This is the Best They've Got?

The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game is becoming something of ridicule. Currently 84 players have been named to one of the two squads. What is this the NFL? Injuries, ineligibility, and what have you, is making this a joke. Almost 24% of the players on the rosters are replacements. We can't have this. It used to be an honor to play in this game, but now, as long as you are named and get your contractual bonus, there is no need to play.

Ok so A-Rod just had surgery, Braun has missed a bunch of game recently, but what about Mariano Rivera and David Price. Weren't they just playing?

What about Jeter, if my memory serves me right, I think he was in the news recently, and I believe it had to do with him playing baseball not dating celebrities.

Then there are guys who are ineligible because they pitched yesterday. I guess this makes sense, don't want them to get hurt, but when you lose the likes of Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez and, instead, have to watch Brandon League and Aaron Crow pitch, doesn't that take the luster out of the game. No offense to League and Crow or Ryan Vogelsong but I'd rather be watching a League of their own, The Crow, or even the Miley Cyrus masterpiece The Last Song than watch these jokesters pitch.




I think it's time to get rid of the representative for each team. Sometimes there are teams that don't have a player that deserves to make the midsummer classic. Take it from someone who has been a Pirates fan for his entire life, SOMETIMES THERE ARE TEAMS THAT DON'T HAVE A PLAYER THAT DESERVES TO PLAY IN THE GAME.

I know, in a year where there is a resurgence for baseball in Pittsburgh, a year when the Buccos are represented by 3 all-stars (granted 2 as replacements, even though McCutchen should have been on from the beginning) I shouldn't be as jaded by this game, but for some reason I am.

Look a guy like C.C. who is 13-4, with a 2.72 ERA in arguably the toughest division in baseball, doesn't even make the team on his first try.

How?

And Paul Konerko who is putting up an MVP-calibur season, .314 BA 22 HR 67 RBI, had to get voted in by fans. I guess Ron Washington was too busy impersonating Scarface to get his roster right the first time.

How is Scott Rolen and Chipper Jones in the game? Yeah if this was somewhere between 1998 and 2006 then yeah they'd have a case but Chipper is hitting .259 with 6 homers and 46 RBI. Rolen, who is starting, is even worse. Is a guy with a .241 batting average, yes, that's right .241, with 5 homers and only 36 RBI. Are you kidding me? There is noone third baseman out there with better numbers? See these are the things that are making me mad.

Granted the game might be awesome, but the roster selection is screwed up. I don't know how to fix it, I'm not going to pretend that I know what will work, but as long as I have this keyboard and this internet access, I can let my opinion be heard.

So now is no better of a time than to unveil the 2011 not-All Stars from sports, Hollywood, and politics.


Athletes:

The Big Three




You must be living under a rock not to know why their 2011 has been terrible. Basically you try to manipulate a league in order to play with your 2 buddies in a move that more than guarenteed an NBA Championship. Instead you run into a David Hasselhoff-loving German who ruined everything. I guess there will always be next season. Maybe.


Terrelle Pryor




Pryor pretty much ruined the Ohio State football program. The nation's top recruit a few years back was the next coming of Jesus in Columbus, but a short 3 years later he is nothing more than a modern day Judas. His highly profiled off the field activities have not only put the team on probation and cost them the entire 2010 season, but the mastermind of the Bucks success in the past decade was forced to pull his sweater vest over his face and cower off into the sunset. Now Pryor is being told that he won't be a pro QB. We will see what the supplemental draft has in store for him, but with the contract he will sign he won't be able to afford too many tats or no longer manufactured Nissans.


USA Golf




Without a healthy Tiger, a manzier needing Phil Mickelson, and a youth movement that is, well, not making much of a movement, United States golf is getting dominated by our neighbors across the Atlantic. Does anyone really feel confident that an American has a chance to win the British Open. Well as long as there is Euros playing, I don't.


Christina Aguilera




Formally one of the hottest women on the planet, Aguilera put on a few too many lbs, Genie in a Bottle? More like Gravy in a Bottle. She also screwed up the national anthem in the biggest television event of the year, and got a publicized DUI with her much younger boyfriend.

Remember the good ol' days




Former New York Representative Anthony Weiner




First off when your name is Weiner, the last thing you need to do is draw attention to little namesake. June 2011 was the month of Weiner. His much publicized online affair with a Vegas blackjack dealer took America by storm. Go figure you can't trust a girl working in Vegas.


Charlie Sheen




Personally I think it was a good year for Sheen, but when you lose the kind of money he was making a CBS, I guess it isn't that good of a year, at least not financially.





Let's Go Bucs!