I sit down to watch the All-Star Game last night and I cannot take Tim McCarver anymore. With Brad Penny throwing like he never has before, consistently hitting 98 and 99 mph on the gun, McCarver opens his yap. Ortiz sees two strikes and he says, "Penny keeps throwing hard. Mark Wahlberg. Catch me if you can." Joe Buck either ignored him or thought that was so bad, he'd let his broadcast partner hang out there by himself. First of all, there were probably about 5% of us who knew what point he was trying to make. And that took me a few seconds. It took several more seconds, then I realized he meant to say DiCaprio. Jee-zus, was that a stretch. Then when Fox had a recording of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" after Vlad Guerrero hit a homer, I had to leave the game. You see, that song represents Vlad's apparent lack of a strike zone, as he'll hit a pitch in any location. I'm not making this up.

Then I learn today MLB extends Fox's contract. Six more years of this crap.

So, Fox keeps the World Series and one LCS, thus far. Increases Saturdays to 26 games. I'm curious to see the exclusivity in these deals. Currently, Fox blacks out all potentially televised games til 4:00 Eastern, the Internet, as well. For example, Tribe has a Saturday game at 1:00, not televised by Fox. STO cannot broadcast that game. Now TBS will take the post-season Divisional Series and add Sunday broadcasts, as well. I have seen no mention of exclusives on that package yet. Curious to see where that leads.

BTW, what does Travis Hafner need to do to become an All-Star? Too many times he's been snubbed. Although I think Hank Greenberg knocked in 101 runs in 1935 and he didn't go either. Strange one that.

Meal of Links

Christie Brinkley loses another husband. Gee, she seems like a nice person on those Chuck Norris commercials. We debated at work if she was really nice or really a psycho. Not sure, but I'll be looking for her in the food line at Sheetz.

Microsoft rolls out some retro '80s games. I like the fact "Galaga" is getting some run. Way too much coin was spent on that one.

Since I am now familiar with the topic, it's good to know what an expert has to say about being confronted by killer bees. Run. Really fast. And don't look for help from the authorities either.

Exercise Yard

Paws lost the Mascot Home Run Derby. Sports suck the last few days, eh?

If this were the PGA Tour, wouldn't Ryan Howard, T.C. and Andy Marte meet in Hawaii for a competition?

Visitor

63 Across: Sommer of films (4 letters) Answer: Elke