Time to stick a fork

Now that Boston has had another parade and the NBA season is over and done with and we figured out Kobe is not the next MJ, we are officially entering the dead-zone on the sports calendar. All we got going on right now is baseball. That brings me to inter-league play thats happening now. Can we all agree it's time to stick a fork on this idea? It's not fresh anymore, it's not exciting, it's barely news these days. And I am not just talking about the Blue Jays - V - Pirates or Astros - V - Rays match-ups. I mean does anybody get excited anymore even for a Yankees-Mets of Cubs-White Sox? Not me.

The inter-league schedule was kinda new and interesting for a few seasons. It helped switch things up a little bit and infused some excitement into the dog days of baseball summer. But now, it's not adding any value. Granted it's not taking anything away either. Who cares if the Pirates play the Cincinnati Reds or the Toronto Blue Jays. Same difference. But, it's definitely not doing what it was intended to do in the first place. I think the fans would rather have a few more divisional games. It at least keeps schedule sane for all the teams in the same league.

The geographic rivalries are still interesting in the local markets, but even those are not moving the needle nationally. Plus these local rivalries are few and far between. Of the top of my head, I can name only 3 good inter-league rivalries - Yankees-Mets, Cubs-WhiteSox and Giants-As. Does anybody care about games like Boston-Atlanta? Fox had it on national TV and got crushed at the ratings game. The only interesting part of this year's inter-league version was hearing that nut Hank Steinbrenner trash-talk the NL after his ace Chien-Ming Wang got hurt running the bases. While the rest of the World is trying to get rid of the stupid DH, Hank is saying NL is stuck in the 1800s since it's asking pitchers to hit. He wants the NL to adopt the DH. Good luck with that Hank. So Brother Bud, tweak it or pull the plug or something. Inter-league play in it's current format is dead.

In other news, Jevon Walker was found lying unconscious on the streets off Las Vegas after a supposed robbery. The only thing more ridiculous than this was Jevon's version of the story. He claims he was robbed at his room in the Bellagio and was physically dragged on to the streets. Why would the robbers do that? Aren't they better off leaving him in there in his room? Amazing story, but nobody is buying it. The other question is, why does all this happen to guys as soon as they become a Raider? Seems like the Raiders are a cursed franchise right now. The other big news is all the trade rumors swirling around Melo. Apparently Detroit may get him. Looks like Joe Dumars is trying to fix his mistake from that draft when he passed on Melo and picked Darko Milicic. Too late mate!