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Jump back, what's that sound?
2006-01-25 09:10
by Bob Timmermann

PANAMA! PANAMA!

The people of Panama are not happy that Mariano Rivera has declined to participate in the WBC for their country.

The link is to a Spanish story, so you will have to forgive me for my imperfect translation.

Rivera was named to the preliminary 56-man roster, but declined to play. Various reasons are given, from "I won't be in shape" to "nivel necesario" para enfrentar a las otras novenas, that is Rivera doesn't think that Panama is good enough to compete with the other teams in it group (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands).

One writer tried to appeal to Rivera's national pride. The president of the Panamanian baseball federation, Franz Wever, might have said that Rivera wasn't sufficiently Panamanian, but has backed off that statement.

Wever might not be an overly popular person among some baseball players in Panama. Olmedo Saenz of the Dodgers said he won't play because of personality differences with Wever.

Panama's team will have at least three big leaguers on it: Bruce Chen, Carlos Lee, and Einar Diaz. Although I've heard that Panama might be trading Chen to another country since he's used to it. And I'm somewhat surprised with all the moving around of players to different countries, such as Italy's Mike Piazza and the Netherlands Mark Mulder, that Chen didn't end up on the Chinese squad.

Comments
2006-01-25 09:46:50
1.   nickb
I'm just pleased to see a Van Halen 1984 reference. I love that album!
2006-01-25 09:48:22
2.   Bob Timmermann
Actually I didn't like Van Halen, but that song came out back in the days when MTV showed music videos and "Panama" was on all the time.

I'm just glad there's no country called Kajagoogoo.

2006-01-25 09:55:52
3.   nickb
There's nothing like 80's Euro pop. Thank goodness.
2006-01-25 09:57:05
4.   Bob Timmermann
In honor of the recent Canadian elections, I'm going to perform "The Safety Dance" today.
2006-01-25 10:06:02
5.   nickb
The Royals play that at Kauffman Stadium whenever a Royal successfully steals a base. I always wonder what teenagers think these days when they hear stuff like that. The KU pep band played "Ghostbusters" at the KU-Nebraska game this weekend and I wondered if any of those kids had ever even seen the movie.
2006-01-25 10:20:35
6.   Bob Timmermann
Men Without Hats could explain declining attendance in Kansas City.

That, and a really bad team.

2006-01-25 10:22:40
7.   nickb
More like Men Without Bats.

Sorry, even though it's my team, I couldn't resist.

2006-01-25 10:29:59
8.   Bob Timmermann
We can bat if we want to
We can leave the other teams behind
Cause your friends don't bat and if they don't bat
Well they're no team of mine
2006-01-25 10:52:20
9.   nickb
I say, we can throw if we want to
Though an "ace" we'll never find
And we can act like we've got some guys who can hurl
We don't think our fans will mind

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