This year\u2019s World Baseball Classic has been a resounding success, a theorem that proves so many assertions about baseball: that baseball is global, that baseball can be fun, that there\u2019s so much talent, that the sport itself is exciting.<\/p>\n
It has also demonstrated that national teams don\u2019t have to rally around jingoism to forge an identity. Indeed, teams and fans have broadly had a blast, celebrating their countries\u2019 rich traditions. Nobody\u2019s out there reveling in their nation\u2019s conquests and thanking their military.<\/p>\n
The exception to everyone else is, of course, Team USA. America is a land of problems and promise, with plenty of causes to rally around. One of those causes is support for \u201cthe troops,\u201d as it were, and that\u2019s not an inherently bad one. A relationship with servicemembers sometimes factors into the decision to play for Team USA, as it was for star starting pitcher Paul Skenes<\/a>, who went to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Generally, there\u2019s some level of lip service for the troops, and that\u2019s par for the course. It\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n What is different about this particular team is that they are really leaning into the \u201cyes, sir, we fight for the army\u201d vibe in a way that isn\u2019t necessary, especially when you look at the attitude of the other WBC teams. Manager Mark DeRosa invited the retired U.S. SEAL Team Six member Robert J. O\u2019Neill to talk about the mission to kill Osama bin Laden<\/a>. And they\u2019ve adopted a sort of militaristic nobility, where they put \u201ccountry ahead of teammates and friendships<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Lo and behold, it\u2019s played out on the field. Earlier in the tournament, Randy Arozarena tried to shake the hand of Cal Raleigh, his Seattle Mariners co-star, before a plate appearance. And the reason for Raleigh\u2019s refusal<\/a> is, ah, silly at best:<\/p>\n Arozarena felt disrespected when Raleigh wouldn\u2019t shake his hand prior to his first at-bat in WBC pool play. Per multiple sources, Raleigh had made it clear to Arozarena that he couldn\u2019t shake hands, following a Team USA philosophy agreed upon by the players. But Arozarena attempted a handshake and Raleigh refused, saying something to him.<\/p>\n The issue here is not so much that the players want to represent people who they value. The issue here is in playing soldier to the extent that they don\u2019t engage in basic sportsmanship because\u2026reasons. Nobody else is doing this but Team USA. Nobody else is doing this but Team USA. This attitude is a choice, and again a stark choice in contrast with the wild joy exemplified by other teams.<\/p>\n And unfortunately, the subtext has ascended to the text, because Team USA\u2019s opponent in the final is none other than Venezuela. Venezuela, the sovereign nation whose head of state was captured and imprisoned just two months ago in what some in the internationally community see as an illegal attack<\/a> by the United States. That\u2019s to say nothing, of course, of the ongoing conflict with Iran, whose soccer team is set to play their first World Cup game in California a few months from now.<\/p>\n \u201cStick to sports\u201d is a common refrain that is lobbied towards writers, athletes, and commentators alike when an uncomfortable political issue bubbles too close to the surface. But what we\u2019re seeing here is evidence that professional sports has always and will always be political, because professional sports is an apparatus where power, money, and influence reside.<\/p>\n