Another Reason to Boo the Yankees
From ESPN.com Full Story Here
Gary Sheffield wants nothing to do with the World Baseball Classic.
Several major league players spoke of the honor they would feel to represent their countries in baseball's first World Cup-style tournament when the groups for the event were unveiled Monday.
Sheffield was not among them.
The Yankees right fielder told reporters at the All-Star festivities in Detroit on Monday there was no chance he would participate in the event scheduled for March.
"My season is when I get paid," Sheffield told the New York Daily News. "I'm not doing that. ... I'm not sacrificing my body or taking a chance on an injury for something that's made up."
"A lot of guys feel that way. They won't say it like I will, though," he added.
Unlike Sheffield, Miguel Tejada (Dominican Republic) and Dontrelle Willis (United States) were among several players to come out in support of the tournament at press conferences Monday.
section316's comment on this:
People wonder why "other countries" do better then the USA when it comes to things like international baseball and also, now, Olympic basketball Sheffield's comments there basically sum it up.
Where athletes from other nations see it as an honor to represent their countries on the international stage, many American athletes look for ways to get out of it, or just don't want to do it. So what we send is not our "best" but our "best who want to be here" which, as has been shown this past Summer Games and in basketball, is clearly not enough.
If this attitude by our pro athletes gives us lackluster performances in basketball one has to wonder what it will do for baseball, a sport that the USA has clearly NOT dominated lately internationally, and that there are many nations that have a good selection of MLB players that are more then willing to play for them.
Gary Sheffield wants nothing to do with the World Baseball Classic.
Several major league players spoke of the honor they would feel to represent their countries in baseball's first World Cup-style tournament when the groups for the event were unveiled Monday.
Sheffield was not among them.
The Yankees right fielder told reporters at the All-Star festivities in Detroit on Monday there was no chance he would participate in the event scheduled for March.
"My season is when I get paid," Sheffield told the New York Daily News. "I'm not doing that. ... I'm not sacrificing my body or taking a chance on an injury for something that's made up."
"A lot of guys feel that way. They won't say it like I will, though," he added.
Unlike Sheffield, Miguel Tejada (Dominican Republic) and Dontrelle Willis (United States) were among several players to come out in support of the tournament at press conferences Monday.
section316's comment on this:
People wonder why "other countries" do better then the USA when it comes to things like international baseball and also, now, Olympic basketball Sheffield's comments there basically sum it up.
Where athletes from other nations see it as an honor to represent their countries on the international stage, many American athletes look for ways to get out of it, or just don't want to do it. So what we send is not our "best" but our "best who want to be here" which, as has been shown this past Summer Games and in basketball, is clearly not enough.
If this attitude by our pro athletes gives us lackluster performances in basketball one has to wonder what it will do for baseball, a sport that the USA has clearly NOT dominated lately internationally, and that there are many nations that have a good selection of MLB players that are more then willing to play for them.
posted by -Me at 9:16 AM
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