ASG Live Blog: Red Carpet Show

Hello again everybody, we're blogging live from WHIH HQ here in beautiful Henderson, Nev., where we're going to chronicle the events of the 2008 All-Star Game!

4:07 p.m. Nice to see FOX isn't going to overdramatize this event. They've just compared the "parade of heroes" to the tickertape parades that have honored V-J Day, JFK's nomination in 1960 and Queen Elizabeth's visit.

Also, I think Mark Grace is going to spend more crying than Dick Vermeil tonight.

And we have our first A-Rod sighting, as the purple-lipped one has been cornered on the red carpet by Charissa Thompson. Not sure that was the best choice by FOX -- you might not want to put him too close to random blondes these days.

Hey, there's Ryne Sandberg! Is he riding with Rafael Palmiero's wife? He who laughs last, Raffy ...

4:10 p.m. Thompson apparently has never heard of the Popemobile, as Jonathan Papelbon's surprisingly worldly reference just flew over her head like a Chuck Knoblauch throw to first.

4:30 p.m. Oh good, we have the Baby Ruth Take Me Out to the Ballgame contest winner! I was afraid FOX would have a hard time rounding up sponsors for this event.

4:35 p.m. Chipper Jones, take the dip out of your mouth when you're interviewed on national TV. Oh, and Mike Schmidt? Unless you change your last name to Ditka, spit out the chewing gum.

4:38 p.m. Breathless pimping of "The year's most anticipated series, 'Fringe'!" was followed by a snippet of Terry Francona's pregame speech. Basically, he said, "Don't get mad at me if I don't get you into the game. We can't have another embarrassing tie game, so Dionner Navarro, you might as well hang out in the clubhouse unless we play 10 innings."

4:39 p.m. I've gotta admit -- Ernie Banks holding Fukudome's kid was pretty cool. It might even help me forget Grace's attempt to speak Japanese.

4:43 p.m. Maybe it was just the lighting, but Rudy Giuliani looked like he was speaking from Dick Cheney's undisclosed bunker. Which reminds me -- I just watched Bill Maher's 'The Decider' special on HBO last week. It was taped about a year ago in Boston, and at the time, it looked like Giuliani was the odds-on pick to win the Republican nomination. A perfect example of why political humor has the shelf life of of a sushi platter.

4:55 p.m. Wait a minute -- where is this game being played? Boston? Seattle? Tampa-St. Pete? Oh yeah ... New York. Good thing they had that song to remind me.