C-lebrities, legends and a little bit of sports

Usually my columns are about sports with celebrity references thrown in for fun. My assignment this time was slightly different. It was to cover celebrities -- or at least what Major League Baseball has deemed celebrity -- and throw in a little sports for fun.

That's right, I spent Sunday out at Chase Field for day one of the MLB All- Star festivities, which included the Futures Game and the Legends and Celebrity Softball Game. Since the last edition of Baseball America's Prospect Handbook I owned was from 2006, and my idea of minor leaguers is when my wife talks about her second graders, I decided I should probably give you my take on the stars from television, music and what I can only assume is reality shows. (What exactly is the Marriage Ref and why is some guy who I assume is the host of it viewed as a celebrity?)

So here's a few of the thoughts I had while I watched what I like to call the C-lebrities -- C-list Celebrities -- and former pro baseball players on the field at Chase.

The great debate surrounding the game was whether people were on Team Andrews or Team Upton as in ESPN's Erin Andrews versus Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton (our generations sports version of Ginger versus Mary Ann). I thought I was going to side with Team Upton, that was until I saw her come out in a Yankees cap. Sorry Kate, but that's an automatic party foul, especially when the party is in Arizona. I was outvoted by the crowd though. They gave Upton the kind of cheers usually reserved for Justin. So much so that J-Up may be evicted from his comfortable spot in Uptown.

She wasn't the only one to receive enormous cheers from the crowd during introductions. Arizona Diamondback great Luis Gonzalez also did. Although, for a guy who once won a World Series, being announced after some kid from the show Glee had to be a harsh reminder of how much things have changed since his playing days.

Speaking of things that needed to be investigated, let's talk about Gonzo. He was involved in three of the games biggest plays: a catch at the fence, a play at the plate where Ricky Henderson tried and failed to throw him out, and a home run in front of his hometown crowd. The latter of the trio seemed more fishy than a team David Stern favors winning an NBA championship.

While I had my questions about the specifics of the game and the qualifications of some of the celebrities, the game served its purpose. It gave the fans something to cheer about and it gave me a legitimate excuse to write about celebrities for once. Too bad it was a little light on sports.