After a playoff bracket that was filled with some pretty high scoring games, the World Baseball Classic culminated in a "classic" pitchers duel. In the end Japan edged out the US team 3-2 for the win and the title. Congrats to the Japanese team. I know that @dbooster was saying there has been a lot of excitement around that team and the event this year.
I honestly think it would be cool if they held this even every year. A true World Series if you will. Sure, sure, the MLB World Series is still a melting pot of many nationalities and backgrounds, but there is always something a little more special about the WBC.
Talking about all of these big sporting events over the past couple of weeks has gotten me thinking about my history with sports. I have to admit, it's a pretty short list. If you saw my physical makeup, you would completely understand.
My parents are not sports fans. They enjoy NASCAR and Battle Bots now, but growing up, Sunday football was never something we actually watched. I remember my dad took me to a Tigers game once when I was a kid, I think the main reason we went was because my cousin and uncle went with us.
It was made pretty clear that our main focus should be on academics and most sports were just too dangerous. I played a bit of basketball in 8th grade, but never enough to actually become adept at it. In high school I was in bad, so marching was my only opportunity to be on the football field. My senior year my buddy who was on the tennis team asked me if I wanted to join.
I had never played tennis before and I had zero clue what I was doing, but I said sure because if I didn't join they wouldn't be able to have a team. They needed the people. I was horrible. I never got much better and I only played that year, but I got my varsity letter in sports. It was a fun time and I am glad I stepped out of my comfort zone.
Which again, got me thinking about things I could have stepped out of my comfort zone for earlier.
Is there a sport you wish you would have taken up when you were younger?
I can think of a couple that I wish I had gotten involved in. I'm not super coordinated, so some of the sports would be off the table. I forgot to mention that I did go golfing a couple of times in middle school as well. I wish I had stuck with that. I think I could have been a decent golfer.
The cool thing with golf is even old men play it, so you can really pick it up at any time. I just wish I was more consistent about it. I also wish I would have run cross country in high school. I think I would have been horrible at it, but it would have been a good habit to get into.
We all see how dedicated @steevc is with his running and I wish I had a background in that activity so I would still be doing it.
Of course running is another one of those things that you can always pick up at anytime (for the most part), but making it a habit earlier would eliminate the lack of motivation to start now I think.
I'm super glad I picked up Disc Golf when I was in college. That is a fun sport and I would play it pretty much every day if I could.
But yeah, those are my two sports regrets. Running and Golf. What are yours?
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
I wish I had taken up Brazilian ju jitsu when I was younger. Having trained it when I was older and for the last 10 years, I can see so many benefits which would have improved my life as a young adult or even teenager. I can see the proof in my little one who trains and makes me proud everyday leveraging that posture and confidence and problem solving that comes with training.
Is Sports Talk Social still a thing? Before I took my break last year, it was a great place to network with sports writers and even pretend to be one!
Yeah, it is still around. The token is still struggling, but the platform is still there. I have been posting to it five days a week or so for the last couple of months. That will probably fall off a bit when college basketball is over. Some form of martial arts would have been on my list as well. I totally forgot about that.
That was one hell of a game. Perfect Hollywood ending. Not only does the entire game fall to Ohtani, but he comes up against Trout, and it goes full count. I was biting my nails. Then that strikeout. That was just a great ending to a great game.
I've been saying this since the first WBC some years ago. The WBC can and should be the world cup of baseball. Let's get more nations involved. There is something very special about watching a nations tournament like this.
Oh and Japan is going wild. They'll be talking about this for weeks.
I will be honest, I only watched part of the first inning, then I had to get to bed. 4 AM comes really fast these days! I think it would be cool if more teams were involved and they made it a big event. The interest is definitely there.
I will be honest, I only watched part of the first inning, then I had to get to bed. 4 AM comes really fast these days! I think it would be cool if more teams were involved and they made it a big event. The interest is definitely there.
I only started running about 10 years ago. I had decades with not much activity apart from some short periods when I used a gym. I started when I decided I was looking out of shape and I had kids who could wear me out.
Yeah, I guess that will do it for you! I'd be happy to have ten years of running under my belt!