3/9: Viva Beisbol!

What's up, everybody? Finally, another weekend is upon us, and lucky for me, it's the last weekend before my birthday! I'm hoping to get the albums of some of those groups I told you about in my previous post, along with some new swag for the spring season. I know I consider fall to be my favorite season, but for me, there is no month like March. Along with the obvious highlights of my birthday and St. Patrick's day, the weather is looking up, which means we can get back to barbecues and outside activities. As for sports, baseball is in the middle of spring training, NASCAR is revved up for another season, and it's time for me to get back to my golf game. Of course, I can't forget March Madness!

The college hoops conference tournaments are great and all, but the newest highlight of the month for me happens once every 4 years. That is the World Baseball Classic. This year's event is the third time for the tournament, and the first time that some of the spots have been determined by qualifiers the previous September. I love this idea, because the teams subject to qualifying don't have many MLB players to begin with, and the qualifiers allow competition from all regions without sacrificing quality in the main event (because South Africa obviously doesn't play good baseball). So far, there is one team that has really surprised me is Italy, who with the aid of incoming Italian-American players has been able to already beat the heavily favored Mexican squad, then enforce the mercy rule after 8 innings on Canada by crushing them 14-4 yesterday. Their next target? Who else but Team USA, coming off a 5-2 loss to Mexico. Considering the damage done to R.A. Dickey and the withdrawal of Mark Teixiera, the Americans might be toast without Ryan Braun, who would have played for Israel had they not lost the spot to Spain in the final qualifier.

I'm gonna keep it short today, so I can enjoy the fresh air (actually, to watch more of the WBC!). So, I leave  you with an extended run down: baseball, baseball, going golfing again soon, baseball, baseball, JC's St. Patty's Day Parade tomorrow (so excited!), baseball BASEBALL baseball, looking to dress in green all week (and then some on certain days), BASEBALL baseball baseball baseball, happy for little James as he starts another season of hockey (but in the spring? Really?!), and finally, baseball

PS: Probably gonna hear a bunch of complaints from TS Wang now that Taiwan was eliminated.
PPS: BASEBALL!