Another WBC Live Chat

The starting pitchers have already been announced. Roy Oswalt is starting for Team USA. That's two days in advance. They wanted Japan and USA to do this because of ticket sales.

Japan has been so lucky since the first WBC. Japan lost more times than South Korea or Cuba and they still win the whole thing. Everyone knows South Korea was the true champs of 2006 WBC.

Lucky? No. Playing without ever giving up? Yes.

And no, Cuba never defeated Japan in any WBC meeting. So you either don't know what you're talking about or you're just making things up purposely.

"- Everyone knows South Korea was the true champs of 2006 WBC."

How so? They lost to Japan in the semi-finals. 6-0. How would that make Korea the true champs if they lost in the semis?

True champs? It's because of the confusing format of the tournament that comments like this are made. We can also consider Korea "lucky" in 2009. They got destroyed by Japan in the first game, then won 1-0 and were still determined the winner of the pool. So it works both ways.

South Korea has been the winners of the Olympics, and Japan took the Championsip of the 2006 WBC by a lucky format. And again, South Korea prove in the 2009 WBC that they should be the #1 baseball source for the present. Japan has been playing this game [professionally] for over 70 years, and South Korea since 1992. That should tell you how good they really are.

- Japan has been so lucky since the first WBC.

True, true, true. Although they have not been very lucky in 2009.

- Everyone knows South Korea was the true champs of 2006 WBC.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

You set up a format to objectively determine a champion. The Koreans were undoubtedly better in 2006, but the Japanese won when it counted the most, thus becoming the champs (with the help of a bizarre, 2nd-round tie break system).

Why do people confuse being best with being the champ? Sometimes the best team is the champ, sometimes the worse team plays better, and sometimes the team that plays better still loses through bad luck.

A friend at Dodger Stadium tonight asked whether the 6th game in the first two rounds was necessary at all. It would make sense to declare the 2-0 team the winner and the 2-1 team the runner-up. On Thursday, both the Koreans and Japanese seemed more interested in the finals.

It was a matter of time, but based on what I've heard around other forums involving the WBC, there are a few radicals making the rounds. Fortunately, Bigpoppa-san is simply a bit boisterous, but not defamatory (of which I've heard quite a bit both for and against Korea).

I'm very glad to see everyone replying logically, not emotionally. I've long wanted experts here on Korean baseball to participate in the dialog. But the conversation really has to be two-way, and I get the feeling that Bigpoppa-san isn't interested in any logic that contradicts the idea that Korea is #1. He hasn't been disrespectful, but he clearly isn't listening. Only time will tell who gets bragging rights for this competition.

Bigpoppa-san,

Please have a read of Paul Graham's "How to Disagree" for some ideas about how to better your argument. So far you've made bold statements based on arbitrary "facts" that have no direct causal relationship to what you are trying to prove, which is merely an opinion. I understand that arguing in a foreign language is easier just using a bunch of emotionally charged words. But we have higher standards here.

- It was a matter of time, but based on what I've heard around other forums involving the WBC, there are a few radicals making the rounds. Fortunately, Bigpoppa-san is simply a bit boisterous, but not defamatory (of which I've heard quite a bit both for and against Korea).

This is unfortunately true. I actually had to ban a few people from npbtracker.com, which I only had to do once or twice since setting up the site.

- I'm very glad to see everyone replying logically, not emotionally. I've long wanted experts here on Korean baseball to participate in the dialog. But the conversation really has to be two-way, and I get the feeling that Bigpoppa-san isn't interested in any logic that contradicts the idea that Korea is #1. He hasn't been disrespectful, but he clearly isn't listening. Only time will tell who gets bragging rights for this competition.

I was hoping to attract fans from both sides of every game for discussion, but it didn't quite work out. Perhaps my site is a little too obviously biased toward Japan, even though I'm a fan of baseball everywhere it's played. A few Cuban fans showed up though, which was interesting. Perhaps there is an opportunity to set up a more permanent forum for fans the world over.