"This time it counts!" What a joke the All Star game is. An exhibition game in the middle of the season with some fake meaning attached to it by giving the league (AL or NL) that wins the game home field advantage for the World Series. The players that don't make it use the three days as a vacation. The players that make it give it their all day in and day out and deserve the vacation more than the players that don't make it. This is why more and more players are saying "no thanks" to the All Star nod. They want the time off.
Another reason it's a joke is that the manager of the team gets to fill in the gaps. When a player is hurt or decides he doesn't want to play, the manager of the team (which is the manager of the team who represented the league in the World Series the previous year) gets to select the player who will take the place of the one not playing. Ozzie Guillen (Manager of the Chicago White Sox) had that honor this year. Did anyone else notice that there were about 9 White Sox in the All Star game? Wow, that must be some team! Either that or there's some homerism going on! I wonder which it could be...
So, my favorite moment of the All Star game was when there was a routine ground ball to the third baseman (A-Rod, who plays third everyday). The reigning MLB MVP booted it. He got a normal hop and booted it, he recovered and threw the ball toward first. He threw it in the dirt. The first baseman (David Ortiz, who plays first maybe 18 times a year) makes an amazing dig on the short hop to get the runner. The runner up MLB MVP saved the MVP from getting slammed with a big fat E5! Poetic justice if I've ever seen it.
Slammin' the right: I was catching bits and pieces of Law and Order last night. The story line had something to do with anthrax and murder. Well, turns out the Feds staged an anthrax scare at the Police station so they could evacuate it and steal all of the evidence and research. The police are allowed back into their building and are shocked at what's happened. Gasps of "They can't do this!" abound. One officer says, "They can do whatever the hell they please because of the stupid Patriot Act." Oh really? Excuse me, Mr. Detective, if they can do whatever they please why did they stage an anthrax scare? Why not just walk in and declare national security and all that jazz and take what they wanted? Because they can't.
This was a double slam on the right. First, it's that stupid Patriot Act. Apparently it allows for Carte Blanche for the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. But not so much that they can do it in broad daylight; they have to get rid of some people first. Second: the people "enforcing" or "taking advantage of" the Patriot Act do in a slimy, despicable, dishonest way. What a load!
The police went to the Feds and tried to get their stuff back, and the Feds played the "National security," "You're not authorized," "Top Secret" crap. The Patriot Act is designed to increase communication between the Feds and local authorities, not sever it.
Of course, people who know little to nothing about it, save what they are spoon fed by NBC and the other networks, will just take that at face value and not question it. I wonder if NBC is contributing to the Democratic Party or if it's the other way around.
There you go: two completely unrelated examples of just my opinion.
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