An All Star Flop

It is time for a rant.  This is not something you have to agree with, and it is a mixture of fact and emotion.  Yes, the 2013 All Star Game was a total flop for anyone that was not an American League fanatic, and that is not because the American League won.  Of course, this Cardinals fan was for the National League, but I would not call a game a flop simply based on the score.  Instead, I call it a flop, because FOX once again subjected us to zero features about the talent on the team with the best record in baseball going into the All Star Break.  You think that would garner some serious attention, right?  Six All Star Players surely brings some attention, right?  For the Cardinals, that answer is a strong NO!  If that were the New York Yankees, do you really think we wouldn’t have had their life stories featured before the end of nine innings?  Heck, we would have probably seen pictures of the players in their baby cribs wearing diapers.

Another flop – the simple fact that Citi Field did not make for an exciting All Star venue.  In fact, it made for an annoying venue. When I watch an All Star Game, I want the players to all be acknowledged by the fans.  I feel like it is the one game where booing incessantly is tacky.  Yeah, there was some booing last year, but as anyone from Missouri knows, a Midwestern boo is extraordinarily polite.  The booing for Molina and Wainwright was insane.  I understand why Mets fans wouldn’t feel exactly kindly towards them, but seriously?  Do these people ever get over anything?  Also, the colors – the stinkin’, tacky colors.  Seeing players with their precious uniforms on marred by tacky orange and blue was unsightly.  I was yearning for the Giants and their Halloween colors by the end of the night.

Most of all, though, I was simply annoyed by the fact that Matt Carpenter was barely mentioned positively in a comment from Tim McCarver.  No feature, no real mention.  I was annoyed that while Brandon Phillips started with a batting average below .300, Carpenter was like a blip on the radar.  I was annoyed that Craig Kimbrel was treated like royalty on the television, but that Mujica was not mentioned for having the same stellar performance this year.  In fact, Kimbrel has had some difficulties if you watch the actual games that I have not witnessed from Mujica.  And, I like Kimbrel.  This is no slam towards him or Phillips.  This is a slam towards the fact that in the end, even for Kimbrel and Phillips, the National League was not loved on Tuesday night, even though the home was the National League for the game.  Tim McCarver and Joe Buck showed once again that they do not give a dang about the actual statistics, realities, etc… of the game.  FOX wants ratings, and Northeastern and West Coast teams bring them the mass amounts of ratings that they want.  Forget the fact the Cardinals do very well ratings wise considering their TV market.  Forget the fact that some of us do not have a love affair with the city of New York.

Two more things:

– A diversion from baseball: McCarver and Buck need to be told that Chris Christie and Michael Bloomberg are not “celebrities.”  They are politicians.  I saw them featured on the TV more than the Cardinals.  Let’s quit calling politicians celebrities.

– I have a friend who is a political scientist finishing up his PhD.  He did a regression analysis based on some past All Star Games.  If it holds (which he isn’t confident of, but thinks it could be accurate), the Cardinals will finish with 100+ wins (you gain additional 7 per ASG representative at the game).  If the Cardinals get there, I’m sure Buck and McCarver will barely mention it – heck, they’ll probably be inwardly seething.

Rant finished.  Thanks for reading.