There was some strange last minute doings at the AllStar game. Roger Clemens was added to the roster in a move that should have happened in the beginning. But to do so, Barry Zito, who had already traveled to Chicago, was pulled supposedly because he pitched Sunday. Zito seemed visibly upset and rightly so. You don't select a guy to the game and then not let him participate if there isn't an injury involved.

The entire selection process has been a mess and is typical of the Bud Selig era of baseball. The big flap over the tie last year (which is one of the few right decisions Selig has ever made) was a flap from the media and not the fans. We didn't care. We got to see our favorite players play an exhibition game. I don't want the outcome of the World Series decided by the AllStar game!

And if they didn't mess things up enough with changing format of who gets home field advantage, the selection process made far too many mistakes that have been reverberating around baseball since the selections were announced. MLB has been doing damage control ever since the selections were made.

Selig spends too much of his time listening to the media which has their own agenda and not enough time listening to the fans. Bret Boone, redeemed himself a bit in my book (which has mostly black marks around his name) by rightly blasting the commissioner (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-all-star-selig&prov=ap&type=lgns). Oh, by the way, have I already asked you how much Selig and Bill Gates are starting to look alike?


The Home Run Derby was very good this year considering the world's best sluggers weren't there. I still don't like the format where someone like Giambi can hit more total homeruns in the contest and not make the finals. Garrett Anderson hit less homeruns total than Giambi or Pujols and yet wins the final round. There is something screwy there.


Barry Bonds was reported to state that he wanted to wipe out Ruth since he now had the slugging percentage record that Ruth originally had and now he wants to wipe out the Babe's homer total. His quote in the AP story was:

"And if it does happen, the only number I care about is Babe Ruth's. Because as a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth's everything, right? I got his slugging percentage and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more.'' (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-all-star-notebook&prov=ap&type=lgns)

No wonder Bonds has never been a fan favorite. You don't diss one of the biggest legends of history. That would be like Clinton stating that he had wiped out George Washington because he (Clinton) was one of the most popular presidents in history. I'm sure there have been better presidents than Washington, but you don't diss the legend. Bonds didn't play on the same playing field. Bonds didn't rescue baseball from the Black Sox Scandal. Bonds didn't play his first few years as a pitcher. Enjoy the records. Enjoy being one of the best players baseball has ever seen...but it would be better if you just kept your mouth shut.


Is the celebrity softball game that comes after the Home Run Derby the lamest event in sports? It has all the entertainment value of a curling event from the early days of ESPN. This is reality television that is just a step above "Beg, Borrow and Steal."