Take Me Out To The All Star Game

Tonight is a special night to me. I have not missed a baseball all-star game since before I can remember. The All Star game has always been cool to me. Maybe it is because it brings me back to my youth and I can recount all the times I would sit up and watch Bruce Sutter come in to save the game or Dave Parker throw a be-be to home plate to nail Darrel Porter at the plate.

Sure, the game has changed and as I got older and more cynical I realized that a lot of the players are over paid spoiled jerks. However, there are still a lot of great players and really good guys in the game. Take, Derek Lee, the Cubs all world first baseman. He carries no baggage, he acts like a professional, when interviewed does not come off as an ass. Or, Albert Pujous, he is wise beyond his years and respects the history of the game and what his place is in it. For every Barry Bonds there are twenty Lee’s and Pujous’ out there.

I guess I’ve always liked that every team is represented and that by voting the fans have a direct result in who plays. As a kid the Cubs were never in the pennant race but come mid July I could catch Bill Buckner or Dave Kingman in the all-star game hitting against the American league. While, interleague play has kind of tarnished that uniqueness, on some level I still dig seeing the interesting match-ups. I also cannot stand that the home field for the World Series is determined on the outcome but that is life. It is still by far the best all-star game of the four major sports.

The Pro-bowl in the football is a complete joke as it is played after the season. It is beyond on exhibition and the game is so un-like the real product they should not even be allowed to call it football. Basketball’s all-star game is a farce as they play no defense and it just turns into a who can out dunk who track meet. Hockey used to be played and when it was it’s all-star game was a travesty with its North America Vs. the World bullshit.

So, tonight I will be home at seven o’clock eagerly anticipating the game. I will watch the player introductions just like I used to when I was a ten-year-old kid who collected baseball cards and would watch This Week In Baseball every Saturday morning. This was a time before cable and before ESPN. If you wanted to see a Ron Guidry, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, or Jim Rice you had better catch the All-star game to do so. So, even in today’s all access to everything society I still can find that innocence in mid summer classic.