Just arrived in Pittsburgh last night. Good city so far, just one complaint. Got off the plane and was walking through the Pitt airport, and all of a sudden there is a life-sized Franco Harris in full uniform grabbing the "Immaculate Reception". But the ball was like 2 feet off the ground as he's catching it. Come on guys. I know you would like us all to believe Franco caught the ball, but you made it seem like the ricochet hit Harris mid-chest in stride. A little overdone for my taste, and I'm not even a Raiders fan.
If you've ever been to a big event, you know it's really not about the sport itself, but rather all the parties and fanfare that goes along with it. Last night was no exception. Hit an MLB party at Heinz Field (maybe they didn't realize that's where they play football), and let's just say it hit back. Water intake is very high today (as is the Visine). Plenty of all-stars hit the party. Paul LoDuca seemed excited about his first All-Star start. Andruw Jones has been to six of these babies, but seemed to be enjoying himself. He asked, "Why didn't Salley make the trip?" I told him I would have to explain the rules of baseball before we let Sal hit the road for one of these.
Also met two of the better stories of the first half. Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla was a Rule 5 pickup and now he's at the All-Star game. I'm not so sure MLB knows it because he had no idea what his schedule was like or anything (I'm guessing it's not Bud's responsibility to send out the memo on that one). Another great story was Freddy Sanchez. He received more write-in votes than any player in baseball, and now he's playing the Mid-Summer Classic in his own park. Both Dan and Freddy were great guys ... guys you could easily root for. By the way, I'll never be confused for Richie Sexson, but I could easily post up LoDuca, Uggla or Sanchez and take them on the block ... whether I could actually score is another matter.
