That the Pirates badly want Jason Bay to start in the All-Star Game will be old news to anyone who's watched a game on Fox in the past week or so.

I don't know what to think of this. I don't care much, really, because the All-Star Game is an exhibition that doesn't have much to do with anything, particularly for the Pirates, who have no good reason to care who gets home-field advantage in the World Series.

This case is interesting, though, because it pertains to the conflicts of being a Pirates fan nowadays. Should we want Bay to start in the All-Star Game? On one hand, he's a legitimately great player, and he's one of the few players who makes the Pirates watchable.

On the other hand, the Pirates' management wants this badly - badly enough, it seems, that they have an employee fixing "hanging chads" on ballots cast for Bay. The reason they want this badly is because the All-Star Game is in Pittsburgh this year, and they desperately need a bit of good PR so that announcers, journalists and fans will be talking about Bay instead of the Pirates' disaster of a season.

Personally, I doubt Bay cares much, and whether he starts or not won't make a bit of difference in the standings. I hope the management is embarrassed badly on All-Star weekend. So... don't vote for Bay?