Thoughts for the Day, July 16, 2025: Quit messing with the MLB All-Star Game

The Legend Lives On

On June 7, 1958, my dad took me, my brother Larry, and our friend Jerry Prato to see the launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald at the Great Lakes Engineering Works at the end of Great Lakes Street on the Detroit River in River Rouge. As a seven-year-old, I had no idea of the magnitude of the event I was witnessing. However, I remember certain aspects of the launch to this day. Somehow my dad knew when the Edmund Fitzgerald was passing Bellanger Park and he would take us to the park so we could watch it pass by on the Detroit River. The ship was part of my childhood and to this day, I cannot comprehend how a ship that size could break in half on that fateful day on Lake Superior 50 years ago.

Per Bridge Michigan, fifty years after the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, a team of swimmers will symbolically complete the ship’s final voyage, delivering iron ore to Detroit in a month-long relay honoring the 29 crew members who died.

Jim “The Shark” Dreyer, a marathon swimmer known for crossing all of the Great Lakes, will lead a team of 68 swimmers from Lake Superior to Detroit to commemorate the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The 17-stage swim will begin July 26 and take more than a month as swimmers complete the 411-mile voyage — the distance the ship would have traveled to reach Detroit had it not sunk in November 1975.

“We want to do what we can to always remember the 29 men who died in that shipwreck,” Dreyer said. “We're symbolically completing their last, final, tragic journey.”

At the end of the relay, the team will deliver iron ore pellets from the dock in Superior, Wisconsin — where the ship was loaded for the last time — to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Swimmers are raising funds, and proceeds will help preserve the Whitefish Point Light Station. So far, they’ve raised more than $187,000 for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, which maintains the Civil War-era lighthouse at the entrance to Lake Superior.

The Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim will be featured in a documentary, The Legend Lives On. You can track the swimmers’ progress online.

Jim “the Shark” Dreyer gets my Orchid for the Day for making this happen.

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SCOTUS

My disappointment in SCOTUS continues to expand to levels I never thought possible. They, along with the Republican controlled congress, are tearing apart the equal branches of government that our founding fathers envisioned.

SCOTUS is strengthening the executive branch at every opportunity as it continues to rule in favor of the Trump administration and overrule lower-court federal judges. In many of their “emergency” rulings, SCOTUS does not even provide an explanation as to the basis of their rulings.

None of this surprises me when you consider that three of the judges were appointed by Trump, and two of the most senior judges might as well be registered MAGA members.

Elections matter and the 2026 mid-term elections are less than 16 months away. If you don’t like what is happening with the current president, congress and SCOTUS, get your butts in gear before the Constitution and the vision of our founding fathers is completely shredded during remainder of Trump’s term.

Please call your members of Congress today. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Tell the operator where you’re from and the operator will connect you to your representatives and senators. I tested this out today. It is very simple. They will ask for the congress member you want to contact. They will then switch you to that office.

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MLB All-Star Game

Yesterday, the MLB formalized the All-Star game as an entertainment and marketing tool for MLB. I think they are making a big mistake.

The MLB All-Star game is the only all-star game of the four major sports that is played with intensity and pride. Winning the All Star game is important, and players give it their all when they are in the line-up. Last night’s game was no different. Pitchers were throwing 100mph from the first inning through the ninth. There were great defensive plays, and good hustle plays on the bases. There were home runs, there were batters hit by pitches. There was even the use of video replay on balls and strikes, which is a sign that it will be coming soon to the MLB. (See my Video of the Day) There was a 6-run comeback by the American League which resulted in a tie-game after nine innings. All of this made for great baseball. There was even a homerun tiebreaker which allowed the National League to prevail.

Unfortunately, FOX Sports and the MLB think the product on the field cannot stand on its own, so they added their view of entertainment which included a 30-minute pre-game introduction with alleged entertainment and commentary. There was a ceremonial pitching change by a very old Joe Torre. There were mic’d up players, who received $15,000 apiece for agreeing to be mic’d up. They even mic’d up the American League starting pitcher and catcher. How they were supposed to perform and communicate when the Fox broadcasters were speaking to them between and during pitches was a mystery to me. It was fitting that Tarik Skubal, the American League starting pitcher, dropped the F-bomb on live TV after giving up a two-run double in the first inning.

I didn’t even mention the multitude of bad commercials that included players in made for TV situations. FOX Sports and the MLB get my Onion of the Day.

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Quote of the Day: “MLB has ruined the All-Star Game.” A subscriber to my blog in a text this morning at 6 AM.

Orchid of the Day: Jim “the Shark” Dreyer. See above under The Legend Lives On.

Onion of the Day: Fox Sports and the MLB for working hard to screw up the only All-Star Game that is worth watching.

Question of the Day: What is the fuss over the Epstein files? Isn’t it more fun to speculate and make up our own ideas of who is included in the files and who is not?

Lyrics of the Day: If you're down and confused And you don't remember who you're talking to Concentration slip away Because your baby is so far away.

Well, there’s a rose in a fisted glove and the eagle flies with the dove. And if you cannot be with the one you love.

If you think you know the lyrics send me your answer in the comments section of the blog.

Answer to Lyrics of the Day for July 14: Ebony and Ivory, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

Video of the Day: The first ABS challenge in #AllStarGame history was ... SUCCESSFUL!

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