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Talking Points: Low rating for All-Stars

The Columbian
Published: July 15, 2011, 12:00am

1

The TV ratings for Tuesday’s All-Star Game are in, and while Fox and Major League Baseball will tout the fact that it was the most-watched TV show on Tuesday, we’re not fooled.

The real number of note: It was the lowest-rated baseball All-Star Game. In television history (at least back to 1967, the first year Nielson Co. started measuring All-Star Game viewing).

Let’s face it, the All-Star Game has little relevance beyond its place in history. With cable TV and interleague play, it’s no longer the special occasion it once was.

We’re not sure if the All-Star Game can recover its specialness. But a good start would be requiring all-stars to show up. If it’s not even important enough for stars such as Derek Jeter to show up, why should we watch?

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So, it appears Roger Clemens might get out of another jam.

Good for him.

Not that we doubt that Clemens lied to Congress when he testified in 2008 that he never used performance-enhancing substances. It’s just that we feel our government would better serve us by working to nail swindlers who ruin our economy by playing games with oil prices and mortgage derivatives.

Just sayin’.

3

You might not think that soccer’s rules are worth much, what with the whole “no hands” thing and the aggravation of the offside law.

Turns out, you’d be wrong.

The world’s oldest soccer rules book was sold for $1.42 million.

The handwritten pamphlet from 1857 was put on auction at Sotheby’s in London as part of an archive of Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest soccer club. Sheffield FC sold the 154-year-old document to raise money for the club, which plays seven tiers below the Premier League.

The rule book contains many innovations that are still part of the game, including the corner kick, cross bar and indirect free kick.

Say what you will about soccer, and its sometimes frustrating rules.

Just don’t call its rules worthless.

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