Generally I do not watch sports on TV with the exception of the following, the Grey Cup, the Super Bowl, the Hockey Play-offs (if my home team is in them), and the Stanley Cup. Major League Baseball never made that list. In my opinion Baseball is about as exciting to watch on TV as golf, bowling or poker. What makes it more difficult to watch fully is that fact that it can take over four hours for a game. That is a lot of time spent sitting in from of a TV.
Last night I may have had a change of heart. I stumbled onto the 7th Inning of the final game in the Baseball World Classic where Japan and Korea were battling for the Championship. The final Innings of the game (it went to 10) were so close that I could not turn it off and watched it into the wee hours of the night. The winning play made by Ichiro was enough to make me shout out loud.
Even though Korea felt like the underdog (I usually cheer for the underdogs if I do not care for either team) it is pretty obvious that Japan was my favorite. The reasons are obvious: I am a Japanophile, I used to live in Japan and I knew some of the players by name.
With that said, next year I may add the Baseball Classic on my “Must watch” sporting events list.