Two different things: The WBC and Doctor Who.

Published on March 18, 2006 By Jamie Burnside In Entertainment

There have been some good things on television lately.

Last night I saw the US premiere of the 2005 series of "Doctor Who" on the SciFi Network. Apparently this will be a weekly series until they run out of new episodes. My verdict is: So far, so good! This new guy who plays the Doctor now may finally get viewers to forget Tom Baker.

Watching the show last night brought back good memories of watching the show as a kid. I hope that success of the new series will encourage someone to broadcast some of the older episodes.

***********

Anyone out there watching the World Baseball Classic? I have been. Good stuff. Earlier today I was watching the semifinals between Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and I am watching Korea/ Japan as I write this. At this momemt: (9:48 CST on May 18, I am predicting Korea as the eventual champions. They have really good pitching and hitting.)

The best game that I've seen so far was the one between team USA and Japan. It was good up until the eighth inning, when the umpires decided to award the game to the US. (Japan should have won that game!) Regardless of the umpiring, the contrast of playing styles between Team USA and Team Japan made the game really interesting.

I haven't really heard much buzz about the games in the media, and among the people I know. That's a little surprising, considering how much more intense and exciting these WBC games are in comparison to the meaningless spring training games. One possible reason why this hasn't caught-on in the US is that the team is really hard to root-for. I mean: who cares if Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens win another trophy for their den. Most baseball fans root against those guys during the regular season, how can they be embraced by fans for this?

Like I said, I have really admired the play of all the teams. I have become a fan of team Mexico (eliminated) and team Korea.

So please watch the WBC and Doctor Who.

Comments

bakerstreet

on Mar 19, 2006

I've seen the first season of the new Doctor Who and it is really good. Don't get used to the new doctor, though; Eccleston quit after the first season. Second season starts soon in England, though, and the next one looks like a good one too.

momijiki

on Mar 19, 2006

Eccleston quit? Why?

Hmfph.

Re: WBC. Some of the umping was off. Call against Japan in Japan vs. US and call against Mexico in Mexico vs. US. Actually, a lot of good baseball played. But they really need to get a neutral country umpire for these games. Apparantly the ump who made those bad calls was fired from the majors.

Rutabaga64

on Mar 19, 2006

I've been a Doctor Who fan for well over 25 years, so of course I was anxiously looking forward to Friday night's Sci Fi Channel premiere of the updated series. And I ended up being somewhat underwhelmed. As a matter of fact, I turned the second episode off halfway through because it just wasn't holding my interest like I hoped it would. I'll probably still end up watching it since there's usually nothing else on on Fridays, but it's not at all going to be "appointment TV" for me. Never thought I'd see that happen.

Apparently Christopher Eccleston quit because he didn't want to get typecast.

Jamie Burnside

on Mar 19, 2006

Apparently Christopher Eccleston quit because he didn't want to get typecast.

That makes a lot of sense. I'd imagine that a lot of the previous Doctors would end up suffering "Luke Skywalker Syndrome".

But they really need to get a neutral country umpire for these games.

No kidding. Those retired/ fired/ minor league umps ran the games like they've bet on the games. (Or at least they were pressured to make sure that Team USA wins.) I hope that next time they can find a group of professional umpires from all participating countries.

Of course, would each umpire have to have his own translator? That would be a funny sight: two guys (an umpire and a translator) standing at each position.

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