I'm Not All Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream

I think I’m getting a reputation on here that I’m all about puppy dogs, ice cream and happiness all the time. That is actually pretty hilarious because I spend way too much of my life being annoyed or down right angry about something. I guess it is just healthier to focus on the positive when I am writing.

But today I am going to let my crotchety old man flag fly high!

I know everybody is just tickled pink by the ending of the Baseball All-Star Game last night but I am here to tell you that it is actually infuriating!!!!

First, in true crotchety old man fashion, I didn’t even watch the game. I haven’t watched the game in years. It has just become so silly over the years that I just can’t spend time on it.

Back in my day, All-Star games involved guys trying to kill one another in a maximum effort to win. Pete Rose basically ended a guy’s career because he wanted to win the All-Star game so badly. Check the history books. In 1970, the National League and American League were tied in the 12th inning. Pete Rose tried to score from 2nd on a single. Instead of nicely walking up and laughing as he got tagged out, or just slide like a normal human being, Pete Rose completely trucked catcher Ray Fosse. Rose was safe, won the game and destroyed Fosse’s shoulder forever.

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Now do I expect this unhealthy level of mania in an exhibition game? Hell no. But it does provide a shocking example of just how silly the All Star game has become. Back in 1970, there was only 2 ways you would ever see a national League pitcher face an American League batter and vice versa… in the All-Star game or the World Series. It was a huge deal. Now with so much interleave play, you can see this phenomenon every single day of the season. And that is cool. But it takes away from the importance of the All-Star game. In addition, players were paid so little compared to today’s players. Rose made $105,000 that year. Now guys make 3 times that for 1 game. So performing in the All Star game could mean more endorsements for the players so they wanted to play well. Today the game is basically meaningless. And that is ok too.

Another big difference is that in 1970, the teams were comprised of the very best player. If 7 of the best players were on the Reds or Yankees, that is who got to play. Now there is a rule that of the 32 players selected, there must be at least one player from every team. Ummm as a person living in Chicago, I can tell you right now, there was not a single White Sox player better than anyone in the 9 man Yankees lineup. The team was automatically worse the second they needed to put a White Sox player on it. And this is also OK. In addition, players care so little about this that about a dozen pitchers said “no thanks” to the invitation. They would rather rest their arm for what actually matters… REAL FREAKING GAMES!

The game is an exhibition game. It is for fun. It is a TV show for fans and more importantly casual fans. You want to see your team’s uniform out there. You want to see guys having fun and laughing. All of this is OK.

And then freaking Bud Selig went and ruined it (pretty much like he ruined everything he touched in baseball). Back in 2002 the game ended in a tie because it is an exhibition and each manager wanted to give every kid an at bat or an inning pitched. Well they ran out of pitchers and had to end it. No big deal. The game doesn’t matter anyway. But Bud had to stick his nose in and overreact to fix this problem… that happened exactly once. He decided he’d make this exhibition game count. And not only count. He made it count in a ridiculously huge way.

Thanks to Bud, the league that wins this exhibition game, that no one cares about, that requires you to pick a player from horrible teams, that wants you to play everyone now gets to decide who has home field advantage in the World Series. Ummmm the home field advantage in baseball is the biggest in any sport, There is no time limit in baseball so whoever bats last always has a HUGE advantage. And now this is decided by a freaking exhibition game. For the fast majority of the league this doesn’t matter. But if you are a fan of one of the team in the World Series, you better believe you don’t want to give this huge advantage to your opponent.

And last night was just the cherry on top. It is not bad enough that some American League team is going to get screwed out of a home game because the “all stars” of their league failed to win a freaking exhibition game… this one wasn’t even decide by a freaking game!!!!!!

First time in history the "MVP" didn't get a hit or pitch an inning in a game. He "won" batting practice!

This humongous advantage was decided by a homer hitting contest by reserve players. Not even the best on each team. Why? Because the players care so little about this game that most of the starters shower and leave as soon as the are replaced.

So the best team in the American League, which may have the most wins in all of baseball, will start the World Series with a huge disadvantage because of “winning” batting practice. Thanks Bud!

I am so done with baseball.