Our game, but trophy not ours

If it's time for the World Baseball Classic, you know a pep talk dripping in red, white and blue from Tom Lasorda cannot be far behind.

At a tournament-opening ceremony on the Empire State Building's observation deck Thursday, Lasorda said: "We cannot allow those clubs to beat us. It's our game. Remember one thing: In your heart of hearts, you better pull for the USA or you may not get into heaven."

Lasorda was just getting started.

"It's our game," he said. "Baseball is America's game. It doesn't belong to the Italians or the Cubans or the Koreans or the Japanese. It's our game, and we're not going to let them beat us."

No, the Mexicans beat the Americans in the second round of the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. And the Cubans, the Koreans and the Japanese advanced further than the Americans.

• THEY ARE THE WORLD -- Among the top 10 reasons to watch the World Baseball Classic, from CBS's David Letterman:

-- Roy Oswalt: "It's fascinating seeing how players from other countries scratch themselves."

-- Adam Dunn: "You'll be part of a cherished baseball tradition dating all the way back to 2006."

-- Ryan Braun: "Because of the metric system, the games will be 6.83 innings."

-- Derek Jeter: "What else are you going to watch, hockey?"

• HOW COLD IS IT? -- Letterman recently answered the question on his show. "It is so cold," he said, "Alex Rodriguez's cousin was injecting Alex with hot cocoa."

Letterman also mused about President Obama taking in an NBA game.

"Over the weekend he went ... to see the Bulls and the Wizards. I thought, 'Well, hell, if he'd gone to a Knicks game, he could've played.' "

• GUTTER BULLS -- The Chicago Bulls haven't won a championship in more than a decade, but they are Obama's home team, so they received an invitation to tour the White House while they were in town. The tour included the Bulls trying their hands on the White House's bowling lane.

How did the Bulls fare?

"I'm terrible," rookie Derrick Rose said.

Joakim Noah called his effort "not great, but it was just something that I'll be able to tell my grandkids and tell my whole family. I think I hit one pin, but my swagger was just unbelievable."

• THE GRATE ONE -- Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) StarPhoenix, on Wayne Gretzky being paid seven times the NHL average to coach the Phoenix Coyotes: "For $7 million a year, shouldn't Gretzky be coaching, playing and driving the Zamboni?"

• JET LAG, ANYONE? -- The New York Jets are asking front-office employees to help the team cut expenses by taking two weeks of unpaid leave during the offseason, Bloomberg News reported.

As for the players, they'll stick to their traditional two weeks off with pay in late December.

• BAD VS. WORSE -- TNT's Charles Barkley, on the Dallas Mavericks' chances of catching the Phoenix Suns for a playoff bid: "It's like the ugly girl chasing the ugly girl -- who cares? Who's got the worse dress on?"

REVIEW-JOURNAL WIRE REPORTS