WBC, NCAA, and 1 year!
I'll probably approach this in the opposite order of the title up there, but they all will be covered by the time I'm finished. I got to thinking last night about my little blog thing I do here, and how long I've been doing it. I was thinking I started last year around this time. As I looked back though, I see that I actually started in February of last year. So while I was off not paying attention, the Hacienda del Gringo celebrated it's first birthday. I don' t know how many more birthdays are to come, but as long as I have these random thoughts in my head, this is where I'll be jotting them down.
A lot has changed in this past year, relationships, friendships, location, etc... I still find this one of the places that I can call my own, and come to and be myself, so I appreciate it. I just put a counter up about a month ago, and sometime in the last week or so, I got 300 hits. I wish I'd been computer savvy enough to put in a counter when I first started, I wonder where I'd be now. No telling I guess! Thanks for those of you who come and read what I have to say. I know it's purely for entertainment, no one is going to get rich, or smarter from what I have to say. Hopefully though, people have learned from my mistakes, and just enjoyed what's gone on from day to day, or week to week, or however often I got the chance to put my words on the internet. I'll never claim to be smart, or a role model, but I like to think that my rose colored glasses view of the world and things happening around me stirs the thoughts in people's heads.
On a completely different note, I'm happy, oh so happy. If anyone could see what channels I've been watching on television, and my history on my computer, they'd see basketball games, arena football games, and my favorite baseball games. I enjoy football season immensely, college football and major league baseball run neck to neck for my favorite sports. March madness though, is a wonderful time of year. The teams that have worked hard all year are rewarded with a trip to the big NCAA tournament, and get their chance to advance on to the finals, and hopefully the NCAA championship for that year. In my last blog I talked about the little competition we've got going with some friends. Doing that makes the basketball games even more interesting. We don't have money on it, but the competitiveness in us makes the bragging rites worth more than any amount of money.
My brackets were pretty messed up from the get go. A first round loss by Michigan State, and a few others are to thank for that. However, I still have the chance to get all 4 teams that go to the final four. I don't think I'll be winning the brackets, but hopefully I'll at least win bragging rites in the office! While all this is so much fun, I have one major gripe with the way things are done in college basketball. It's the one and done aspect of it. A team can have a fantastic year, run the table, go undefeated, and have a number 1 seed going into the tournament. When they lose that first round match up to Podunk U, what do they have to show for it? They'll always look back at their year of basketball as a what might have been situation. If there was some way to award a regular season champ, and an NCAA tournament champ, I'd be great with that. Too much emphasis is put on the tournament, and great regular seasons can be ruined by a team that got hot at the right time of the year. So that's my gripe, I really do love the tournament though!
Now, next, the WBC (world baseball classic), or CMB (classico mundial del beisbol). I friggin' love baseball. I love the Astros, I love the Red Raiders, I love team America who actually took part in the WBC. After watching around 10 games of this thing, I think it's the best thing since sliced bread, and it should be an event every four years that the world cherishes, just like they do the World Cup of Soccer. I realize that baseball isn't as globally popular as soccer, or futbol, but I feel this is the best stage to really market the game, and make it the powerhouse that soccer is. Out of all the games I watched of the WBC, I have to say that the Latin teams are by far the most entertaining. They play with a gusto and pizazz that is unmatched by any of the other teams. I've watched probably thousands of baseball games in my life, but have never seen a game as awesome as the one between Cuba and Puerto Rico about a week ago. It was so much more than a baseball game, it was my homeland against your homeland. After every out, you could see anguish in the eyes of the hitting team, and the joy in the eyes of the defensive team. If you looked into the crowd of Puerto Ricans, you could see a real sense of let down when Cuba was victorious. With the present day MLB, which I love dearly, you see guys who are more worried about their pocket books than who they're representing. These Latin teams though, they were there for one reason, to represent their country. There was no personal gain in it for them at all. Maybe the American team could have made it further if they had that same type of passion as these Latin players had.
Now, the only bad thing I see with the whole WBC, the system in the final round needs some revamping. The finals tomorrow night is going to be Japan vs. Cuba. That was decided in a one game playoff, after two round robin stages. The two teams that were eliminated by those two teams were the Dominican Republic, and Korea. It was a one game playoff for the finals, and they lost. Which is disappointing because they were the best two teams by far up to this point. The D.R. had lost a couple of games in the two earlier stages, but still were the best team each time. Korea though, had yet to lose a game, and were pushed out after only one loss. Here's my thought, play one more round robin with those four teams, and then have the best two teams play a 3 game series to decide the champion. This one game thing doesn't work for me. It tarnishes the great performances put in by these two teams!
So that's it for now, a long blog over nothing important! If you're still with me after all of this, I hope everyone has a good week!
A lot has changed in this past year, relationships, friendships, location, etc... I still find this one of the places that I can call my own, and come to and be myself, so I appreciate it. I just put a counter up about a month ago, and sometime in the last week or so, I got 300 hits. I wish I'd been computer savvy enough to put in a counter when I first started, I wonder where I'd be now. No telling I guess! Thanks for those of you who come and read what I have to say. I know it's purely for entertainment, no one is going to get rich, or smarter from what I have to say. Hopefully though, people have learned from my mistakes, and just enjoyed what's gone on from day to day, or week to week, or however often I got the chance to put my words on the internet. I'll never claim to be smart, or a role model, but I like to think that my rose colored glasses view of the world and things happening around me stirs the thoughts in people's heads.
On a completely different note, I'm happy, oh so happy. If anyone could see what channels I've been watching on television, and my history on my computer, they'd see basketball games, arena football games, and my favorite baseball games. I enjoy football season immensely, college football and major league baseball run neck to neck for my favorite sports. March madness though, is a wonderful time of year. The teams that have worked hard all year are rewarded with a trip to the big NCAA tournament, and get their chance to advance on to the finals, and hopefully the NCAA championship for that year. In my last blog I talked about the little competition we've got going with some friends. Doing that makes the basketball games even more interesting. We don't have money on it, but the competitiveness in us makes the bragging rites worth more than any amount of money.
My brackets were pretty messed up from the get go. A first round loss by Michigan State, and a few others are to thank for that. However, I still have the chance to get all 4 teams that go to the final four. I don't think I'll be winning the brackets, but hopefully I'll at least win bragging rites in the office! While all this is so much fun, I have one major gripe with the way things are done in college basketball. It's the one and done aspect of it. A team can have a fantastic year, run the table, go undefeated, and have a number 1 seed going into the tournament. When they lose that first round match up to Podunk U, what do they have to show for it? They'll always look back at their year of basketball as a what might have been situation. If there was some way to award a regular season champ, and an NCAA tournament champ, I'd be great with that. Too much emphasis is put on the tournament, and great regular seasons can be ruined by a team that got hot at the right time of the year. So that's my gripe, I really do love the tournament though!
Now, next, the WBC (world baseball classic), or CMB (classico mundial del beisbol). I friggin' love baseball. I love the Astros, I love the Red Raiders, I love team America who actually took part in the WBC. After watching around 10 games of this thing, I think it's the best thing since sliced bread, and it should be an event every four years that the world cherishes, just like they do the World Cup of Soccer. I realize that baseball isn't as globally popular as soccer, or futbol, but I feel this is the best stage to really market the game, and make it the powerhouse that soccer is. Out of all the games I watched of the WBC, I have to say that the Latin teams are by far the most entertaining. They play with a gusto and pizazz that is unmatched by any of the other teams. I've watched probably thousands of baseball games in my life, but have never seen a game as awesome as the one between Cuba and Puerto Rico about a week ago. It was so much more than a baseball game, it was my homeland against your homeland. After every out, you could see anguish in the eyes of the hitting team, and the joy in the eyes of the defensive team. If you looked into the crowd of Puerto Ricans, you could see a real sense of let down when Cuba was victorious. With the present day MLB, which I love dearly, you see guys who are more worried about their pocket books than who they're representing. These Latin teams though, they were there for one reason, to represent their country. There was no personal gain in it for them at all. Maybe the American team could have made it further if they had that same type of passion as these Latin players had.
Now, the only bad thing I see with the whole WBC, the system in the final round needs some revamping. The finals tomorrow night is going to be Japan vs. Cuba. That was decided in a one game playoff, after two round robin stages. The two teams that were eliminated by those two teams were the Dominican Republic, and Korea. It was a one game playoff for the finals, and they lost. Which is disappointing because they were the best two teams by far up to this point. The D.R. had lost a couple of games in the two earlier stages, but still were the best team each time. Korea though, had yet to lose a game, and were pushed out after only one loss. Here's my thought, play one more round robin with those four teams, and then have the best two teams play a 3 game series to decide the champion. This one game thing doesn't work for me. It tarnishes the great performances put in by these two teams!
So that's it for now, a long blog over nothing important! If you're still with me after all of this, I hope everyone has a good week!
posted by Sancho at 5:58 PM
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