Wow. Another international competition nobody cares about.

Fresh off the Olympics, whose ratings were lower than the previous two, here’s the World Baseball Classic.

While I’d certainly take to watching Roger Clemens over ice dancing any day of the week, it’s still not provocative enough for many fans to care.

Players, fans, general managers and coaches all have as much enthusiasm for this international event as Allen Iverson has for practice.

Nobody will lose any sleep when the United States finishes fifth, and I doubt Team USA manager Buck Martinez would get a ticker tape parade for his team if they win it all.

It’s too bad nobody’s watching because the concept is actually interesting. With the large influx of players into the majors from Latin American and Asia, why not take the time to see which country boasts the best talent?

Part of the problem is the practicality of the whole thing. Being a baseball fan, it’s hard to cheer for something that could hurt your team’s chances of getting to the World Series.

Players have everything to lose by playing, and therefore would rather sit and watch it on television with the rest of us. The risk of injury kept many big name players like Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez and a host of others from competing. To be fair though, Bonds has said he’d take off his Paula Abdul dress and play if the United States were to make it to the second round.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has been the most boisterous opponent to the Classic, but with the ridiculous amount of money he’s pumped into the Yankees, who can blame him? Every team executive in the league is worried about losing key players in games that don’t count in their standings. Some are more worried than others.

The Orioles sent 11 players, and the Red Sox sent nine.

Then there’s the problem with timing. Players showed up for spring training for a couple of days then left to join their national teams. But if not now, when?

Right after the World Series might be better, but players would be coming off the 162-game grind that is the regular season. Perhaps even less players would agree to attend after being banged up all season. Having it after the season would only exacerbate the problem, making injury more likely than it is now.

The other option is to do what the NHL did for the Olympics and suspend the season for a few weeks. But we all know how brilliant of a move that was. Ottawa Senator’s goaltender Dominik Hasek injured his groin after playing in just his first 10 minutes of Olympic action. The New Jersey Devils lost center Patrik Elias to a bruised rib and he is just now beginning to practice again.

If something like that were to happen mid-season in baseball over something as trivial as the World Baseball Classic, Steinbrenner would blow a gasket.

Obviously the risk of injury is always there, no matter when the tournament is held, and now is the best time for it, but at least when the NHL sent its pros it was for the Olympics – a global stage for their product.

The Classic is hardly comparable. While it might be huge in places like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, Americans just flip to the next channel. I mean, Roker’s on the road and the Mythbusters are hard at work using a soda can to start a fire.

The only mystique about the whole thing is seeing if America can defend its national pastime. We invented it, therefore we should be the best at it. But when the Toronto Raptors lose to Maccabi Tel Aviv, I guess anything can happen.

We’ve lost basketball to Europe, could baseball be lost to the Dominican Republic?

That would leave the United States with only football and NASCAR.

I could live with that. In the mean time, I’m seeing what else is on.

Dan Berrigan is a senior in Engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].