Tuesday, July 13, 2004

The Major League Baseball All-Star game is tonight. Undoubtedly, you fall into one of two camps:

"OH MY GOD THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ALL STAR GAME I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT IT BUT THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME!!!!!!"

Or...

"Yeah, no shit tonight is the All-Star game. No way I'd miss that. My wife was due to give birth to our first-born today, but I was like 'Nuh-uh. Either you have this baby another day or you have it without me.'"

Yeah, that, or, no one cares. I like baseball, but I can totally understand why so many people don't. Going to games can be fun, even if it's just the hapless Rockies who are never going to do anything. And don't get me started on trips to Mecca, AKA Wrigley Field. Otherwise, though, I don't watch a ton of baseball even though I'm a fan and a follower of the sport.

The All-Star game, though, is a special exercise in apathy. It might be fun to go to an All-Star Game and the surrounding festivities, or maybe not. Just like the NFL Pro-Bowl or any other all-star game, the game itself is completely meaningless. Oh, wait, the baseball All-Star Game isn't meaningless anymore, because "This time it counts!"

Yeah, that's my favorite thing about the All-Star game these past two years - the winner determines who gets home-field advantage in the World Series. It's all to make up for two years ago when people were pissed because they just ended up calling the All-Star game when things went into extra innings and they ran out of pitchers. I think their solution to the all-around lack of interest - both from the players and the fans - makes a lot of sense. Players who will have nothing to do with the Series helping determine its course, as opposed to, say, the teams who end up playing in the Series. Big shocker when no one, actual fans included, gives a shit about the game - All-Star or otherwise.

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