Monday Grab Bag: The return of the worst week in sports

Welcome, once again, to the worst week in sports.  The Major League Baseball All-Star game, annually, announces itself as deserving of an entire week of focus, and then proceeds to bore the nation to tears through a glorified round of batting practice and a main event no more important than a random spring training game.  Even for me, a devout follower of the religion of baseball, this week is impossibly difficult to get through.

The question that I've been hearing more and more over the past few years is "how do we fix it?"  You can't, stop trying.  The reasons behind the existence of this non-event were: 1) to create a new source of revenue for the league during the Depression, which eventually evolved into 2) provide a showcase for out-of-town stars that fans rarely got to see.  80 years later, baseball no longer needs the revenue, and fans can see out-of-town stars whenever they want, thanks to nationalized television packages.  There's no longer a point. Just name a team, hand out some bonus checks, and keep the season moving.

But, that's too logical and forward thinking for baseball, so expect them continue to wring the stone in search of water.  Meanwhile, more and more fans of the game will stop watching, and the sport's infrastructure will become more and more irrelevant. *sigh*  Baseball, as always, is timeless to a fault.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the conclusion of the World Cup, NBA free agency, and fundraising at CU.

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Monday Grab Bag: The worst sporting week of the year

What is the best week of the sporting year?  Some would say Super Bowl week, others late October and the World Series.  There are numerous acceptable answers; personally, I'm all over the Tournament's first week in March.

Regardless of your personal sporting preference, however, there can be no debate over what is the worst week on the sporting calendar.  This very week, centered around Baseball's All-Star break, leaves American sport fans without any contests of consequence at the height of summer.  The paucity of competition is so heinous that it drives many to trick themselves into caring about meaningless media side-shows like the God-forsaken Home Run Derby.  Let me say that again, people willingly tune into a schlock-fest featuring Chris Berman.  That borders on a war crime!

Not satisfied with the misery already laid upon the American public, MLB has outdone themselves by allowing the typically 3-day break to balloon into a fourth evening.  You'd think that, by now, I'd learn to anticipate this garbage, and schedule a much deserved vacation...

At least there's the latest edition of Thorburn's freshman interview series to occupy my attention for a while.

Today in the bag I'll be talking about the brewing QB battle set for CU's fall camp, baseball's first half, and almost-history from the world of tennis.

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Monday Grab Bag: Post July 4th edition

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.  I personally got the ole grill fired up and tried to fight through the heat to utilize it.  Standing around hot coals in mid 90s heat, even without humidity, is not exactly the most comfortable of scenarios.  The beer was very cold, and the burgers still ended up mighty tasty, so it worked out all right in the end.

Today in the bag I'm going to touch on labor issues, set up conclusion of the first half for both the Sox and Rox, and briefly mention the final vote.

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