Why is Jason Varitek on the American League All-Star team? The All-Star game is about the players who are having a great first half. Nobody is supposed to pay any attention to what these players have done in the past.

This year Varitek is hitting .218 with 7 home runs and 27 runs batted in. A player that is hitting .218 does not deserve to be on the All-Star team. Jason was voted on by the players because of his intangibles and all of the other things that he brings to the game of baseball. I don’t care about all of the other things!!!!!

Fans are often scrutinized for turning the All-Star voting into a popularity contest. Will someone please get mad at the players for doing the same thing? Some disagree with fan voting because they say that the fans lack the knowledge necessary to put the best players in the game. It is argued that fans vote for players on their favorite teams. Maybe I am just one of these “unintelligent biased fans” but I do know that Jason Varitek is hitting .218 and that is not worthy of an All-Star nod. He is not in the top 50 in any of the major offensive categories (avg. hr, and rbi’s). There are 20 position players on the American League Roster and a player that is not in the top 50 in any of the major offensive categories is suddenly one of the top 20? How does this work?

Apparently, Varitek was voted in based on his other intangibles. What other intangibles are we talking about? We can’t possibly be talking about the way he handles a pitching staff that has a 4.06 era and ranks 21st in baseball. There are only 3 American League teams with worse ERA’s!!!!!

Get Jason Varitek off of the All-Star team and replace him with A.J Pierzynski. Pierzynski has led the White Sox to the best ERA in the majors. He has a higher batting average that Varitek as well as more home runs and more runs batted it.

 A sports rivalry is defined as “intense competition between athletic teams or athletes.” This is a very broad definition and it does not appear to cover the true meaning of a rivalry. Rivalry games are always more intense than other games, they mean more to both the players on the field and the fans in the stands. Beating a hated rival provides fans with bragging rights that are comparable to nothing else while losing to a rival gives the fans an unbearable pain as well as a fear of going to school or work on Monday.

We all have our favorite teams and along with cheering for these teams, we learn to hate their rivals. However, what makes these hated teams “rivals?” Is a rival a team that shares the same geographic region? Or, is a rival a team that may be in the same division as your favorite team and is always competing for the division title? Are rivals two teams that may not play often, but have rich histories and possibly only meet in championships? Can teams truly have multiple rivals?

Local rivalries are always fun for territorial bragging rights, but sometimes both local teams are not equal as competitors. If one team is clearly better than the other and always seems to win, I do not feel that it is a true rival. If both teams are on a level playing field, but are both bad it may be a good game and provide the fans with bragging right, but what is the point if nobody cares and the results of the game do not matter? Territorial rivals are only as good as the teams that participate. If a region has two teams that tend to be towards the top of the standings and both are able to beat each other then the area has a true rivalry that is able to be enjoyed by both sets of fans. Yes, we all want our team to win all the time, but rivalry games are not nearly as fun if we know our team will win or if we have to pray for the upset.

Divisional foes are sometimes the best types of rivals because of the importance of the game. Watching a game where a postseason berth is on the line makes a rivalry game all the more dramatic. This is what gives so much appeal to rivalries such as the Red-Sox and the Yankees as well as Ohio State and Michigan. Both of these sets of rivals always compete with something on the line. There have been plenty of postseason series involving the Red-Sox and Yankees that add to the rivalry. The Ohio-State and Michigan football game usually decides the winner of the Big-10 Conference. The bigger the magnitude of the game, the more intense the rivalry.

What about teams in opposite conferences, but are each rich in tradition? Rivals such as the Celtics and the Lakers or Notre Dame and USC have plenty of appeal to historians and true fans of the teams, but lack the appeal to the casual fan. Although these games may be fun to watch, the true significance of the rivalry may be lost to the casual fans as well as the younger fans.

As he has finally passed Hank Aaron lets put the Barry Bonds soap opera behind us and let the legal matters involving steroids and perjury, play themselves out. We can sit and wait on those results, but put him in the past for now as I am tired of talking and hearing about Bonds, steroids, and home runs. While we were focusing on the many negatives this year in baseball there have been just as many great stories that we may have missed while following Bonds. Although there have been many more I only have time to write about three; Rick Ankiel, Jack Cust, and Jon Lester.

Rick Ankiel was a second round pick for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997. The flame throwing-lefty cruised through the minor leagues and made his major league debut in 2000 at the age of 20. He won 11 games pitched 175 innings and had 194 strikeouts and posted a 4.64 era. However, in the first game of the playoffs he set a major league record throwing 9 wild pitches in just 4 innings. He began the 2001 season right where he left off in the playoffs. In 34 innings he walked 26, hit 5 batters, and threw 6 wild pitches. He was nowhere near consistent and it appeared as if the young superstar’s career was slipping away as he missed 2002 and most of the next two seasons with arm injuries.

Cardinals General Manager Walt Jocketty suggested that Rick try to become an outfielder. Rick worked on his game and hit .274 with 30 home runs this season in the minor leagues. Last week the Cardinals called up Rick and the newfound slugger hit a home run in his first game back. After 3 games he is hitting .417 with 3 home runs and 6 rbi's.

Jon Lester is a starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. On August 27th of 2006 he missed his start against the Athletics with a sore back and was placed on the disabled list. He was sent back to Boston to see doctors and further testing. On September 1st, doctors confirmed that Lester had a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma or more simply put he had cancer. The cancer was treatable and Lester started the 2007 season in single A. In late April he was already promoted to AAA. ON July 23 he was called up and made his first start since being diagnosed with cancer. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 2 runs while picking up the win.

Jack Cust was a career minor league baseball player. He has bounced around throughout many organizations before landing in Oakland. He is the definition of Billy Beane’s “Moneyball.” Jack hits for power, but shows discipline and takes his walks. Although having over 200 career home runs in the minors Jack was never able to make the adjustment to the big leagues as he never played in more than 35 games and never hit more than 4 homers.

After a career of ups and downs it looks as if Jack has finally found a home in Oakland. Since being called up earlier in the year he has played in 79 games. He is hitting .265, but has an on base percentage of .402. He has 18 home runs and 59 rbi’s.