Whitley's Believe It Or Not: The world loves World Baseball Classic, even if America does not

The World Baseball Classic title game will be played Tuesday night in Miami. I think it’s between Japan and Fairleigh Dickinson.

If you’re similarly confused, you might agree with Keith Olbermann’s take on the whole charade. Here’s the sanitized tweet.

“The WBC is a meaningless exhibition series designed to get you to buy another uniform, to hell with the regular season, and split up teammates based on where their grandmothers (conceived their children). Call it off. Now.”

Sorry, Keith. The WBC may be nothing more than a giant marketing tool for Major League Baseball, but this year’s event has turned into March Madness in a lot of countries.

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Attendance has doubled from the last WBC in 2017. About 48% of all Japanese households watched Japan beat Italy. That’s a higher percentage than U.S. households watch the Super Bowl.

Wait, Italy has a baseball team?

Well, sort of. In order for countries like Chechnya to have enough warm bodies to fill out a roster, rules allow players to suit up for a country they have the slightest connection to.

That’s how St. Louis outfielder Lars Nootbaar has suddenly become more popular than sushi in Japan. His grandmother was born there, though Nootbaar had never set foot in Japan until a couple of weeks ago.

Since he’s known as a grind-it-out type, Nootbaar often twists his fists together after he gets a hit, pretending he’s using a pepper grinder. It's caught on so big in Japan that pepper grinder sales have skyrocketed.

To which Mets fans say, “Great, but can a pepper grinder pitch?”

They are distraught that star reliever Edwin Diaz wrecked his knee while celebrating Puerto Rico’s win over the Dominican Republic. Houston All-Star Jose Altuve broke his hand playing for Venezuela

What if Mike Trout dislocated an elbow against Canada? Or he defected mid-game to Cuba because it has a better chance of winning the American League West than the Angels?

Those are risks MLB is willing to take in hopes of popularizing the sport around the globe. If it drives the Olbermanns of the world crazy, that’s a price MLB is willing to pay. …

Stud of the Week: David Vencl. The 40-year-old Czech set a world record by taking a deep breath and diving 170.9 feet beneath a frozen lake in Switzerland. When he emerged after 1 minute and 54 seconds, he spat up some blood, sat down and popped open a bottle of champagne.

Sports Rule of Thumb: If the activity involves spitting up blood, you might not want to dive in.

Stud II: UF’s gymnastics team, which set a meet record of 198.375 points in winning the SEC Championship meet last week. Trinity Thomas defended her all-around title by getting 10.0s in the uneven bars and floor exercise.

Better yet, nobody tore an ACL celebrating the win.

Stud III: Eric Musselman, for ripping off his shirt to celebrate Arkansas upset win over Kansas in the NCAA tournament. Why can’t a pasty 58-year-old show off his pecs in unbridled joy?

Dud of the Week: Eric Musselman, for ripping off his shirt to celebrate Arkansas upset win over Kansas. If this is a trend, thank God that Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski have retired. …

Why is it called “Rule of Thumb,” instead of “Rule of Nose” or some other body part? ...

Charles Woodson puts his body where his mouth is

Kudos to NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson for taping a public service announcement urging men to get colonoscopies. To drive it home, Woodson did it somewhat groggily from the recovery room after getting the procedure.

In related news, Edwin Diaz taped a PSA from a recovery room urging men not to play in the World Baseball Classic. …

Would it be sexist if a female basketball coach got in trouble for ripping off her shirt after upsetting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament?

Charles Barkley said last week that he and his 76ers teammates used to shower in their uniforms. Since NBA teams flew commercial like the rest of us schmoes, there was no time to properly wash uniforms when they played on back-to-back nights.

Due to “load management” concerns, NBA teams now hire assistants to shower in players’ uniforms on separate charter flights. …

'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse'

WBC Eligibility Rules: To play for the US, a player or his parents must have been born in the country. To play for Italy, a player must be able to correctly recite at least two lines from “The Godfather.” ...

Arkansas Redux: Eric Musselman said ex-Hog John Daly texts him with free-throw advice for his team. Coincidentally, Arkansas made 43 of 55 free throws (78%) in its first two NCAA tournament games. Let’s just hope that if Musselman texts back advice on how to celebrate a win, Daly doesn’t follow it. …

This Week’s XFL Results: Beats me, but I’m pretty sure at least five teams showered in their uniforms after their games. …

Clarification: Keith Olbermann was already crazy. The WBC has just driven him further into the looney bin. …

The odds of picking all 63 games correctly in an NCAA Tournament bracket are 1 in 120.2 billion. The odds of a guy named Lars Nootbaar leading Japan to a World Baseball Classic title are 1 in 475.2 trillion. …

That’s about all the space we have for this week’s Whitley’s Believe It or Not. Till next time, schedule a colonoscopy if you're a male over 45. And if the results are good, please keep your hospital gown on while celebrating.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: The World Baseball Classic triggers March Madness outside the U.S.A.