A midsummer's night joke

Tonight's the night. The second Tuesday in July - the annual Midsummer's Night Classic.

That's right. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

It's literally the only game in town. For on the night representatives from the National League and the American League take the field against one another, there is never another team sporting event on the calendar.

And that's fine, seeing as how the ASG has become a stinking pile of doo under the watchful eyes of Bud Selig.

Once upon a time the game meant something - and not because of Selig's gimmicky give home-field advantage to the team representing the victorious league. Once upon a time it mattered because the players were honored to have been named to the team. Once upon it mattered because fans were able to see which league played the best brand of baseball. Once it mattered because, with the exception of the World Series, it was the only time you'd ever see players from both leagues on the field in the same game.

Mr. Selig's brilliantly stupid idea of playing interleague games screwed that up. The game lost it's entire raison d'etre with that decision.

And now we have the absurd situation of a game to decide home field advantage in the World Series being decided by a bunch of subs and scrubs. The big names will have long left the field in Kansas City when the game is decided. The players on the field at the end won't be the players voted into the game by the fans. They'll be the substitutes and the fill-ins for players who elected not to play.

The All-Star Game was meant to be an exhibition. A chance for the fans to see the best of the best on the field for one night. Thanks to Bud Selig the game has become a unwatchable joke. And this sorry excuse for a game will decided who has home field advantage when the two (supposedly) best teams in baseball meet in the fall.

Wake me when it's over.