HomeRun Derby, and the 2014 MLB All Star Game.

Earlier this week, stars and dignitaries from Major League Baseball gathered in Minneapolis for this year's Mid-Summer Classic.  That's right. They only get a few days off over seven months, and they're spending two of them in Minneapolis. As always, the home run derby got things started on Monday night.

This home run derby was truly an event for the ages. Sorry, I phrased that wrong. This home run derby truly took ages. It started off with an hour rain delay that was exactly as exciting as the competition itself. Thanks to a new format, the finals featured the Reds' Todd Frazier, who hit a total of ten home runs in all FOUR rounds, and Oakland's Yoenis Cespedes, the bane of auto-correct. Cespedes won 9 - 1, proving the league versus league format is ridiculous and that the derby itself was far more entertaining when the participants were hulked out on PEDs.

Because the event took four hours - yep, four - we did get something interesting Monday night. Target Field features self-serve beer vending machines. Just select the beer you want and the number of ounces of it you want. No longer is it necessary to speak to a human when you want to drink at a baseball game. And it's only $51.20 a gallon! No word on whether the machine judges you for buying four beers per trip even though you appear to be alone.

This time last year, many of us were debating whether the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig belonged in the derby or the All-Star game. Turns out, he didn't. This year fans voted him into the game, and he participated in the derby. You had exactly as many home runs as Puig, and unless you have a Mohawk, you looked better than him doing it.

It seems more evident, day by day, Puig is content to have played his way out of Cuba, and hey, who can blame him?

Bud Selig is retiring in January. Let's hope his replacement does something to resurrect, and shorten, the derby.

by:: Josh Henderson