"...added great joy to ... seven minutes of my life!" -Nemo

"Apply voice impersonations ... for maximum effect!" -Nemo

"I am greatly looking forward to more installments!" -Nemo

"Very good, Andrew!" -Bullshot, although indirectly

"Did you guys realize that Diet Coke has twice the caffeine content of regular Coke?" -Sumo

What's the hubbub about? Find out for yourself!

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Let's talk World Baseball Classic. My dad says, "I think it's gaining steam," so I think it's okay for public consumption at this point.

First, I found this article incredibly fascinating. It was about how, basically, MLB Scouting Bureau services were technically available to all WBC participants, but how, essentially, the Scouting Bureau told nobody but Team USA. Of course, the article was published the morning of U.S.-Canada, so I guess it wasn't a whole lot of help.

Secondly, today's Japan-U.S. game was fantastic, although the U.S. won on a farce of a call. Or, rather, was helped by a bad call. After a Japanese sacrifice fly broke a 3-3 tie in the (I think) seventh inning, an appeal by the U.S. was denied. But U.S. manager Buck Martinez came out with the "If mom says no ask dad" theory and, amazingly, the home plate ump overruled the play, ruling the Japanese player out for leaving too soon. Remarkable. Saduharu Oh's Japanese boys weren't going to take the field after the call, but he convinced them to go play defense. In the bottom of the ninth, the U.S. won on a bases-loaded, two-out single from A-Rod. Secretly, I think a whole lot of the crowd wanted him to strike out again. They were ruthless on an inning-ending 'K' from the 250-Million Dollar Man in the bottom of the seventh. I wanted him to strike out, both to see extra innings, and to see A-Rod fail.

I really, really like the World Baseball Classic. I love college hoops, but the WBC is more intriguing to me, at this point. (This will change on Thursday.) I only wish the rules were closer to real, big-league baseball.

I also wish that they'd show the freakin' games. Monday's U.S.-Korea game is available only on a tape-delay basis (live on ESPN Deportes, but "three hours old" on ESPN2). You're telling me that ESPN's latest reality show or NIT coverage is more interesting than U.S.-Korea? Don't answer that.

Also, the schedule's a U.S.-slanted joke.

The U.S.'s qualifying pool also includes Mexico, Korea and Japan.
On the other end, it's Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Cuba. It's safe to say that, after the U.S., the four best teams in the tournament reside in the other qualifying group. And, after the top two teams qualify through this Round Robin phase, the U.S. plays a member of it's own pool in a single-elimination knockout game. That is, the U.S. won't face a Latin American powerhouse until the final. The Dominican will have faced Venezuela three times by then, in all likelihood.

I'm a bit surprised that the WBC is selling this, only because of the controversy involving Cuba's entry into the event. Wouldn't the Cubans draw a profit of some sort from this? I'd think so.

But it looks a whole lot like the Cubs' "Team Cuba" road uniforms. Might be worth a purchase. Only twenty bucks, after all.

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I'm really looking forward to Opening Day, more this year than any time since, I think, 2001. (I was in Austin at that point, and was taping WGN-televised Cubs games and watching them at night. The Cubs went on their 11-game (?) winning streak that spring, before folding down the stretch. But it was a fun, fun season, until the Cubs decided to bring up Broadway Joe Borowski for a mid-August start against the Braves. The Human Sweat Machine was terrible. They also released Little Sarge that summer. Sigh.) It probably has to do with the fact that, in all likelihood, I won't be obsessively working when it comes around. However, in the (unlikely) event that I am working - in baseball - come Opening Day, I'll be pretty happy too.

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So, I'm completely done with any work I can do at my job, until my supervisor does some editing of the work I've already given her. She edits at a slow pace, which is understandable when you consider that I'm doing a project that had been on the backburner for about a year. So, with nothing to actually do at work, how do I occupy myself? By doing a lot of nothing, and then collecting a paycheck on Friday. It's a great, great, great system, friends.

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Lots of driving ahead this week, Mapquest says 670 miles. This will bring the yellow car up over 47,000, which seems like a pretty significant amount to me.