Monday, July 14, 2008

Home Run Derby Sucks.

The Home Run Derby is the stupidest thing in all of sports. Feel free to disagree with me here. In fact, if you do disagree with me, I'd love to hear why. The only possible competition for the "Stupidest Thing in All of Sports" is the Slam Dunk Contest.

It's the context that makes home runs cool - pitcher vs. hitter, the tension of the game, the shift in momentum. MLB has stripped that all away and given us glorified tee ball. Then, they make it last for 3 hours with endless replays of meaningless moments of guys hitting a ball with a stick.

Imagine if they had guys skate down the ice and shoot at an empty net at the NHL All Star game. Of course, they might... I've never seen an NHL All Star Game. I don't think anyone ever has.

Or imagine if before the Pro Bowl, they had guys just standing there and then players built up a head of steam and smashed into the other guy. Actually, that would be kind of cool. Nevermind.

The point is, the MLB Home Run Derby is like editing all your porn down to just the money shots. I'm lookin' at you edP.

2 comments:

Chris B. said...

In the NHL, they do it every time the game ends in a tie. If there was fighting in soccer, would that help the MLS?

tom o said...

The slam dunk contest used to be cool. The turning point for me was one year they had a giant wheel of legendary dunks. The players had to spin it and whatever it landed on - Dr. J., Jordan, whatever, they had to do that exact dunk.

I hate all all-star games. Does ANYONE watch the Pro Bowl? At least the MLB all-star is in the middle of the season. But a month after the Super Bowl? c'mon.