From ESPN
Review by Dre Coble in SRM 334 (section 2)
Our current event presentation will be on the 2013 World Baseball Classic and one major event that happen during the tournament that sent the media into frenzy. If you extreme baseball fan you know what this event is all about. The world baseball classic is something similar to the world cup but baseball style. It’s a baseball tournament with 16 different countries trying to win a championship. The teams are made up of individuals who are either living in that country now or from that country. In America we have the MLB (Major League Baseball) which is our own professional league. A lot of our professionals in the MLB are from different countries such as Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, China etc. With that being said players that play in America play for their native country in this tournament. The tournament is also similar to the Olympics when it comes to that aspect. The games are hosted in different locations around the world.
The world baseball is meant to bring together all these different countries in friendly competition to see who is considered the best in the world. Players take these games seriously because they aren’t only representing themselves they are representing their country. The world baseball classic is broadcasted on national TV in America but doesn’t receive a lot of media attention. This is a question that needs to be asked and answered. It seems like the tournament isn’t a big thing to America and a lot of Americans who aren’t baseball fanatics don’t even bother to watch it. This is where the tournament isn’t like the world cup or like the Olympics. Both of those events are highly talked about in media either on TV or social networks, constant stories are being released about them. The tournament wasn’t receiving barley any attention until the countries of Canada and Mexico played each other. In the ninth inning Mexico pitcher hit a Canadian batter and all hell broke loose as the batter charged the mound and the benches cleared starting an all-out brawl between the two teams. After the teams were separated no one was suspended for the fight but the media went crazy. The video of the fight was all over the news, ESPN, and internet. It took a fight to bring some attention to the tournament and the question is why did it take all that just for the tournament to receive all this coverage? In America do we love seeing violence especially when it comes to sports?
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Review by Reuben Alarico in SRM 334 (section 2)
Andre and I decided to do our current events presentation on the recent fight between Team Canada and Team Mexico during the opening rounds of the World Baseball Classic. The fight was caused because Canada decided to bunt in the top of the 9th inning while leading 9-3. This sparked Mexican 3rd baseman Luis Cruz to tell his pitcher, Arnold Leon, to hit the next batter. The first pitch was very inside but nothing was said of it. The next pitch would have hit the batter’s thigh had he not moved. This led to both teams getting warned by the umpire. The next and last pitch was the “finishing blow”. A fastball clocked at 93 mph hit Canadian Rene Tosoni in the back. After being hit, he started walking towards the mound which led to benches being cleared and a couple of fights breaking out. After everything settled, no one ended up getting suspended.
Viewing the fight from an analytical standpoint, I believe Luis Cruz felt like Canada should not have been bunting due to the run differential and also because of an “unwritten” which considers that to be disrespectful. But at the same time, what does hitting a batter prove to anyone? I think they should have stayed professional and tried to have been the “bigger men”. I’m sure sports bloggers and sports analysts would have talked about the lack of sportsmanship displayed by Team Canada had Mexico kept their composure. Lastly I wanted to include how this event is relevant to our class. It relates to our class because it involves sports media because this fight was a trending topic on twitter and it also involves event management because the World Baseball Classic is a tournament that takes place on an international stage and occurs only every four years.
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