I went to the Braves-Cubs game last Friday, and I witnessed a collision more vicious than any I had seen at any IU football game.\nCubs' All-Star pitcher Mark Prior was on first base and began running to second on a ground ball right at Braves All-Star second baseman Marcus Giles while Giles was standing in the baseline. Prior, Giles and the ball all arrived simultaneously, and their meeting was violent.\nPrior, who said he suffered soreness in the shoulder, groin and calf, continued in the game but pitched ineffectively and suffered a 9-5 loss. Giles, suffering from a concussion, will miss the All-Star Game.\nPrior and Giles both wanted to win. Their desire to win helped make them All-Stars. What's funny is that MLB expects all 64 invited players to the All-Star Game to have the same desire to win -- especially since home field advantage for the World Series will go to the team from the league that wins the All-Star Game.\nLet me make it clear: This is a bad idea. I really hope for something bizarre to make MLB look silly so the home field advantage in the World Series carrot can be eaten by the wrong rabbit, namely MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.\nFor one thing, I would just love to see Pittsburgh's Mike Williams facing Detroit's Dmitri Young with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning in a tie game. Wouldn't it be great to see two guys who will have to buy tickets to the World Series facing off to see which league's team gets home field advantage?\nThen, I would hope for a 27-inning game where both teams run out of pitchers. A 27-inning scoreless tie would be even better. Throw in a two-hour rain delay somewhere around the 18th inning.\nThose who are in favor of this plan are hopeless nostalgists, desperate for the All-Star Game to represent something that it never really did anyway.\nLast year's 11-inning All-Star Game tie in Milwaukee brought out one of the biggest overreactions I've seen in sports. People got upset when the Giants' Barry Bonds went out to lift and bear hug Twins' center fielder Torii Hunter after Hunter leapt above the fence to rob Bonds of a home run last year.\n"That showed that they weren't taking the game seriously," harrumphed many. "I got so upset I burned my house down."\nOther people cite the Rockies' Larry Walker turning around his batting helmet and stepping into the right-handed batters box -- Walker's a lefty -- to take on the Mariners' Randy Johnson after the Big Unit threw one way high and inside to the backstop at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland. It was great comedy, but once again, players pay the price when they actually show how much fun they're having.\nThe All-Star Game is a frivolity. If it can't be enjoyed as such, maybe one shouldn't watch.
VAL-UED OPINIONS\n• Roger Clemens shouldn't go to the All-Star Game because he just wasn't good enough. Just because he's retiring doesn't mean he needs more accolades. My goodness, don't athletes get enough accolades? Can't athletes retire in peace? At least this isn't as embarrassing as Tony Gwynn showing up for no apparent reason at the 2001 All-Star Game in Seattle.\nYou're more likely to see a gourmet French restaurant in Bloomington over the next 16 months than you will Josh Smith.\n• President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird will be overseeing coach Isiah Thomas with the Indiana Pacers. Saying these two guys don't like each other is the understatement of the year. I'll be curious to see what happens.\n• The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver means it's less likely that the 2012 Summer Olympics will be in North America. New York City is bidding for the games, and after 9/11, New York City planned on using the Games to show once again that it's safe. Stay tuned.\n• Mike Tyson hates himself. Finally, we agree on something.\n• With NFL training camps coming soon, thoughts run to 400-pound, blubber-filled monsters sitting half-naked in a vat of ice after two-a-days and Tony Dungy designing another remarkably unsuccessful postseason game plan. Ahhhhh ...\n• The Nuggets offering huge offer sheets to restricted free agents Corey Maggette and Andre Miller will only change the team cosmetically. They need superstars, and they can only hope that Carmelo Anthony will be one. I'm in the minority on this one, but I don't see Anthony as a superstar.
