Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Freddie Freeman’s Mic’d-Up At-Bat Was the Highlight of the ASG

This is how you make the All-Star Game fun again.

This is how you make the All-Star Game fun again

Two of the most common criticisms of MLB are that the league doesn’t know how to market its stars and that the All-Star Game is a dull, pointless affair. Well, last night’s All-Star Game took steps to solve both of those problems. 

Throughout the broadcast, the FOX crew did in-game interviews with mic’d up players on the field, and they were fantastic. None was better, though, than Freddie Freeman wearing a wire as Justin Verlander struck him out in the first inning. Freeman’s running commentary of the at-bat and his back-and-forth with Verlander was an absolute delight. 

Other players to wear a mic during the game included Francisco Lindor, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger and Alex Bregman. 

Conducting in-game interviews in games that matter (like the Premier Lacrosse League does) probably wouldn’t fly, but there’s no reason why MLB can’t put microphones on a handful of players every week. The league can post a compilation of the best bits on YouTube, allowing the fans get a peek behind the curtain and see what it’s like to be on a big-league field. 

He’s so incredibly full of crap

Nets GM Sean Marks says he had no idea Kevin Durant intended to sign with the Nets until he saw the Instagram post that KD’s company put up literally two minutes after the negotiation period opened. 

This is patently false, of course. Durant didn’t commit to the Nets without first making sure that the team wanted him and was willing to pay him. Free agents had struck deals with teams fair in advance, which is technicially against the rules but nobody really cares. Guys like Marks, though, have to pretend like everything was done by the book and give quotes like this so they won’t get fined by the league. That is extremely funny. (It won’t be like that for much longer, though, since commissioner Adam Silver says he wants to rework the “pointless” tampering rules.)

The best of SI

Here’s how the Nets really landed KD and Kyrie. ... In an excerpt from his new book, Bud Selig recounts his “misery” during Barry Bonds’s home run chase. ... Alfredo Griffin is without a doubt the worst All-Star in MLB history. 

Around the sports world

A football fan in Canada got his favorite team’s logo painted on his glass eye. ... Lionel Messi’s restaurant in Argentina is feeding the homeless for free. ... Serena Williams revealed the message she sent to Naomi Osaka after the 2018 U.S. Open fiasco.

Rose Lavelle’s hilarious old highlight tape

Robin Lopez wants to keep it old school

Enes Kanter’s cheat days are obscene

These kids need to work on their route running

I don’t think that’s right

This isn’t happening, for a variety of reasons

I’m reaching this green in seven shots

Not sports

This is what actually led to the downfall of New Coke. ... A South Carolina woman is accused of using a snake to steal somebody’s car. ... George R.R. Martin revealed a bunch of details about the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series. ... Police in Canada are begging drivers not to be so polite, because it’s causing accidents. ... Renovations at an Illinois high school uncovered 15 wallets stolen in the 1940s. 

Meet the guys who did the music for Stranger Things

Exhibit No. 4,562 why gender reveals are dumb

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.