Playing for Team USA shouldn’t bring so many potential pitfalls

The United States is asking too much of its national team players.

Competition isn't the biggest problem, it's all the treading carefully required of the athletes.

Which cringe celebrity will show up in the postgame locker room? Can they navigate an insulting joke by a sitting president? Did the pregame pep talk contain too much violent content? Did a historically bad call help secure an important victory?

At least the Team USA baseball squad, if they won the World Baseball Classic title, would be too busy to visit the White House. So they wouldn't have to worry about whom to thank for the delicious Quarter Pounders and lukewarm fries, which the U.S. hockey team endured like true professionals.

Team USA in women's basketball is also in action this week, but thankfully that's just a World Cup qualifier. The actual event, which the U.S. (almost) always wins, is not until September, and the WNBA will break for it.

There are plenty of reasons to appreciate the WBC, which ended with Tuesday's U.S. vs. Venezuela championship. The atmosphere is unmatched compared to any MLB regular season game, with fans able to display some genuine patriotism by celebrating players from their home country.

Video of a large crowd watching the semifinal game outdoors on a giant screen in Daniel Palencia's Venezuelan hometown was a nice snapshot of what this event means in other countries.

At the same time, these are still essentially early-season spring training games, with plenty of great players missing. The goal of deciding the world's best baseball country is blurred a bit when an almost completely American-born team can call itself “Italy” and reach the semifinals. Or when the Puerto Rico roster gets decimated by “insurance” issues.

Likewise with Olympic hockey. They could play the exact same game between the U.S. and Canada, with the exact same players, call it the NHL All-Star Game, and barely anyone would care.

But put it in Italy, under the Olympic umbrella, and that makes it an unforgettable sporting event? Sure, I guess.

And what's with the supposed U.S.-Canada heated rivalry? When the Olympics ended, several of the best U.S. players returned to Canada to resume the NHL season. Meanwhile, 22 of the 25 players on the Canada roster play for U.S.-based NHL teams.

There's a reason the U.S.-Canada border is unprotected. Let's leave it that way.

The WBC doesn't seem to carry the same type of rivalry, at least none with the U.S. involved. The atmosphere and spectacle are what make this event special.

That's why Sunday's game-ending blown call was such a downer. There was great drama building in the bottom of the ninth inning with the U.S. leading the Dominican Republic 2-1.

With a runner on third and two outs, DR's Geraldo Perdomo took a 3-2 breaking ball from Mason Miller low and well out of the zone. That set up runners on the corners with Fernando Tatis Jr. coming to the plate. Intriguing stuff.

Except, the pitch was ruled a game-ending strike three. The unfortunate final pitch stole the headline from a brilliant pitching performance by the U.S. Paul Skenes is expected to shut down any lineup, but to hold the powerful Dominican lineup scoreless after Skenes left the mound was unexpected.

In conclusion, the WBC is a lot of fun and hopefully it stays that way. Maybe someday we’ll see WBC games played in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, which could truly unite the sport, and show appreciation for MLB’s vast pipeline of talent.