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Today comes the latest batch of All-Star votes for the American League, and it is completely dominated by Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
First Base: Kevin Youkilis is leading
2nd base: Dustin Pedroia, followed by Robinson Canoe
3rd: Alex Rodriguez, followed by Mike Lowell
Short: Derek Jeter
Catcher: Jason Varitek
DH: David Ortiz, followed by Hideki Matsui
Outfield: Manny Ramirez
What does this tell us about the voting process? For one thing, the media shows just how powerful it is in selecting candidates for baseball and for the President of the United States. See, the choices for the people on the ballot are made even before the season begins, much like our primary campaigns. Before a single vote has been cast, before our voice has been heard, someone has already chosen who is electable and who is not for us. This means that only big names will be on the ballot and candidates who are just as qualified, if not even more-so, will be left out in the dark, and the people who choose to vote for them will have their needs ignored.
Case in point: Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox is not even in the top 15 vote-getters for the outfield position, despite leading the AL in home runs, and being 2nd in RBI. Why? Because when the ballots were put together, baseball decided there was no way Carlos Quentin could put together an All-Star year. So despite having the best credentials, Quentin will not be voted in by the fans.
Who does make it? The two party system. Baseball coverage is dominated by Red Sox and Yankees highlights, just like media coverage is monopolized by Democrats and Republicans. Because we have been told that the Red Sox and Yankees are the only teams that really matter by the main-stream media, those are the ones that get the votes. So even though they might not perform, *As of today, the Yankees are in last place in their division* they will still be selected to represent baseball’s best.
This is the same phenomenon that has pushed out legitimate candidates who have agendas that do not match the powers’ that be on both sides, and from 3rd parties. Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards and Ralph Nader have all been repeatedly shut out by the media and have been effectively forced out of the race.
Hillary Clinton, John Mccain and Barack Obama are ALL the establishment’s candidates. If you want a President who can really change things, and if you want to see your team’s best represent your town in the All-Star game, it’s time to start ignoring what the media tells you and start making choices on your own.
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Comments
05.29.08
Tim, so true. My husband is a huge baseball fan and complains about this all the time. He hates the all-star game, and I have to agree with him and you. It's a popularity contest, nothing more.
I'm really not big on our 1-to-1 voting system for offices in the US. What are your thoughts?
05.30.08
It isn't a media conspiracy.
NY Yankees have consistently had one of the largest fan bases because *drumroll* they have the largest market in the whole league. They have the most championships and are largely considered to be the measure of success. One bad year won't kill their fan base which is why they still get a ton of votes.
The Boston Red Sox have won the World Series in two of the last four years and have always had a passionate fan base. They are also reigning world champs.
Not to mention that you only mention half the story. The NL has much more parity.
Those three things poke holes in your analogy. That's inconvenient for you. It seems like every single person that supports some fringe candidate like Nader always wants to blame someone else for their unpopularity instead of blaming the true culprit: they simply are less popular and therefore judged as less worthy. If there was real demand for Nader news coverage, the news networks who depend on money from advertisers and are paid based on audience size, would fix that problem.
No conspiracy. Just unpopular candidates who couldn't ever gain traction because of their own deficiencies.
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