Super Bowl & The WBC

Today's the big game for football fans. Since I have no personal allegiance to either team, I'm pulling for the Seahawks! I have a friend who lives in that area with season tickets to Hawks games so I'm pulling for them to win the big one.
The Super Bowl also means new commercials and clever advertising. According to MLB.com, there will be a commercial for the WBC. I'm looking forward to seeing that. MLB might need all the promotions they can get with the recent dropouts. I expect more players to withdraw as the event draws closer, especially the American born player. My impression is the WBC is not as important to them, or the fans for that matter, as it is to players and fans from other countries. Foreign countries seem to take more pride in the countries doing well in international sporting events. You see it in soccer, you see it in the Olympics. I don't think "most" Americans care, especially if you're not a baseball fan. It'll be interesting to see what kind of turnout there will be at the WBC finals if the US isn't playing. If I weren't into baseball, I probably wouldn't give the WBC any thought.
I fully understand why someone would not want to participate. It isn't exactly timed well. With spring training underway, it's understandable why a guy would want to devote all of his efforts into preparing for the season and skipping out on the WBC. There's no perfect time to have this event. After the season wouldn't work as some players may be tired and not participate as they need the rest. The winter months obviously don't work because of the weather and all of the off-the-field business that goes on. I don't think it makes any sense to do it in the middle of the season, like they do with the NHL and the Olympics. I'd rather focus on the second half of the season and getting my team into the postseason as opposed to playing in an exhibition. So, that leaves right before the season which happens in spring training. Not ideal, but probably the best choice.
I expect to see a few more big names withdraw from the WBC in the coming weeks. Quite frankly, I'll be surprised if that doesn't happen.
J