I can write pithy, retarded pun-laden titles just as well as those fancy Hollywood Reporters can, dang nabit! Seriously, THR had the guts to declare the 2008 MLB All-Star game a ratings failure, before it aired, as a matter of fact. "MLB All-Star game strikes out in ratings" it said, and notice the current tense that would lead you to believe it was already in the books, another disgrace for the countries most popular sport.

But it wasn't to be, for all their arrogance and preening, THR was the one who looked afool when a record-long 15-inning marathon ended four hours and fifty minutes after it began. And although there was much to criticize this year -- the game didn't start till darn near 9pm EST -- it hauled the mail, ratings wise.

Mocking last years Midsummer Classic for "only" bringing in 12.5 million viewers and declaring this years affair, before it even happened, to be a "strike out" and failure, our nations past time had a different story to tell: 8.8/15 are the key numbers, roughly translating to 14.5 million viewers from 8pm until 10, on average. NBC, CBS, and ABC were no match for this one, and Fox made a killing in the demo. But here's the real kicker, the games ratings actually went up at 9pm, according to Zap2it.com, pulling a lovely 9.7/16 in winning the hour.

Given that this game ran past 1:30 in the morning, fast national ratings for the 10pm, 11pm, 12pm, and 1am hours were manifestly not available.

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