DISCLAIMER: This is not intended to bash the fans of any particular team, but rather serve as an example of how hypocritical we can all get regarding the voting for the All Star Game.
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When I launched the Vote For Manny site two weeks ago, some of the (publishable) hate mail looked like this:- f**k Manny vote for Raul Ibanez who is 6th in the voting and actually deserves to be a starter
- if Manny gets voted in then a more deserving player does not get to play in the ASG
- It's funny now; but, what if he would take a spot from another deserving player that works their ass off, and contributes everyday to his teams success?
There's the rub: Many people felt that a vote for Manny would be taking the spot away from a player --like Ibanez-- who otherwise deserved to start (or make the team). Big kudos to the fans in Philly who got out and voted like mad. They launched Ibanez from 6th to 2nd last week, and up to 1st in this week's tally. Totally deserved, too.
So, my Philly friends, how do you reconcile the fact that you also voted for a shortstop who is hitting just 0.222 with and OBP of 0.261, three HR and just ten SB? Doesn't the vote for Rollins fly right in the face of "a more deserving player does not get to play in the ASG"? Isn't that hypocritical, silly, contradictory?
You know what, I'm OK with Rollins being selected as a starter because the selection process allows the fans to dictate who the starters are. I love that we get to vote. I also like that every team has to have a representative. What I DO NOT LIKE is that after that very democratic and fan-friendly selection process, we have a rule that the game counts towards home field advantage in the All Star Game. I've been up on this soapbox for a while, so hopefully you understand my stance by now: These two concepts are in direct conflict. Either the game is an exhibition with the current selection process, or change the selection process to match the game having significance.
Mr. Selig, should you or one of your team in the Commissioner's Office be reading this: Please change something surrounding this game. I'm begging. Keep the fan-friendly selection process and let the game go back to being an exhibition, a nine-inning exhibition with no worries about a tie. The managers will manage in a fan friendly way, trying to work everyone into the game without worry about extra innings, since it would be merely an exhibition.
On other thing, Mr. Selig: You also need to figure out a way to battle the MLBPA to keep those who have tested positive out of their next eligible All Star Game. For integrity's sake. Ya know?
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3 comments:
How do we know Philly fans are being hypocritical? Are they claiming they're voting for Ibanez because he's more deserving? Maybe they're just stuffing the ballot box no matter what, which isn't all that admirable, but at least a consistent philosophy.
Sky,
Precisely! It just goes to show how the voting/selection process is in conflict with the consequences of winning or losing a game that should be an exhibition. Philly fans were raging when Ibanez wasn't among the top three because "he deserved to be", rightly so. But now, they also voted Rollins atop the NL SS race, when he's clearly not worthy of the honor this year.
Unless he's getting in on the "past performance" vote, in which case, Vote for Manny!
Of course, the current voting system is precisely backward. Players and managers should select the teams, and the public should vote for reserves. Mind-boggling that this isn't obvious to TPTB.
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