Wimbledon has ended, golfs British Open is starting at the weeks end and even the State of Origin has come to a streaking halt. Chances are unless you are from Australia reading this or for some odd reason an fan of the NRL then that joke will just go over your head. If you are craving some sports though, do look up the NRL and the State of Origin, it's some pretty exciting stuff, but I digress. If you are like most Americans then you are at a loss for sports and so am I.
Year in and year out the one thing I will never be able to understand is how the MLB All-Star break still exists. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the futures game got more views than the pros all-star game. To be honest though, I use to enjoy catching bits and pieces of the all-star game during commercials of something else just because some fun things COULD happen. Now, it's not even worth the effort of picking up the remote. All that went out the window though when Bud Selig thought it would be a good idea to make the game actually mean something. How does that thought process even work? "Hey, let's take the one time of the year that means absolutely nothing in every other sport and instead make it mean something in our sport. We can take all the fun and love out of the game and instead make the players try." Yeah, I'm sure Joe Mauer, whose Twins can't even sniff the playoffs, is really going to pour his heart and soul into catching the all-star game.
The first mistake was when Selig decided to call the game as a tie in the 11th because neither team had any players left. Let me write that one more time, because neither team had any players left. There were approximately 36 players on each roster that year, pitchers and batters combined. This is the all-star game and nobody is going to care and probably won't even notice if one of those players re-enter the game. It would have meant more meaningless baseball and maybe a few more cool plays. Instead the game is called and Selig goes home and decides to make the game mean something. He makes it so the winner, whether it be AL or NL gets home field advantage in the World Series. Boooooooo.
If it were me at the commissioner controls I would have done things a little differently at that point. First off I would have let anybody and everybody re-enter the game so the game did not end in a tie. Then I would have gone home and mapped out a new plan for a whole new, revamped all-star game, and here's how it would look.
First, each team would be designated two team captains, one pitcher and one position player. These two players would work together to draft a team of their own from the list of players who made the all-star cut. Similar to what is done in the NHL right now. The players would be allowed to draft from whichever league they choose and the whole AL vs NL would no longer exist because it's no fun. Then to throw the best twist in, the position players would be the pitchers for the game while the pitchers would become the position players. I imagine that if Joe Buck and Tim McCarver were calling the game it would go a little something like this:
"And here is the 2-1 pitch from Carlos Beltran. Felix Hernandez hit a slow roller to the third base side where a bare handed attempt is made by Justin Masterson, he bobbles it- But that's okay Joe because King Felix's all out sprint is slower than an infant learning to walk-you're right Tim and sure enough Masterson gets a handle on things and it looks like he is going to bowl the ball over to first base to avoid an over throw-That's a veteran move Joe, smart thinking there- Clayton Kershaw readies himself for the scoop and ohhhh it goes right through his legs as King Felix kind of half slides-half falls into first base. No need to rush after that ball though Joe. It seems as though Felix is just going to stop at first and call for a pinch runner, he looks exhausted."
Now you try and tell me that sequence of events would not be more enjoyable than 3-0 AL win in which they held the opponent to 3 hits. That's hardly even exciting in a regular game let alone a game nobody caress about. In fact I'll tell you three things to take away from this years all-star festivities; First is that the all-star game needs to change and it needs to change quick. Secondly, I don't care who you are a fan of, you were happy for Mariano Rivera last night. Lastly, the home run derby has got to go.
In fact, the home run derby needs the opposite thing the NBA Slam Dunk contest needs. The NBA needs the best of the best dunkers while the derby needs some worse hitters. If one were to make an analogy of the two, I would say the Home Run Derby would be like if the NBA Dunk Contest turned into who can make the most layups in 25 seconds. Before the beginning of the year we were all taunted with the idea of Justin Verlander in the derby and I loved the idea! Throw pitchers in there, throw former greats in there, just don't put somebody who could sneeze and hit a home run up there. Its just not exciting.
So that about sums up my rant. I'll leave you with this video of Tony Gwynn Jr. that I cam across looking up the Barry Bond and Torii Hunter play, enjoy!
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