I know the Korea / Venezuela game taking place tonight is a blowout – and inevitably, baseball announcers tend to talk about other things duirng a blowout; but Jon Miller (Giants guy), Joe Morgan (players and players’ union guy) and Steve Phillips (front office guy) spending 1 1/2 innings complaining about the World Baseball Classic is totally unacceptable.  Major League Baseball needs to insist that they not be allowed to announce future WBC games; or perhaps even pull the WBC off of ESPN and instead air it the MLB Network exclusively!

First off, I like the  World Baseball Classic.  I love seeing players – both familiar and unfailiar – represent their respective countries.  Perhaps even more than that i LOVE then intensity that foreign fans bring – not only in baseball – but also in other international sporting events.

To hear Joe Morgan get on his player/union member soapbox and lament that “it’s too much” to ask American players to participate during spring training  makes me sick.  I understand that MLB plays a much longer season than any of the other participating countries; but we are talking about professional athletes who make more money per year, per season, per week, per game, per AT BAT than I make in a year!  Once a member of the players’ union, always a member of the players’ union…

Look, I don’t expect announcers to be total yes men and pimp whatever Bud Selig decides to sell. I respect each pf their opinions.  In many ways,  I agree with Mr. Morgan.  But when announcers are complaining about the format of a tournament that they are covering during the event itself, it makes me want to change the channel.

 Remember the big stink when Joe Buck said that he really didnt watch any baseball beyond the games he covered and that more American probably find “Desperate Housewives” more exciting?  That was in an interview, off season if I recall correctly.  Imagine if he had said that on-air, live, during the World Series