The Slow Burn...

Two news stories that are giving me heartburn ... both of which were from over the weekend, but I've only recently gotten reconnected to the Internet and calmed down enough to attempt to write rationally about them:

There is a promotion that will be taking place at the All-Star which might possibly mimic a historically fictional event in a stadium where the purported event did not take place.  Huh? Exactly.  There is some foolish contest during the All-Star Game Home Run Derby during which David Ortiz will attempt to hit a home run in the location to which some lucky fan points.  If Ortiz completes the "Ruthian" task, wonderful prizes belong to the fan (An SUV hybrid, oh hurrah!)  And well, Randy Levine as the designated foreign minister of Yankee Empire thinks that a Red Sock performing such a task would be, well, as inappropriate as the Yankees losing in Game 7 of a World Series.  

A few points: 1) Ruth never called his shot.  It's fiction.  It's great fiction, I know, but it just never happened.  2) The Home Run Derby is the biggest bastardization of baseball I know, and yet it's going to get more coverage because of this asinine exercise.  And 3) karma says that Ortiz must hit a sch-nide for tempting the baseball gods such as this.  To mimic a fictional event in which the greatest player in baseball history participated ... why do ye tempt the gods such?

Oh yeah, and one more point: Shouldn't the Yankees be more worried about, I don't know, getting beaten to a pulp by the Baltimore Orioles? Shouldn't MLB have contacted the Yankees beforehand and gotten an okay on this? I mean, the all-star game is taking place in the second holiest place in the major leagues right now! (Wrigley is one, Yankee Stadium 2, Fenway and Chavez Ravine are tied at three.) Shouldn't the Red Sox be concerned about karma biting them?

And ... did I forget to mention ... the called shot ... never happened?!  Which means the event/contest is just plain dumb.  'Nuf said.

And for the second story that is just beyond me.  Studies show that barbecuing may increase your risk of cancer.  Especially processed meats such as brats, dogs and other fine sausages.  Grilling meats to the point of charring also increases your risk.  The research says to grill vegetables instead of red meat.  Ignoring all those fine, safe chemicals that are used to get your zucchini to grow, of course.  I don't mean to make light of cancer research.  But, with a mother who is a survivor of cancer who falls into the large cohort who can say, "I got cancer for no reason," along with other survivors in my family, I truly take umbrage with statements made like these.  I don't know of many things that humans consume which don't carry some type of health risk.  Hell, I've had water from a Jersey Reservoir for most of my life - that can't be safe!  And to publish statements such as these only serves to scare people into making lifestyle changes that may not be in their best interest.  Cut out red meat, add vegetables, but not those vegetables, and only wash them in this way ... and on and on and on and on and on.  As my mother (the lover of grilled foods and cancer survivor) always says, "Moderation is the key."