Have I already talked about how much I dislike this idea of the new AllStar game and how it will now determine which team is the home team in the World Series? If not, I'll be blunt. I think it's a travesty and I can't believe the players went for it. How can you have one event, an exhibition event at that, put that much spin on the outcome of the World Series. After all, the home team has a tremendous advantage.

The game is an exhibition. The fans want to see the game's best players just hanging out together and occasionally displaying some of the talent that got them to the game in the first place. Well, let me rephrase that because I'm not sure the fans want to see it at all. The ratings have slumped for years. There were so many good and solid suggestions on how to improve the game last year after it happened. Expanding the roster made the most sense. That way you'd have enough players no matter what happened. The other great idea was to do away with the idea of having to have a player from each team at the game. No disrespect to Randy Winn, but he was not an AllStar last year and the only reason he was there was because of the need to pick at least one player.

The homerun derby has been a great addition to the festivities and is almost as great as the celebrity softball game (that follows the homerun derby) is bad. That is pathetic and should be killed immediately.

Did the game ending in a tie last year bother me? No. Who cares who wins! It's an exhibition game for crying out loud. All I care about is whether my favorite hitters hit and my favorite pitchers pitch. The rest is just fun. My favorite part is the wide eyed wonder you can see in the players' faces when faced with so many of their star peers. That itself is worth the game.

Let's follow this logic...The Twins make it to the playoffs with the worst record among the division winners and have a worse record than even the wildcard. The Twins get hot and make it to the World Series. The Giants win 108 games and finish 20 ahead in their division. The American League wins the AllStar game and the Twins get home field advantage? That's a steal and an advantage to the Twins that they didn't earn. It just doesn't make sense.

For the players association to ratify the move goes to show just how much ownership has gained in the last few years. That's the cynical side of me. The optimistic side of me says that I'm glad the players are trying so hard to work with the owners. Isn't that nice for the game! But for crying out loud, players! This was a stupid move and it doesn't make sense at any level.

If you REALLY wanted to fix the AllStar game, put the choice of who plays back on the players and managers and away from the fans. I hate any thought of fans stuffing ballots and it tarnishes the game and those players who make the AllStar game.