Friday Sporties

-So, Yao Ming was once again elected to start for the Western Conference All-Stars, despite being injured for almost the entire season. Look, at this point I'm done complaining about how fans shouldn't be allowed to vote for All-Star starters, because I have realised my pleas are falling on deaf ears. How about instead I complain about the people in charge of making the actual ballots. Honestly, why was he even allowed to remain an option? And don't give me this line about All-Star ballots being printed months ago. I've seen the ballots: they would take about ten minutes to design with even the most basic of software and considering the NBA is a pretty big client, I'm sure whatever company prints the ballots would bump the NBA to the front of the production line no matter what day they show up. You could have done them later in the year, at which point Yao was already hurt. Leaving him on the ballot is like handing a child scissors and being surprised when they cut themselves.

-Speaking of All-Star games, the NHL's All-Star draft is tonight, in which two captains will pick teams regardless of conference affiliation. I'm very excited to see this, mostly to see who ends up being the last guy picked. I mean, not excited enough to figure out if I have the NHL channel, but I'll at least try and find results online. For a guy who only pays attention to hockey during the playoffs, that is saying something.

-There are reports that Albert Pujols wants a new ten-year contract in the neighborhood of $300 million. First off, that's a very nice neighborhood. And while the Cardinals are going to say they can't afford that kind of salary, for the best player in the game I think you find a way. However, if they can't work it out, the only way you can sell your fans on letting him walk is by pointing out Pujols would be 41 at the end of that deal because I doubt he'll be worth that kind of money by that time. Just ask the Yankees - their deal with Alex Rodriguez looks terrible already and he has about 7 years left. If I'm the Cardinals, I would see if he would take fewer years for more annual salary. It's better to let a guy walk a couple years early than to be paying him two years too late.

-After 17 seasons, Jeff Fisher abruptly left the Tennessee Titans yesterday. I'm not totally surprised that he's leaving, I simply would have thought that if they wanted to part ways, Fisher would have been forced out earlier in the off-season. This is kind of late to fire a coach. I can only assume that this means it was a late-surfacing issue, which means unless the next guy hired specifically wants him, Vince Young is still out as soon as he can be released. Happiest people about this? The Indianapolis Colts. With these moves the Titans officially start to rebuild while the Jaguars and Texans keep on chugging in mediocrity. You can pretty much start planning for another division banner right now.

-And, not that I want to dump on a guy who was just fired/quit, but for the last 24 hours everyone has been talking about how great a coach Jeff Fisher is. Yeah, he was there for 17 years and took them to the Super Bowl, but he only had six winning seasons. That's like a 36% winning average. Now, that will make you a Hall of Fame hitter in baseball, but that doesn't sound very impressive for a coach. We need to stop talking about longevity as though it is a sign of success. Just because you've been around a long time, doesn't mean you are an all-time great. It could just be a sign that the owner likes you and doesn't feel like paying the money to bring in all new people.