Better still, let an important player or two go down with a season ending injury.  That'll end the WBC in a hurry.

If there has to be an event like this, they should make it a baseball World Cup, and have it every four years with only the top 12 nations competing.

At Petco Park, ticket prices (last I checked, when they first went on sales) ranged from $75 to $135 and you had to buy tickets to the two semi-final games and the finals.  For glorified spring training games?  Please.

I don't want any A's involved in this mess and believe me, as an American, I won't think less of any player who doesn't want to play.

WBC will be fun. I have my tickets for the last three games and just going to enjoy a long weekend in San Diego with good weather, great baseball players and what I am sure will be a much more interesting/exciting baseball atmosphere than I will get this side of October.

Another reason it i literally a World Series is because players are from all over the world. Even if we don't have actual countries participating we do have the best players in the world.

Chances are that if you are a great baseball player anywhere in the world you will end playing in the MLB.

MLB is similar to the NBA in that respect.

It's one of those ideas that sounds good in theory, but isn't practical.

If they want a competitive international tournament, either follow the NHL's Olympic model and stop the season for a couple of weeks, or do it smack in the middle of the offseason.

Or would I just end up on some government watch list?

I bought my tickets to the Finals/Semis in SD the day they went on sale. I wish I could attend the 1st and 2nd round games in Arizona and Anaheim but I don't have enough vacation days.(Obviously, I'm saving the vacation days for October, and everyone on this site knows why.)

TWO REASONS WHY THIS WILL BE THE BEST SPORTING EVENT OF 2006 THAT DOESN'T FALL IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER:

1. I can't really imagine a more intense spectator experience than attending the USA v. Mexico match-up in SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA. The historical path of baseball, the shifting demographics of our nation (not to mention the distribution of wealth in and around Scottsdale, AZ) is going to make this game ESPN Classic worthy. When your grandkids are in college pursuing soft science degrees they will write their senior theses on this game.
2. When my friends and I drive down to San Diego for the March 15-17 Semis and Finals, we will be tailgating all day Saturday. Needless to say, we will be holding an INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT OF DRINKING GAMES before and in-between all SemiFinal Round Match-Ups. Look for my diary posted early March urging you to contact us. We already have a lot of participants eager to drink for the American Team and the Mexican Team. We are heavily recruiting anyone looking to represent any other potential country/team. Games will consist of Flip Cup, Pong, plus games not native to the USA. All ideas welcome.

And we'll get to watch extra baseball games.....They will be televised won't they?

Does the WBC have flaws? Definitely. There's certainly some questions about the schedule's, the US government's attempt to butt in about Cuba was unpleasant, and stuff like the Haren situation creates eye-rolling.

And yeah, MLB doesn't have altruistic purposes with this, though I personally support a drastic shove to try and get baseball to remain in the Olympics. I think baseball in the Olympics is a great thing, and it's refreshing to give young, talented players who haven't been jaded into what we see on the major-league level get to shine on such a huge stage. Young guys who give a glimpse at the future, the Sheets and Oswalts and Kotsays of the world.

Despite problems, I think the WBC is a good thing and given the degradation of the ASG, having a more positive, interesting exhibition game (or games, in this case) to look forward to is FUN.

Guys can get hurt, sure. But they certainly can at Spring Training. We lost Ellis that way, Crosby got that HBP, tons of others have been injured there... going to ST instead isn't a cure all.

And yeah, they may have to start prepping earlier, but these are MLB players. They're still in shape in the offseason and I doubt they'll all be tiptop going into it. If players have a problem dealing with the long season, the MLB crackdown on amphetamines will have a HELL of a lot more to do with it than a preseason exhibition.

And having it in ST makes more sense than the ASG's timing. The ghost of Fosse's shoulder still hangs over home plate there, I'd rather have this game when players still have time to recover from an injury rather than have it in the middle of the pennant race. Chavez will tear up his shoulder no matter what we do -- and hell, A's players are probably SAFER when they're far from Crosby.

I'm normally disdain rampant nationalism, but if there's a place for it, it's in sports, the very core of an "us versus them" mentality.

Personally, I think it's fun to think of Huston Street representing the US, regardless of my feelings of politics, social issues, whatever. I think it's fun to see how the USA stacks up against other teams, I can't wait to see how those insane DR hitters go, how Japan's pitching works against everyone else, and the heck that crazy band of Dutch players will do. I think that this kind of reshuffling will be fun to watch and I'm eager to see it. I don't want anyone to get hurt, I hope they don't play insane, but I think that it's silly to think that they're risk-proof if they're at ST. Hell, if Harden can hurt himself on an alarm clock, NOWHERE is safe for our boys.

We decry players for being mercenaries, for going after the money, for being the Giambis and the A-Rods of the world. For ignoring the home team in favor of New York, for selling out and forgetting about the game.

So why are we not applauding guys who want to represent themselves, their families, and their history in this way?

If a guy doesn't want to play, I understand. Getting hurt IS a risk, and guys have their own offseason rhythms. It ain't for everyone. If owners want to discourage their players from going and not encourage the WBC, I understand. It's their money at stake. But banning them? No.

It's the same reason I can't think ill of players, high paid or not, that go play winter ball or some other offseason game for their home country. Why I respect guys that go home and play for their home fans. I believe that pride's not dead, and that guys who find meaning to the game and what it means to a culture and to family beyond the paychecks from MLB owners deserve a tip of the hat, not scorn.

I'd rather see owners negotiate incentives into contracts that are affected by going to winterball, WBC, or similar things that would help protect them financially but would give the player the choice of deciding what matters to him. These guys are getting huge paychecks, but if they want to do something beyond that, if they feel like their playing has meaning beyond that, that can be expressed in anything from helping coach the local high school team to playing in the Olympics or WBC... I respect that a lot.

I dunno, but I for one would be proud at seeing Street in a Team US jersey blowing Vlad or Manny away... and not at watching some more hype thrown the way of the likes of John Lackey or Francisco Rodriguez instead...

The primary aim is to show the IOC that baseball is not just the (extremely unhelpful) MLB, but is a genuine worldwide phenomenon worthy of Olympic inclusion. The second aim is basically a "Plan B" - if baseball remains excluded from the Olympics the WBC (as a 4-yearly international tournament) is intended to become big enough to overshadow the Olympics in the future.

Try and look at it from outside the USA - baseball is played all over the world (and actually its a struggle to keep it going sometimes) and this is our chance to compete on an international stage with the best teams in the world. If all the best players from the USA drop out YET AGAIN its like you're snubbing the rest of the world baseball community. Again.

At some point you have to decide - do you want baseball to be a true world sport or do you just care about MLB? Or even no further than the Coliseum?

I'm one of the coaches of the under-16 Great Britain team, laying the foundations for the GB adult teams for 2012 or future WBC's (we didn't make it this time around). Every time an MLB player drops out of the WBC its like telling my players not to bother because the USA will never take international baseball seriously.

Of course I hope that Huston Street doesn't pick up an injury at the WBC, but baseball IS bigger than the USA. Get used to it!

(BTW the decision to put baseball back in the 2012 Olympics is due in about a week)