I shall miss the 5:30 a.m. games from Tokyo, the ones that are easiest to catch because they happen around breakfast. The last one, this morning, between Korea and Japan was a taut thriller that ended 1-0 in favor of Korea.
Orestes Destrade, though, is really hard to take. I'd be hard-pressed to say who is worse, Destrade, who slobbered interminably over Japanese baseball, or Rick Sutcliffe, another awful, awful color guy, who kept swooning over 'the captain' in last night's USA-Venezuela game. Two finger jobs, both. At least Jon Sciambi (sic?) reined Destrade in somewhat. Dave O'Brien, paired with Sutcliffe, was often off in his own universe. Then there was the droning of Charlie Steiner, doing the Australia-Mexico game, and caught to his dismay in a badly-pitched offensive uprising that Australia, surprise, surprise, won 17-7.
What we have learned again is that the games draw big-time when the hometown team is playing. When they are not, attendance drops off big-time. If I were the organizers, I would scale ticket prices, bloated as is, accordingly. So lower the prices for the other games!
The bits I saw of the USA-Canada game looked pretty exciting. So did the USA-Venezuela tilt last night, though there were maybe 30,000 fewer people in the stands in Toronto.
I also checked in briefly on the Italy-Venezuela game on Saturday and happened to see a spectacular diving catch by outfielder Mario Chiarini. It was breathtaking defense. The Aussie team looked like an offensive juggernaut against Mexico, who was the clear favorite in the match-up. Team China, though sent to an early exit, really seems to have come a long way.
Last, Panama was done in two. Too bad for Panama but good news for Phillies' fans. Carlos Ruiz is on his way back.
