Memo to George Steinbrenner: STFU

When baseball owners approved the World Cup in August 2004 at the urging of baseball commissioner Bud Selig, the Yankees abstained.

"We don't like it that well," Steinbrenner said. "If a player gets hurt, he's risking a lot. But it was Selig's idea and he wants to do it, so I suppose we're going to do it."

Several New York stars won't be participating in the 16-team tournament. Catcher Jorge Posada decided not to push the issue after the Yankees said they'd prefer he not play for Puerto Rico. Closer Mariano Rivera and outfielder Hideki Matsui said they weren't interested, and second baseman Robinson Cano and pitcher Chien-Ming Wang have said they don't want to play, although they were included on preliminary rosters.

How does the rest of the sporting world manage it? The NHL is taking two weeks off to allow their players, in the middle of the season, to represent their countries at the Winter Olympics. Top level soccer players all over Europe were missing from their clubs virtually the entire month of January for the African Nations Cup. Bolton Wanderers striker El Hadji Diouf injured himself and will likely miss most of the rest of the year while his club fights for a Champions League slot, and i'm sure Sam Allardyce is plenty pissed about that. But to suggest that a player bypass representing his country on the world football stage would have been unthinkable. Top level sport is increasingly an international affair, and Steinbrenner would do well to remember that he's not only competing with the Red Sox and Mets for a World Series ring, but also with Manchester United and Real Madrid for the international fans' dollar. Every at-bat that Jorge Posada, "the starting catcher for the New York Yankees" doesn't make during the World Baseball Classic next month is another lost marketing opportunity for the Boss, and likely the last chance that Posada, probably the best Yankees catcher since Thurman Munson died, will have to represent his country. Steinbrenner loses, Posada loses, MLB loses, and the WBC loses. It's hard to top a record like that.