach out and touch someone; rarely in the United States do I feel that.  This does not bother me at all, and since I am a huge people watcher, I kind of like having that many people around. 

The first day of my internship started the same as my other days in Japan with me thinking to myself "(expletive), I hope I can find where I need to go today."  Back in the States, finding my way would not be a problem, but in Tokyo, the most populous city in the world, they decide to only name their major streets.  So if you are not by where those "highways" cross, good luck.  Directions have been given to me by which subway station to exit and by the name of the building, which is famous.  So on this day, thanks to good directions, a good map, and a famous building, I do not have any trouble. 

With the 60-man rosters being due this past Tuesday, I can tell that the tournament is getting near.  All of the Asian Teams rosters have been getting turned in and I am excited at getting to see how they can compete.  Most of the rosters have names that I cannot even begin to announce, but then there are some that I do recognize, such as Ichiro and Hee Seop Choi.  But these are not the players that I am excited to see, I really want to see the Japan team play, because I know their country has a lot of talent that that the MLB players have not seen. 

I attended a press conference at the Tokyo Dome Hotel in which the Japanese team to unveil their uniforms.  There was a lot of energy in the room, especially once the players entered.  Once they entered the press could care less who else was on stage, my boss being one of the forgotten.  Me personally, I just wish I could have understood everything the players were saying.   

I am very excited to see how the tournament unfolds, and I really don't have a pick, for which the winner will be, that is because to me, there are still so many unknowns.  As we see the final rosters unfold, and other unknowns uncovered everyone will be in a better position to pick the winner.  One thing I am certain of is anything can happen in a short series like this, and with pitch counts coming into factor, anything could happen, and instantly you can see why this tournament is so interesting.  There is no one player that can control the game, even if a pitcher is dominating the game, it might not matter (depending on the pitch count limit) because he could get taken out with plenty of time for the other team to make a come back. 

This tournament is going to be full of great games, and I encourage everyone to watch all of the games, not just your own country, because it will come down to which country wants it the most, and I can tell you, even though I could barely understand the press conference and I cannot understand anything in the Japanese papers, I can tell that the Japanese people want it and so do their players.

Daily, I think to myself, "How did get to Japan?"

I know how I got here, by plane, of course, but really, what made me get on that Fifteen hour plane ride?  It all started the first time I touched a baseball from there the love of the game started and has never diminshed, but it takes more than love for a Texan to leave everything familiar behind.  In my case, it was extreme love of the sport and a lot of interest in Japan.  My interest in Japan began about three years ago, when my mother, a Reserch Nurse in Houston, Texas, invited a Doctor from Japan to eat at our home, hence my interest begins.  From there, Texas Christian University, my school put everything else where it needed to be.  In need of an Honors credit, I had to decide between Western Civilization or Asian Civilization, and since I had just met a Doctor from Japan (who spoiled our family with gifts), I thought that the Asian Civilizations course would be much more interesting.  Then in my next semester, in order to graduate, I needed a Foriegn Language credit, and so continuing the trend that I had already started, I took up Japanese.  Aided by luck, I landed an internship in the Special Events department of my hometown team, the Houston Astros.  Between the Presidency of my Fraternity and the internship I did not stop moving.  Then the internship of my dreams came to an end, but with the help, friendship, and interest of the Astros, I was put in contact with Major League Baseball Japan, and my dream continued.