War, Sports, and SCOTUS

We are having various discussions of the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War, including how it was a sham (with a few trying to convince us it was not).  I discussed it at the time over at the Slate fray.  Remember the "star" days?

My basic take was that war is a last resort (especially with the Bush Administration and some of the seedy characters supporting it on the Iraq side) and the case wasn't made.  At best, there was maybe a case. But, not enough to toss the keys (authorization of force) to Bush. It didn't seem too hard at the time. 

(The war decision.  The alternatives? Harder.  A basic lesson here is that killing people often doesn't solve matters. Horror movies with all those sequels sort of have a point on that end.) 

I also didn't buy the "can't criticize now, the war started" bit.

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Sport is an alternative to war, including worldwide efforts like the Olympics. The World Baseball Classic is truly a "world series," and various baseball fans (and players) had fun with it.  Until now, Japan won twice, the Dominican Republic won once, and so did the United States. After an upset Mexico team (vs Puerto Rico) blew it late, it was U.S. v. Japan.  

The series ended on basically almost a scripted note -- Ohtani v. Mike Trout with the U.S. down by one, two outs, top of the ninth. The Mets connection was that Jeff "Squirrel" McNeil started the ninth with his second walk off the bench.  A double play then set up the finale.  Japan won.  

The spring break feel of it still was there for the U.S. gave some run-of-the-mill type (his overall record about even won/loss) the role as an opener. And, he gave up the two runs that made the final score (3-2).  Still, it was a fun series, even without the new timing and shift rules.  

MLB should have more games throughout Latin America at the very least.  They are starting with a series in England.  Fine.  Do more of that. Rotate in England, Spain, Italy, and so on.  I would have two foreign series to start: one in Europe, and one in Asia.  Promote the world nature of the game.

Our "World Series" amounts to one country and a team from Canada. This was the true World Series.

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The dog toy parody game had some fun moments though many justices did not seem too interested. It was a fairly quick ninety minutes.  More details on the leak "investigation."  

And, the final March execution scheduled in Texas, for now, is off.  More SCOTUS action next week though.