All-Star events, going...going...going... good?

Major league baseball's all-star game is boring, it's old, it's over! That's pretty much what I’ve heard for the past couple of days and to be honest, I was really starting to convince myself that what everyone has been saying is true. That was until last night when I watched the Home Run Derby and I saw these group of kids sitting down on the field watching the players hit. I saw how excited these kids got, and the look on their faces every time a the ball went out of the park and I realized why I love baseball so much. I love it because it makes me feel like a kid again seeing these professional baseball players hit home runs. When I was a kid that was my dream, to hit home runs, to be this star, I think it's most kid’s dreams. I think a lot of adults are denying themselves the pleasure of enjoying something that is much larger than them. I don't know about everyone else but I really don't know anyone personally who could hit a home run in a major league baseball stadium much less 16 or 17 over a period of a couple of hours.

Maybe I'm crazy, it's possible that I am, but I don’t understand why all these people who think they know everything about sports really don't know anything. I think they've become so obsessed with statistics and records and all of these other things that they don't actually enjoy watching sports anymore. I know that’s a pretty hard accusation but it's true. I listen to sports radio for a good part of the day and I can honestly say that a lot of these guys (not all of them) focus on the negative things in sports rather than the positives. Why are so many kids playing soccer now rather than other sports? Because the media has built up all these negative images of other sports that parents would rather have their kids involved in a sport whose athletes don't appear on the police blotter every week or get accused of taking steroids every month. Major league soccer barely gets covered in the United States so there are no negatives there. How many Tank Johnsons or Pacman Jones play soccer? How many Barry Bonds or Jose Conseco’s have they’re been in soccer? The answer is zero. I swear if the media could start shying away from all the negatives and constantly questioning everything that goes on in sports then maybe kids will start being interested in playing baseball, football or basketball.

It's all about the kids. I love watching baseball and basketball because I was exposed to the sports in a positive way growing up. What we learn as children really has an effect on how we are when we're grown up. So next time you sit in front of the TV to watch a game of any sort just remember the feeling you had when you were kid, and translate that into today and see if you can enjoy things a little more. Because in the end, it's all about the love for the game, if that isn’t there, then what's the point.

-Troy