Reviving this 7 year old thread. [size=78%]Sorry this is so long. But if you like baseball AND the concept of sports cross-culture communication please read on through.[/size]
The current 4th WBC-2017 is on-into it's second round. The best team so far? Wait for it......Israel, who've never made it to the tournament before. They defeated Korea in Korea, then the 2013 winners the Netherlands (Taiwan, too-a baseball nation) to advance to the next round. Today, they defeated CUBA, who won the first two WBC's.
Italy has also surprised beating Mexico IN MEXICO, in their first game coming from 5 runs down in the bottom of the ninth in one of the most exciting games I've ever seen.. Then they narrowly lost their second game to Venezuela today again after being down by a few runs, but coming back to tie it in the ninth. in the tenth, Team V scored for the 11-10 win.
Then again today, there was Puerto Rico scoring 4 runs in the ninth inning to lock up a close 5-4 game and beat Mexico IN MEXICO. That ninth inning had an interesting Central American dynamic moment. At the beginning of the inning, The puerto Rico dugout and bullpen both emptied and the players rushed over to the stands behind third base and started shouting at the fans there. Of course the home team Mexican fans were shouting back. The standoff lasted for a full 3 minutes before cooler heads and security prevailed. The TV announcers had no idea why or what had happened....but the announcers were American...and non-Hispanic. Then the inning continued. All Mexico had to do was get out of the inning and hope to pick up a run or two in the bottom of the ninth. They got two quick outs. One more to go. The next batter got to 1-2 which meant one more strike, the inning was over and Mexico would have their last chance. On the next pitch, the batter popped it up in foul territory, easily catchable for the third out. The Mexican catcher threw off his mask and ran over to nab the third out. The Third Baseman was also coming in to hone on the pop-up. The catcher waved him off and said, 'I got it". And then he didn't. The ball plopped in his catcher's mitt and then flacidly plopped to the ground.
{Aside} in my younger days, I played baseball, and in my very youngest baseball days, I was a catcher. On plays like that, you always let the Third Baseman make the catch. Why? He has a better angle coming in, he's not encumbered by all the equipment catchers wear, and most importantly, he's wearing a fielder's glove, not a catcher's glove which is suitable for catching fast balls and curves (and maybe as a mold for making pizza crusts). Third Baseman always gets the call. But catchers are like Trump. They think they control everything, and this Mexican catcher waved off the Third Baseman. Too, in my later life, and here in China, I have coached Chinese college baseball teams. 90% of my first year players have never played the game (Hong Kong and Guangzhou students excluded). But they "want to have a try". Day one-Practice one is spent on how to throw and catch a ball-with a baseball mitt. It usually takes a minute or two watching them try to put on their glove. So I start with the glove. One they start to get the mechanics, I have them practice catching soft tosses. Most of them, now baseball enthusiasts and having watched some baseball highlights online, quickly want to show off their "newfound prowess" with their "newfound glove".....and try to look like the Derek Jeter videos they've seen. FAIL! They're newly bought Spalding gloves (Taobao) are as stiff as Donald Trump...or as the Mexican catcher's mitt, if you prefer I stick with a baseball simile. SO.................RULE ONE I teach my young charges with their newfound enthusiasm and new stiff gloves: When trying to catch a ball, USE TWO HANDS! Actually it's Little League 101.{/Aside}
To round out the WBC today. the Dominican Republic down 5-3 in the bottom of the 8th scored 4 runs to beat the USA homies 7-5 in MIAMI. Trump was not there...prolly playing golf.
Anyway, watching this world experience and seeing how crowds in Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Florida (the Central/South American immigrant fans) approach the game. Cheering sections and music and dancing and .....Murica can learn a whole lot about how to enjoy a baseball game other than sitting in their VIP seats and munching on overpriced hot dogs and beer and then falling asleep by the 7th inning.
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