I am excited to watch the Home Run Derby. In my opinion, it's the best event in professional sports. The Home Run Derby is a fun event because it is simple, exciting, and objective. The simplicity aspect of it is important as the players in the Home Run Derby tend to be loose, whereas in playoff games and the Super Bowl they are more tense. While those games are thick in excitement, other than the Super Bowl, championship series are less predictable. How many times has there been a seven game series in the championship round of an MLB, NBA, or NHL championship recently? It hardly ever happens. Even when it does, like the World Series last year, game 6, a back and forth affar, was a better game than game 7, in which a Cardinal victory was hardly ever in question. All star games, while the players are relaxed, are not exciting because the players tend not to care about the outcome. The other event that comes close to the Home Run Derby is the Dunk Contest. However, the Dunk Contest is objective. While this might not matter a lot, it does when players like Blake Griffin dunk. Griffin is talented, but if his dunk is as good as another player's, Griffin will get the advantage because he is Blake Griffin. The Homerun Derby, on the other hand, has none of those biases and is therefore my favorite event to watch.
The first half of the baseball season is over and so far, Josh Hamilton is probably deserving of the American League MVP. I believe this because of the impact he has on his team. While the Rangers have good bats without Hamilton, Hamilton can carry that team for weeks at a time. While Cano has been good in recent weeks, he was not as good at the beginning of the season. Trout only came up recently, but he has come on strong. In the NL, I think RA Dickey has been the best player, considering the way he has led the Mets to so many wins and the unique way he has done it (as a knuckleballer). There are other good hitters in the NL who would probably make good candidates, but RA Dickey has the better story, having come from nowhere. That, in my opinion, makes him the better candidate.
The first half of the baseball season is over and so far, Josh Hamilton is probably deserving of the American League MVP. I believe this because of the impact he has on his team. While the Rangers have good bats without Hamilton, Hamilton can carry that team for weeks at a time. While Cano has been good in recent weeks, he was not as good at the beginning of the season. Trout only came up recently, but he has come on strong. In the NL, I think RA Dickey has been the best player, considering the way he has led the Mets to so many wins and the unique way he has done it (as a knuckleballer). There are other good hitters in the NL who would probably make good candidates, but RA Dickey has the better story, having come from nowhere. That, in my opinion, makes him the better candidate.
I liked watching the Home Run Derby. However, the best pitcher in baseball did not start for the NL and that is a bummer.
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