Slow Down: The WBC Will Not Make America Embrace Baseball Again

So I'm watching Sunday's game on MLB Network between Team USA and Venezuela, and my brother calls me in the middle of the blowout and asks, "Do you think this will mean a comeback for baseball in America?" It was then that I had to pause and stop his fanboy mark-out moment to offer a brief history lesson.

I simply told him, "Remember the summer of 1994?" Mark-out moment over.

We all remember what happened back then right? No, not because of the O.J. Bronco chase (which actually made my high school graduation night more enjoyable), but because everyone was asking the same kind of question about soccer when the World Cup embraced our shores. After the success of the USA, the entire country thought that little Johnny was about to put down the pigskin and become the next Tony Meola. 

Whoops. Sure, we got the MLS out of it, and living in the D.C. area, I've realized that DC United will be the only successful franchise this region will have for the next two decades. However, that's not the case all over the country. When MLS can't even get an expansion team in soccer-rich Miami, you know that soccer was bound to be nothing more than a niche sport.  

Now it's began to happen again with the emergence of Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the WBC as much as I did in 2006, especially since the USA had a great showing this past weekend against Canada and Venezuela.  However, when I begin to hear the talking heads on ESPNews talk about how the WBC could peak America's interest in the former "National Pastime" again, I just shake my head in shame.

I understand that the USA has done a great job of eliminating the "frat boy" and "let's get everyone in the game" mentality that plagued the 2006 crew this time around, but unless you're one of those deviants that belong to Red Sox Nation, once March 23rd rolls around and the WBC is over, the next question that will come from the American sports public will be, "So who is Detroit taking first in the NFL draft?"

I will admit one thing, commissioner Bud Selig has done a fantastic job of making the WBC seem important. (Wait a minute, did I just say "Bud Selig" and "fantastic job" in the same sentence? I need to lay off those tacos).

Watching the Netherlands take the almighty Dominican Republic to the limit in both of their first-round matchups have been exciting, and of course the joy on the fans of countries like Puerto Rico and Cuba have been a pleasure to see.

However, I also have to live in reality and understand that we as Americans just don't carry the same passion for the sport anymore.

Steroids and poor marketing of the sport as well as a lack of true leadership among the powers that be of the sport has really placed a black eye that baseball has yet to recover from.

Before Manny Ramirez signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the only major stories coming into the 2009 season were the A-Rod steroid confessions and the New York Yankees being unable to get all of their PSLs paid for their new stadium.

Baseball still has many holes that need to be filled. Their leaders need to show a level of accountability (fat chance as long as Selig and union head Donald Fehr are in charge) for turning a blind eye for the steroid issue.

They need to ensure that labor peace will remain after the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. Also, they need to do a much better job of marketing the game to today's youth who thinks of baseball the same way they do of the Atari 2600: old, slow, and irrelevant.

By the way, this sport does not need a salary cap. What they need to do is get better scouts and smarter GMs in cities like Pittsburgh and Washington D.C.

Until those issues are taken care of, the WBC will end up just like the World Cup. It'll be the pretty girl who is great to dance with, but once you see the flaws, you won't stick around for the long-term.