I’ve never figured out why I enjoy the All-Star break so much and at the same time, care very little for the All-Star game. Ironically, I realized this apathy after the 2002 tie forced MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to arbitrarily hand out World Series home-field advantage prize to the All-Star Game winner.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like ties either, but if you’re not going to have neutral-site championships, a la the Super Bowl, at least come up with regular-season solution, like head-to-head (put the interleague schedule to use beyond TV ratings and imposed rivalries), best overall record or records vs. common opponents — again like the NFL.

Baseball could take a cue or two from football. They’ve got a pretty good following for their sport. At least the All-Star MVP vote is another opportunity for the fans to help choose the game’s best player.

Anyway, here’s a couple of items of note from the citizenry. I’m still looking for more coverage of St. Louis indoor soccer goalie Slobo Ilijevski from other sites, but the Post-Dispatch’s very own Denice M. Santangelo has a terrific story on his life right here on STLtoday.com.

JL III has handed out his baseball mid-season awards in a blog post on FoxSports.com MLB page. Don’t know exactly who JL III is, but the writer — ID’d as “John” in a bio — has enough knowledge to name Albert Pujols his NL MVP of the first half. A slightly more recognizable name — ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark — also has Pujols and Cards manager Tony La Russa honored, as well as P Mark Mulder for a not-so-good citation, in his first-half best/worst roundup.

Also, check out this quick shot on former Mizzou basketball Tiger Keyon Dooling and his contract status with the NBA’s Orlando Magic. The item, from CNNSI.com’s FanNation Truth&Rumors site, was generated by a Florida Today story from Tuesday.

We also checked out the MLB rumblings sites for SI.com, SportingNews.com, FoxSports.com and ESPN.com (Insider registration required) and found little to nothing on the home team. Serves us right: Cardinal Nation rumor central — Cards Talk — keeps the best and timely tabs on trade talk leading up to every July 31.

Finally, former Blue Dallas Drake announced his retirement from the NHL on Tuesday. Here’s hoping he’s not taking post-professional sports career advice from Packers QB (for now?) Brett Favre. Here’s the coverage from the Detroit News at detnews.com and the Detroit Free Press at freep.com.