We turned on the All-Star game at 7 p.m. CDT last night, expecting perhaps a half hour of tributes to Ted Williams, Darryl Kile, and Jack Buck. I timed the hot dogs and toppings to be ready a little after 7, and then we sat and watched as MLB tried to replicate the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with the children of light. It's always neat to see the living legends come out for these events, but is it absolutely necessary to surround them with dancing children? Wouldn't it have been far more touching if they'd just played catch for a little while?

At some point we started taking bets as to when the game would actually start, Tim guessed 7:52, but the first pitch wasn't thrown until after the VCR clock read 8:00. From what I understand, extended tributes to Buck and Kile were cut for time. Baseball would be much better off moving the All-Star game to a weekend afternoon or at least a few hours earlier than spending large sums on an ad campaign with Ashton Kutcher and Mark McGrath in an attempt to reach a generation of teens they failed to reach as children.

Of course before the game could start, we had to listen to another dreadful rendition of the National Anthem in which the "singer" once again couldn't even be bothered to sing the correct words. Perhaps you feel that it's the sentiment behind the song rather than the quality of the performance that matters. I certainly don't discourage those without perfect pitch from singing the anthem, but I find it inexcusable for someone singing solo at a large performance to belt out the wrong words.

I fully approve of the athletes bringing their camcorders and families with them to the game. MLB couldn't have written a better family ad for baseball than Jorge Posada's two-year old toddling onto the field when his dad's name was called out, in a case of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, as the little tike is Jorge Posada IV. Seeing the healthy child was particularly touching as we remembered Posada's concern when his son was diagnosed with craniosynostosis, a condition that causes a baby's skull bones to fuse before the brain has stopped growing. Morris, sitting out the game due to back spasms, provided a small tribute to Kile with "DK" and "57" written on his palms when he waved to the crowd during his introduction.

Torii Hunter's save of Barry Bonds' home run ball was a nice moment, particularly with Barry scooping up Hunter on his way out to the outfield. By the way, someone should tell Sosa that Hunter's known as Spiderman, not Superman. It's quite annoying to have press covering these events who are unfamiliar with baseball and then attempt to assign nicknames to players who already have them. I was also irritated with the broadcast team attempting to say that Bonds was disgruntled about being robbed of his homer when he could hardly have been more good-natured about it. The media has a bee in its bonnet because Bonds doesn't like talking to them when he's likely a far better human than many quote machines. Any fans disappointed by the defensive play were satisfied in Bonds' next at-bat, when he sent a Roy Halladay pitch deep for a homer.

Sammy Sosa, who's having one of the worst weeks in memory for a player, got his first All-Star hit and then was thrown out trying for third on a Vladimir Guerrero single. He struck out in his only other at-bat. Sosa's week started with a Rick Reilly interview in which Reilly surprised him with a request that Sosa immediately submit to a drug test.

Sosa's been quite vocal in his willingness to submit to testing, but it's completely understandable that he would balk at such a suggestion, as if he'd taken the test, he would have shown up his fellow union members. I don't think this incident throws any further suspicion on Sosa as a steroid user. I understand why Reilly didn't inform Sosa in advance of his intentions, as it certainly makes for a more sensational story this way. However, if Reilly really wanted Sosa to take the test, he should have notified Sammy of his plans prior to arriving at Wrigley.

After dealing with that story breaking, Sammy's week continued to go downhill. His wife seriously injured her hand on broken glass, requiring surgery, and Don Baylor, who Sosa strongly supported after some initial feuds, was fired. Then he lost the Home Run Derby, a contest he's focused on winning the last few seasons.

Other moments of interest include Jimmy Rollins' two hits and baserunning, Paul Konerko's two hits and two RBI, Omar Vizquel's triple, and Alfonso Soriano's homer. We started multi-tasking to some extent in the 3rd inning but put aside our other activities before the ninth to watch the game more attentively.

We were very pleased that both managers had successfully used all of their players and were even going to be able to use their last pitchers as the game went into extra innings. On the AL roster, Pedro Martinez declined his invitation in order to avoid injury and allow another qualified candidate on the team. Torre replaced Pedro with Boston teammate and closer Ugueth Urbina. Brenly had to replace three starters because Tom Glavine was suffering from minor blisters and Matt Morris was having trouble with minor back spasms, while Randy Johnson's decision to decline was similar to Pedro's. Brenly selected Robb Nen, Vicente Padilla, and Mike Remlinger to replace the three pitchers.

The announcers began discussing the need to keep the game short due to a lack of more pitchers in the bullpen starting around the eighth or ninth inning, but we didn't see a real problem arising because this is why both managers save a starting pitcher. I ran to the computer to see when the last time Freddy Garcia and Vicente Padilla had pitched and discovered they were both on full rest, having pitched July 4th. The game continued, as did the talk of ending it in a tie. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver didn't think the fans would object after receiving extra innings for their money. They thought fans would understand that the players needed to be protected for regular season play.

As we sat on the couch, Tim and I strongly disagreed with what was said on television. First and foremost, this game is the fan's reward, the game in which they get to see the best of the best, including at least one player from their home team. From our vantage point there was no reason not to let the pitchers continue, given they were fully rested and would normally throw up to a hundred pitches in a regular game. We're quite sensitive to preserving the health of players and adamant about the use of pitch counts. However, discussion of their warm-up pitches was irrelevant as they typically warm up before games and before starting innings in regular season games, and those pitches do not count towards the number of pitches deemed dangerous.

We also began discussing alternatives if the pitchers were for some reason unable to continue, trying to remember if any of the position players on the field had previously pitched. When we later checked none of the final sixteen fielders had ever pitched in a major league game, but someone could have lobbed balls over the plate. If both teams received the opportunity to bat in an inning under the same circumstances, the result would have been a fair resolution to the game, and anything would have been better than a tie at that point. After the game ended, we discussed a number of scenarios from using a batting tee or pitching machine to finish the game to having one of the coaches, players attending but not in the game, or even "two lucky fans" pitch the final inning.

The way in which the game was delayed for 10 minutes while the umpires and managers conferred with Commissioner Selig demonstrated a large lack of organization. Waiting on the mound for that time likely was worse for Garcia than pitching two or three more innings.

Freddy Garcia could have scored major points by grooving a pitch down the middle in the final inning after it was announced that the game would end following the 11th regardless of the score. However, it wasn't even as though he were pitching to the top of the order where it could have looked partially realistic. Padilla and Benito Santiago made the final two outs of the game, again calling attention to Brenly's indefensible decision to take Santiago over Paul Lo Duca, who puts the ball in play in over 95% of his at-bats. I don't place much blame on Garcia, as he even stated after the game he could have pitched longer. He shouldn't have been put in a position where throwing the game was the best course of action.

Major Mistakes Made at the Game:

1. Any of the previously discussed tiebreakers would have been better than ending in a tie.

This incident is a perfect example of Selig's inability to lead, and I find it completely appropriate that he was forced to reap the rewards of his actions in his home park. He claimed it wasn't an easy decision to make, but implementing an alternative would have been much more difficult. These circumstances were very different from those in 1961 when the game was called due to rain, as weather frequently interrupts games and there just wasn't an opportunity to finish in that instance. Don't blame this on baseball; blame it on Bud.

2. Not picking an MVP after naming the award after Ted Williams was a moronic decision. MVP's are occasionally given to players on losing teams, so why not hand one out in a tie. If there's a real problem, award one to each team.

There are some potential reasons for not awarding the MVP last night. The first being that MLB likely wanted fans to exit the stadium as quickly as possible to avoid violence. Buck and McCarver also spent a good deal of time discussing the fact that they voted before the game went into extra innings. Those votes wouldn't have represented the last three innings of the game and they were likely reluctant to reballot. If the later reason played into the decision in any way, heads should roll for that kind of laziness. If the former was the driving factor, then there's no reason not to award the MVP today. It need not be a public ceremony; it even could be announced today and awarded later at the player's park.

3. No pre-game show should ever last more than a half hour.

Anyone responsible for the contract between MLB and MasterCard should be forbidden from ever again working in professional sports; we'd prefer they be kept out of amateur sports, too. The loss in TV ratings can likely be attributed to the late start time.

It did not matter that Joe Torre (correctly) gave into peer pressure to take Barry Zito, who started on Sunday, despite Torre's reservations about selecting any starter who'd pitched that recently. Both managers intended to use all their players, so whomever Torre would have selected instead of Zito still would not have been of use later. Using similar reasoning, the fact that Bob Brenly only brought three starters is equally irrelevant, though it was a poor choice.

General roster expansion would not aid in preventing this from happening again as every player on the team deserves to be in the game. If rosters were expanded there would need to be players designated as "Extra Inning All-Stars" and there's too much room in that scenario to insult talented people. One other solution would be to extend the practice of allowing the managers to bring their entire coaching staff to the game. Future managers could bring a few extra relievers from their teams in case of extra innings, but then there would be complaints about it not being an "All-Star" game.

The primary reason cited after the game for calling it a tie was the health of Padilla, who had difficulty warming up. I can understand wanting to protect him. However, Brenly made a comment during the broadcast indicating he believed this would have normally been Padilla's day to throw on the side. I'm curious as to whether he might have made a different decision had he known Padilla was fully rested. While I doubt it would have changed anything, such obvious incompetence needs to be questioned.