The All Star Game, 2011, Et Al.

Right out of the box we ask, "What's up with Joe Buck's voice?" Undoubtedly, a summer cold or allergies, but my first thought was, "Man, it's going to be a long night for him." I would have hated to be in his spot.

But, "It's not jury duty," as Willie Mays said today about showing up to the All-Star Game. Except he didn't.

The game was being played in Arizona for the first time which led to the Trivia Question about which major league teams have yet to host an All Star Game. A question I answered correctly, by the way. I would guess that when the new stadium for the Marlins is complete, that Florida (soon to be Miami) will host a game rather soon. Which will leave Tampa as the only franchise to not host a game. And if they don't get their attendance issues solved there, they never will and the Rays will be in Vegas or Vancouver or Brooklyn or something.

With the Florida Marlins becoming the Miami Marlins soon, I propose we get the other state name teams to do the same. Let's hear those city names, please! I'm talking to you Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis and Dallas! I could cut Minnesota a little slack since the team name Twins refers to the Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minneapolis Twins wouldn't mean the same.

Speaking of Minnesota, is there a better uniform in the game than the Twins road uni? OK, there surely is, but goodness! It is excellent.

And it puts me in mind of Minnesota's NHL franchise which has a beautiful sweater. I don't know if any location has put out two nicer uniforms in such a short period of time.

Other uniform-related notes -

- Cleveland's road uniform is also excellent. It has an historic feel to it, similar to the Red Sox and the Yankees.

- How about the stars bracketing the MLB logo on the backs of both the cap and the jersey? I like it. I'm still not fond of the embroidery on the sides of the caps for All Star games and the World Series.

- And why is Rollie Fingers shown in his Milwaukee Brewers uniform in the Pepsi commercial? He became a star, a Hall-of-Famer, in Oakland. Let's see Rollie in the green and gold, please.

The Arizona franchise is named the Diamondbacks, a reference the the desert-dwelling rattlesnake that, I assume, gets preferred parking, which reminds me of this story. In any case, the D-Backs use a 'snakey' looking font for their uniforms and for the All Star Game, which you can see here. I immediately began to wonder what other animals might be suggested in font form. I came up with nothing.

I liked Sprint's 'Angry Birds' commercial. Whoever created those little guys did a great job, they are really fun to look at and lend themselves to being logos very easily. I am especially fond of the triangular yellow guy.

Anyway, one of these days there will be a sports story with 'Angry Birds' in the headline. Mark it down.

And, there was a game. The National League won 5-1 and there weren't a lot of highlights, though you have to give props to Heath Bell for his entrance into the game. I find, as I age, I am less passionate about some things that would have riled me up years ago. The All Star Game is one of those things. But, I still had a good time watching it.

Hey, it's not jury duty.