{"id":598,"date":"2010-07-14T08:58:03","date_gmt":"2010-07-14T13:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=598"},"modified":"2010-07-14T08:58:03","modified_gmt":"2010-07-14T13:58:03","slug":"the-home-run-derby-is-officially-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/598","title":{"rendered":"The Home Run Derby Is Officially Boring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since its inclusion in 1985, I have always felt that the home run derby was, without a doubt, the highlight of the All-Star break.\u00a0 There was nothing more exciting than watching the most prolific home run hitters put on an unparalleled display of power, as a way of giving back to the major league baseball fan base.\u00a0 Baseball\u2019s best power hitters seemed honored to be selected for the derby, and it was clear that they were whole-heartedly competing.<\/p>\n

However, that was then.<\/p>\n

Now, the home run derby is an embarrassing, lesser version of what it once was, featuring out-dated commentators and shitty, intolerable music that can be heard three states over.\u00a0 It has become an overly publicized, commercial event that fails to recognize and compliment the most impressive players in baseball.\u00a0 What happened to the days where guys like Ken Griffey, Jr.<\/a>, Frank Thomas<\/a>, Juan Gonzalez<\/a> and Jim Thome<\/a> battled each other, round by round, while creating an electrifying environment within the given park?\u00a0 I\u2019d prefer a derby featuring juicers like McGwire and Sosa than the anticlimactic atmosphere that I had to sit through last night.\u00a0 I thought that baseball\u2019s all-star game and home run derby actually reflected the best players in baseball?\u00a0 It seems as though the derby has now become an event much like the Pro-Bowl, where the players would rather protect their bodies and swings than participate in an elite event that was once a highlight of the MLB season.\u00a0 It\u2019s a running joke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If the MLB really wants to create an exciting derby and All-Star game, they need to eliminate the fan voting, which continues to favor players in major markets as well as those in the central and eastern time zones.\u00a0 Similarly, fan voting has traditionally favored the longevity of a player\u2019s career, as opposed to what a younger player might be doing in the now. Considering that only those elected to the actual game can participate in the derby, isn\u2019t the MLB putting itself at a disadvantage by opting to use this process?<\/p>\n

If they wanted to have a legitimate home run derby, doesn\u2019t it make more sense to use fan voting for that?\u00a0 Perhaps they could even take the four hitters from each league, who possess the longest average home run, and pit them against each other?\u00a0 It would be a great opportunity for the guys who can pulverize a baseball, but aren\u2019t necessarily all-star caliber players, to receive some recognition and participate in the festivities.\u00a0 Who wouldn\u2019t want to see Russell Branyan, or Garrett Jones, or Justin Upton, or Jim Thome, or Mark Reynolds, or Carlos Quentin repeatedly hit tape measure bombs?<\/p>\n

However, I can\u2019t place all of the blame on Major League Baseball, ESPN did their best to make the presentation of last night\u2019s derby utterly intolerable.\u00a0 Over the past year, the majority of their most credible baseball analysts and on-air personalities have wisely gravitated to the MLB Network, and the Baseball Tonight crew has become comparable to Vince Vaughan\u2019s second-rate news crew in Anchorman<\/a>.\u00a0 I guess that it shouldn\u2019t have come as a surprise that we had Chris Berman, Joe Morgan and Bobby Valentine covering the derby last.<\/p>\n

Seriously, ESPN?\u00a0 Chris Berman, Joe Morgan and Bobby Valentine? As Hawk Harrelson would say, \u201cMercy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Berman was irritating and irrelevant when I was growing up, and I don\u2019t even have the words to describe how I feel about him now.\u00a0 He\u2019s not a legitimate analyst; he\u2019s just an obnoxious presence at all times.\u00a0 He\u2019s like Glenn Beck: an entertainer pretending to be an educator.\u00a0 Despite his status as a baseball legend, Joe Morgan is a fucking dinosaur and has clearly become totally disconnected from modern baseball.\u00a0 He cannot follow the speed of a conversation and has therefore been reduced to a series of antiquated expressions and personal anecdotes.\u00a0 I\u2019ll spare Bobby V here just because him sneaking back into the dugout after being ejected, sporting a fake mustache and shades is hilarious.\u00a0 The best part of their 2\u00bd hours on the air was when Will Ferrell stopped by and provided some comedic relief for a few minutes. \u00a0Still, it even seemed like those guys managed to make him feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

As if the constant blabbering of Berman, Morgan and Valentine wasn\u2019t bad enough, those of us who tuned in were treated to the stadium\u2019s background music, which I would honestly describe as the worst shit that I have ever heard.\u00a0 Call it euro-trance, club music, reggaeton, call it whatever you want.\u00a0 It sucked and was honestly the most irritating aspect of the entire derby.\u00a0 It\u2019s bad news when you are eagerly anticipating a four-minute, Joe Morgan story.\u00a0 I would have rather listened to an entire set by Train than sit through last night\u2019s musical selections.\u00a0 I would have even preferred the sound of 50,000 vuvuzelas to all of that crap that was played last night.<\/p>\n

Oh, and worst of all, we had to sit through the 2\u00bd hours of lackluster performances, brutal music, bumbling commentary, and extensive delays just to see David Ortiz prevail.<\/p>\n

Will the state of the derby change by next year, or will it only be worse? Who knows?\u00a0 All I know is that I will utilize the mute button for 2011 Home Run Derby.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since its inclusion in 1985, I have always felt that the home run derby was, without a doubt, the highlight of the All-Star break.\u00a0 There was nothing more exciting than watching the most prolific home run hitters put on an unparalleled display of power, as a way of giving back to the major league baseball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,6,16,11,13],"tags":[592,596,594,344,593,349,595,506,599,505,597,598],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}