I was sitting in what was easily the most boring sales meeting in Best Buy history, when for some strange reason, I was drawn to grab my BlackBerry and check my RSS feeds.

Ok, well, maybe it wasn’t that I was drawn to my BlackBerry, because well, if you know me, you know it’s in my hand 90% of the time you see me. It’s just one example of what an addiction can do to you.

Phone in hand.

You must use CrackBerry, err BlackBerry.

It’s my window on the world, but enough of my love for my handheld device, and back to the point of this post, I was checking my RSS feeds when I came across a headline that made me want to jump out of my chair. and celebrate

“Peña will miss the Clásico due to injury”

I know, I know, you’re probably wondering what kind of sadistic bastard gets excited to see one of the most influential members of his favorite baseball team miss a game due to injury. What kind of fan am I? Hell, what kind of HUMAN BEING am I, to rejoice in someone else’s pain and misfortune.

I’ll tell you what kind of fan I am, a smart one! Who wants to see one of his favorite players tear an ACL or destroy his shoulder playing for his country? That is my fear for the WBC. The Rays have 8 players participating in the WBC this season… all of them standout players or situational catalysts on last year’s AL champion team.

I want the players I pay to watch playing for my hometown team not to participate in the World Baseball Classic…because at the end of the day, it means NOTHING!

Now, before you start questioning my patriotism and love for my country, let me get one thing straight… I’m proud to be an American, but when all is said and done, I really don’t care if the residents of this country play better than the residents of another country… if this tournament can be quantified as an accurate measure of a nation’s ability to play baseball. Last time I checked, most MLB players who participate in this tournament spend at least 162 days living in the states, because they play 162 games per season here. That qualifies them as Americans.

So this tournament is whatever because Akinori Iwamura, although from Japan, is as much an American as I am, and I was born and raised in Citrus County, Florida. If the sanctity of the WBC is based on “where you’re from”, then the US would have NO team, and I would be an all-star writer covering the Polish national team.

fun times.

The WBC was something that was created 100% to help stimulate a sport that was in a boring downward spiral and losing its grip as “America’s past tense.” It was created to help drive revenue, ticket sales and create merchandising opportunities for money-hungry top brass like Commissioner Bud Selig. It’s not, and never will be, as big as the Olympics, which, by the way, doesn’t involve any major leaguers.

So instead of spending time building a bond as teammates, Evan Longoria, JP Howell, Dioner Navarro, Grant Balfour, Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Pena and Iwamura will be playing AGAINST, representing their country, instead of spending time in the spring. Training preparing to defend his American League title, which I, as a Rays fan, disagree with, if only out of concern for the health of our players.

Imagine what a blow it would be to this year’s club if one of these guys suffers a season-ending or season-limiting injury…we wouldn’t have seen the success we had as a team last year without the efforts of each and every one from them. these talented players. Let us all pray that this does not happen.

While I support the decisions of any of these young stars, I will be on the edge throughout the tournament, hoping they all come out healthy and ready to rock and roll when the first pitch is thrown on Opening Day. Does anyone else have thoughts on this?