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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL TWO: MIAMIMarch 15, 2009Brian RobertsMIAMI, FLORIDA Q. Can you take us through the logistics, who called you, how long it took you to say yes? BRIAN ROBERTS: Well, I left my cell phone in my locker yesterday when I left the stadium, so they finally got a hold of me about 8:00 o'clock last night, my agent called my wife and said where's Brian. And then I talked to Paul right after that and he asked me and I said of course, I'd love to. Q. Kind of your thoughts on joining the team. BRIAN ROBERTS: It's a great opportunity. It's an honor. I represented our country in 1997 with USA Team in college, so I know what it means to put the jersey on. This is obviously a little bigger stage than it was then, but it's a great opportunity. I'm honored to be here, and hopefully we can go out and win a couple games and move on. Q. Were you aware you were provisional? BRIAN ROBERTS: I had no idea until my agent called at 8:00 o'clock last night. My aunt and uncle were in town and we were just kind of hanging out. I had no idea what was going on. Q. Every player invariably says it's a big deal to wear the USA on their chests. Do you wish the fans came around like the Latin American fans do? BRIAN ROBERTS: Well, I haven't really been here to know what our fan situation has been like, so I can't necessarily address that. Certainly you would love for your country and the people around you to support you and feel like it is a big deal because for us as players this is as good as it gets to put this on your chest and go out there and compete against all those other countries. I certainly understand the timing of it and where you are and things like that makes an impact on who shows up at the games. Q. Have you been following the Classic? BRIAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I've definitely followed it quite a bit. I've followed it quite a bit. It's on in the clubhouse and we've enjoyed watching it. I thought the USA-Canada game was one of the best games I've seen in a long time. It's fun for the players even if you're not on the team. Q. Did you pay a little closer attention to the game last night once you knew you were on the team? BRIAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I followed it on the computer after that. I'm renting a house in Fort Lauderdale and we have no TV. I watched it on the computer and then realized we needed to get ready to get it done the next day. Q. (Inaudible.) BRIAN ROBERTS: That was the first question, are you ready for nine. I said, "let's go." Q. How do you feel? BRIAN ROBERTS: Good, same as everybody else probably. I feel okay. It's baseball, so you can pick up a bat in December and go 4 for 4 or maybe go 0 for 4. We can do that in the middle of the season, too. It's one of those things, you try not to think about that that much. You just go out there and let your natural ability take over hopefully. Q. For this event to catch fire like USA Baseball in the Olympics with the dream team, what would it take for that to happen? BRIAN ROBERTS: I wish I had an answer for that. Certainly the Olympics itself carries such a huge impact along, whether it's basketball or any other sport. How often do you see that many people show up at a swim meet? The Olympics itself just carries so much more importance I think for people in general. I think it's just going to happen over time. I think when fans see how much the players care and how much we care about playing for our countries, I guess the effort that we all put into it to make it happen, hopefully that will catch on over time. Q. Don't you think the United States people have a conflict between the World Series and the World Baseball Classic? BRIAN ROBERTS: Obviously people are going to have their -- be focused on their team for the most part, and that team, whether it's the Orioles or the Yankees, whoever it might be, it's made up of so many different players from so many different countries that their allegiance is spread out all over the place. We'd like for this to be one of those events where that allegiance really goes to your own country; no matter what team your guys are on during the regular season, that you cheer for your country. And hopefully, like I said, I think it's just going to take time. I think it's going to have to be seen. The energy left and that sort of thing of the players. I think it has seen it, just not on a daily basis. Q. (Inaudible.) BRIAN ROBERTS: I can't answer why I wasn't. No, I never heard from everybody to tell you the truth. Everyone said I was on a provisional and that's all I knew, but nobody called me on anything. I understand. There's so many good players out there that I understand how it works. I'm just honored to be here now. It doesn't really matter to me how I got here or when I got here, I'm just excited to be here. Q. Other than people saying you were on a provisional -- BRIAN ROBERTS: Honestly I didn't know if I was. I never heard from anybody. My trainer in Baltimore made me fill out a few papers saying I was on it. Last night was the first time I found out I really was. Last night they said you're pretty much our only option, so the choice is yours. We held out for a few minutes and then my wife said okay, and I said all right. Q. This time of year do the players have any issues with the timing of the games? BRIAN ROBERTS: Timetables have been explored throughout this thing. I'm certainly not the one to give an answer for that. You know, I think it's worked out fine so far. The players have obviously talked about it that the timing is always an issue, whether it's now or whether it's in the middle of the season or whether it's the beginning of the year. It's always going to be an issue, it's just going to be different issues at different times. End of FastScripts |
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