It's All-Star Time

We have to admit to becoming positively stoked about all the All-Star Festivities these days, especially as tonight is the big Home Run Derby. Local sports talk radio is all over it, ESPN is here, Fox has been promoting the hell out of it, and Jay-Z is even throwing a party for it (and hey, Hovah, if you happen to be reading this and want to help hype it by having an on-the-spot reporter, just drop us a line). And we're not the only ones excited-- reports say that the All-Star Game is bringing the city big bucks.

Of course, it wouldn't be any sort of baseball event in the city without it becoming, at some point, not about the Giants or about the ballpark or baseball, but about Barry. First there was the controversy about him suddenly being elected into the All-Star Game after a fishy wave of votes at the last minute got him the selection. To add fuel to all the conspiracy fires, there's a story out there on the internet about some hi-tech company that pulled some high-tech wizardry to help Barry with the votes.

But it's not the selection of Barry to the game that's causing the controversy (face it, Barry has to be there), it's his decision to not do Home Run Derby. The decision brought the ire of Peter Magowan who criticized Barry for dropping out, a pretty significant thing because in fourteen years of being the man who pays Barry's checks, Magowan has done nothing but put his hands over his ears and shriek "I can't hear you" whenever told that Barry has done something wrong. We also have no official word on this, but when listening to Gary Radnich this morning, he said that at the behest of Major League Baseball, the Giants have taken down all the Barry related stuff in the ballpark: the signs, the numbers, maybe even the rubber chickens. Don't want that cognitive dissonance out there of making it look like you're celebrating somebody who you don't really want to celebrate even though you probably have to celebrate them.

And speaking of cognitive dissonance, we leave you with this note-- according to Deadspin, Cardinals fans booed Barry throughout yesterday's drubbing, and then booed the Giants when Barry was taken out. We would like to point out that if there are any fans out there who be considered all pot-like in calling a kettle black, it would be Cardinals fans.