Not to be a cynic, but ... what the hell, I'm good at it.

Last night the USA played Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Over at Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan wrote a good article about it: "Red, white and blue, through and through".

He starts off with a story about a spectator at the game, a spectator who is US Army Sergeant and brought with him an American flag that's been in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The thing is, Puerto Rico is part of the United States - it's a self-governing unincorporated territory.

Puerto Ricans have US citizenship (even if it was only so they could be drafted into the military for World War I, but I digress).

Puerto Ricans have US passports.

Puerto Ricans are going to have a freakin' State Quarter this year.

So my question - isn't this a bit like the United States playing the United States?