We’re locked in a feeding frenzy of international sports.
The U.S. swept Canada in men’s, women’s and sled hockey.
The World Baseball Classic provided Paul Skenes a chance to pitch for a team that could win.
We’ve long since quit waving Old Glory in the name of decency and humanity, using it instead to bludgeon.
But, hey, how about those Hughes brothers? Who, ironically, seem decent and human.
Overkill was inevitable.
The NHL just announced that the World Cup of Hockey takes place in 2028, again interrupting and minimizing the NHL.
The NHL will blithely make its own product look inferior to placate the players with “best-on-best” for the third time in four years.
Hockey is a winter sport, and February is actually winter. The players are still relatively fresh. As opposed to June, when 82 regular-season games, three playoff rounds and a few weeks of international puck make the Stanley Cup Final a lot closer to worst-on-worst.
Want to spice up the World Cup of Hockey?
Have the “Heated Rivalry” guys play. Connor Storrie has just as many Stanley Cups as Connor McDavid. Storrie isn’t really Russian, but give him a passport and tell him to keep the accent.
That’s assuming Russia is permitted to play.
Russia was banned from the Olympics because of its war with Ukraine. But the U.S. is also at war. If Russia can’t play, the U.S. shouldn’t be allowed, either. Unless they freeze over the Strait of Hormuz.
Better idea: Just have a hockey tournament with the world’s top eight hockey nations. Don’t politicize. Don’t devalue the result. It’s not “best-on-best” without Russia.
Nikita Kucherov sends the IRS a big check. He pays his NHLPA dues, too.
Canada played the Soviets in the 1972 Summit Series even as the U.S.S.R. was oppressing most of Europe. All anybody remembers is that Paul Henderson scored. Same goes for 1980, the Miracle on Ice, and Mike Eruzione.
The World Cup of Hockey will be hosted by Prague in Europe, by Calgary and Edmonton in North America.
Forget major markets like New York or Toronto. The backwoods of Canada will do just fine. Maybe the teams can practice on frozen ponds.
No games in the United States. That’s revenge for Jack Hughes scoring in overtime.
Overtime in the championship game will be five-on-five, not three-on-three. That’s also revenge for Jack Hughes scoring in overtime.
Meanwhile, back at the baseball field…
The World Baseball Classic not only gave Skenes an opportunity to win, it gave him a chance to talk about how he almost served in the Air Force but instead selflessly decided to be a multi-millionaire and live with a drop-dead gorgeous influencer who’s going to star in a reboot of “Baywatch.”
Hey, Paul…it’s not too late to join the Air Force. I hear they’re hiring.
Hall-of-Fame pitcher and TV analyst John Smoltz said during Sunday’s U.S. semifinal win that Skenes’ elbow would inevitably explode, and that he’d have to leave Pittsburgh if he’s to ever again pitch in meaningful games. (Not in so many words, but the intent was clear, and Smoltz was likely correct.)
An exploding elbow would probably exclude Skenes from military service.
The U.S. beat the Dominican Republic in Sunday’s semifinal, a game immediately labeled one of baseball’s best ever. But it wasn’t.
Dominican star Juan Soto said that his team proved they were the best in the world. But they didn’t.
The Dominican lineup was hyped as baseball’s best ever. But it wasn’t. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a more potent batting order.
That’s what sports are now: Vibe and aura.
The score doesn’t matter. You can credit or shame anything in direct contradiction to the facts and the citizens will bite.
You can say a 31-1 college basketball team shouldn’t be one of the 68 teams to make March Madness. (Miami of Ohio did. Despite many detractors.)
You can say that scoring 83 points in an NBA game is flawed. People loved the late Kobe Bryant. He scored 81. Bam Adebayo isn’t as iconic. But he got two points more. (And 17 points less than Wilt Chamberlain.)
Bronny James couldn’t score 83 points in a pickup game at L.A. Fitness. Adebayo got 31 points in the first quarter of an NBA game.
In the middle of all that best-on-best Sunday night, some participants forgot how to play baseball.
That 2-1 U.S. win over the Dominican Republic was exciting because of the backdrop.
But it was typical of today’s all-or-nothing approach to baseball: Every run was scored via a solo home run.
Down by a run in the bottom of the seventh, the Dominican Republic had runners on second and third with one out. Instead of just trying to tie the game with a fly ball or grounder to the right side, Fernando Tatis Jr. swung from his heels in pursuit of a three-run homer.
It’s not as sexy to beat your chest in self-praise after a sacrifice fly.
Tatis whiffed. So did the next hitter, Ketel Marte.
Nobody had a problem with Tatis’ approach, or even pointed it out.
The art of baseball is dead. It’s all power. Power hitting, power pitching.
Good for David Bednar, the Mars native and ex-Pirate. He proved his mettle at the World Baseball Classic. It’s terrific to see a local fat guy make good.
Skenes proclaimed himself a Yinzer, lumping himself in with Bednar and Bethel Park’s Mason Miller, another U.S. teammate.
Even as Skenes plots his escape to the Dodgers. Or the Air Force.