Root, root, root for the home team

In last Saturday's "Great Debate" (the weekly News-Journal feature where I overpower the haplessly outgunned Randy Rorrer), the topic was the World Baseball Classic, the every-three-years international tournament, featuring 16 national teams, currently being played.

Occasionally in these debates, one of us has to take a side with which we might agree with 100 percent. This, however, was NOT one of those times. I love the WBC. In fact, Sunday night, I actually caught myself giving a fist pump when the USA's Mark DeRosa tripled to right-center to help "us" beat Venezuela.

Pulling for the Yanks (not the Steinbrenner Yanks, but "our" Yanks) was only part of the fun. We all know that one of the best parts of being a sports fan isn't necessarily pulling for your team to win, but pulling AGAINST certain teams to lose. The WBC offers us that added enjoyment.

The "pull against" list:

* Venezuela -- The nation fields a team of truly great players (Magglio Ordonez, Miggy Cabrera, etc.) who are probably decent guys, but really, the thought of them going home to a parade featuring Hugo Chavez is just too much to stomach.

* Cuba -- You have to wonder how many great players (or folks from so many other walks of life) we've never known due to that country's practice of shackling its residents.

* China -- And not just because we have to refer to Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei" (it's a long story). But there's wasted negative rooting interest here, since the Chinese are a generation away (at least) from being competitive on the national stage.

Anyway, trust me on the WBC. Once you get over the culture shock of watching big-league players getting emotionally involved in a game during March, you'll enjoy it.

Root, root, root for the home team

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