Thumbs high to the judge who made a good common sense decision today to allow fantasy baseball leagues to use player names and stats without a license from Major League Baseball. MLB had wanted to make such a thing illegal, but a federal judge ruled against them today.
Had MLB gotten their way, there would be only a handful of sites out there who had licenses to use the stats, and if you wanted to keep your league on your favorite site, you’d have been playing with “Phillies 1B #6″ instead of “Ryan Howard.” A company called CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc., made the argument that Howard going 1-3 with a double was basic, factual information, and that MLB had no right to stop anyone from using that information.
It was a sleazy, selfish and money-grubbing thing for Major League Baseball to attempt in the first place. I’m sure they don’t mind the free promotion they get from their players names appearing freely in newspapers and box scores in every newspaper and website in the world. But then MLB saw $1.5 billion a year being spent on fantasy sports, and they wanted their cut of it, you and your fantasy league be damned. There was money out there for them, an they suddenly became big believers in intellectual property.
Thankfully, they didn’t get away with it. Mary Ann Medler, you are my favorite U.S. District Court Judge in the history of District Court Judges. If you’re reading this, sweetheart, look me up, and let’s see what kind of hot judicial womanhood you’ve got sizzlin’ under that robe. Rrrrrow.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels a deep sense of obligation to the safety of his fellow man. That’s why he wrote a column yesterday in yesterday’s Post calling for the ban of something heinous, vile, dangerous, and life-threatening. 
Well, the trade deadline has sorta passed, with not a lot of big things happening. The biggest move was actually yesterday, with Abreu heading to the Yankees, which you can discuss in the comments, if you’d like. As for today, though, the biggest move is the one being reported by CBS Sportsline, Greg Maddux heading to the Dodgers.
Mets third-baseman David Wright appeared in a commercial over the weekend promoting something called the “Salvation Miracles Revival Crusade.” David appeared on the screen, and said, “Hi, I’m David Wright. I invite you to the ‘Salvation Miracles Revival Crusade’ with Dr. Jaerock Lee, at Madison Square Garden, July 27, 28 and 29.” And then you see people on stage, tossing their crutches aside and walking, and people getting out of their wheelchairs, and, I dunno, breakdancing, I suppose.
Only somewhat-educated guesses. I’m just throwing them out there. Feel free to ridicule me and/or add your own.
I remember being very entertained by these things as a child, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and not quite as easily entertained, or that the games themselves just suck, but like most everyone else, I don’t see a lot of appeal in All-Star contests anymore. As I 
It’s just for one game, and is a charity thing/publicity stunt. 
Segments on The World Cup, the NBA Draft, and the Mets/Red Sox series… and we also discuss Paul Hogan, The Battle of the Falkland Islands, Elvis Grbac, and Taye Diggs (as well as my unusual reaction to him)… and that’s just in the first segment. And then, of course, we close with mascot sex. During the editing of this thing, I made some editorial decisions to leave things in that I’m clearly going to regret. But hey, you’ll have that.
