I love baseball above almost all else. I umpire youth and amateur leagues in my free time. I watch about a dozen games a week on TV thanks to the miracle of DirecTV. I see the Oakland A's at least once a week when they are in town. And I try to plan trips to my native Chicago around Cubs games.

I could rant about the problems facing baseball: economic inequities, diluted talent pool, contraction, steroid use, etc. But despite my passionate love for the game, I realize there are more important things in the world (like the pillaging of our country by Bush and Co.), and that's what I prefer to write about.

But today, it seems everyone is outraged today at the All-Star game's 7-7 tie. Why the big deal? It was a great game, and the simple fact was that both teams ran out of players. Sure, the position players could play on, but the pitchers are a different story. Pitchers are mortal, and the more they pitch, the longer they have to rest before returning to the mound. And in two days, REAL baseball will resume. That's where Garcia and the rest of the All-Star pitchers need to push their arms, in the pennant race. Not in a glorified exhibition game.