Seems like the Home Run Derby needs an update (followed by a quick note on the Olympics)

Last night, being the avid baseball fan I am, I sat next to my brother and my roommate and watched the Ridiculously Over-hyped State Farm Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby has long been a facet of the All-Star game, and it’s usually pretty entertaining.

Spoilers ahead! If you don’t want to know who wins, don’t read on!

This year brought MAMMOTH home runs. In fact, more than any ever in the history of the derby. Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (photo at top, courtesy of Sign On San Diego) just got up there and couldn’t miss, hitting 28 home runs—more than any had ever been hit in a single round in the history of the event—on his way to… losing the home run derby?

I know a system can never be perfect, but this year just proved something had to be changed. Currently, in the first round, eight people compete and the top four move on to the second round. However, the first and second rounds are cumulative scores, so between the top four left in the second round, their first round home runs get cleared. Then, the top two move on, the slates are cleared, and he who hits the most wins.

Well, Josh Hamilton murdered the first round, didn’t even have to hit the second round (in fact, he stopped with only four outs; you get ten), and waltzed into the finals. But in the finals, he didn’t hit as many as Justin Morneau and lost the event. Doesn’t seem fair, right? If you take the cumulative score of all three rounds, Hamilton hit twice as many as Morneau. Blech.

So here’s my proposal, and I have two:

• Proposal #1: Do it old school. One chance, hit as many as you can.
  Get those kids up there and let them swing their hearts out knowing they’ll only get one chance. Increase the field of participants to 14 to total the current number of at-bats. Person who hits the most wins. THIS is what I feel like a TRUE home run derby should be. Probably not enough pomp for the MLB, though.
• Proposal #2: If we have to have rounds, make it only two
  Look, if you’re going to make it have multiple rounds, take 12 guys and have them duke it out. Take the top two and make the second round the finals. More than that and people have already decided who the winner SHOULD be. Like last night, even though Morneau won, Hamilton is now the home run king, official title or not.

And now for no more sports talk…

For those of you who don’t like sports, check out this cool site, the complete history of all the Olympic logos since 1896:

Todas as logos de Olimpíadas, desde 1896

My favorite is Los Angeles in 1932:

And my least favorite is (by a good margin) London is 2012:

That is, like, REALLY bad. I really want to know who signed off on that one. What’s your favorite?