Tonight marks this All Star game, and this time it matters. Not that I’ll be watching: I’ve got NCAA 2009 for the Xbox 360, and a dynasty with Tennessee seems imminent right now. I don’t really care who wins, but I will go out on a limb and say the AL will take the crown, since they’ve won, like, the last six or eight in a row. I can’t really remember how many, but that goes to show how little I care.

It’s the last post about Favre. Honestly. I don’t like the guy, I think he’s overrated, I feel that he’s one of the more selfish players I’ve seen in the last decade — yes, more selfish than T.O. or Chad Johnson; at least they’re not holding back the players behind them and making a team wait on pins and needles at the end of each year — and I’m tired of giving him the attention. But this is great.

Aaron Rodgers, say goodbye to starting this year. Brett Favre is thinking of showing up to training camp.

“It’s tempting just to, as everyone said, you know, call their bluff or whatever,” Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press. “I think it’s going to be a circus in itself already, whether I go there, whatever.”

You’ve gotta love this: The guy is told that they don’t want him, and he’s so egotistical that he thinks they’re bluffing. And they say athletes have huge heads. These people have never met Mr. Favre, who’s clearly as grounded as they get.

NCAA 2009 came out today — last night at midnight, if you were lucky — and though I do own it, I haven’t quite yet played it yet. I’m going to do some writing, hunker down for the night, and then give my initial thoughts on the game, like all video game nerd-losers like to do. For your convenience, here’s a clip of what the game looks like.

When I was younger, the only reason I watched the MLB All Star game was to see Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and all the other ‘roided freaks battle it out against Ken Griffey Jr. in the Home Run Derby.

Now, as we watch a roster full of names like Evan Longoria, Chase Utley, Dan Uggla – and, well, who cares? — it’s kind of hard to stand by and watch the whole thing.

Evan Longoria just batted, knocked three out of the park in a rather human, boringly pedestrian showing. I want to change the channel desperately, but unfortunately my choices are somehow worse. I say I’ll update who wins tomorrow, but I just don’t think I’ll really care.

Bring back the steroids. It at least made things interesting.

I guess it’s about that time. I’ve tried to stay away from it, but it won’t go away, and this is a sports blog. As much as I don’t want to contribute to the useless stories that are Brett Favre, I suppose I’m going to swallow my pride and do it anyway.

So guess what: The guy wants to come back.

If there’s anyone out there that’s say, “Man, I can’t believe it!” then you clearly haven’t been paying attention to the last decade of what has been Brett Favre’s long awaited, neverending retirement game. I want to quit, I want to come back, I want to quit, I want to come back, I want to quit. . . I’m really gonna quit, no wait, I’m going to come back.

Regardless of where your allegiance is, at some point you’ve got to start feeling sorry for Aaron Rodgers. The guy may be the best QB out there, but no one will ever know because Brett Favre just won’t hang it up.

The word yesterday was that the Packers said Favre can come back, but he’ll have to be a backup. This would be the absolute worst idea in the world, because every time Rodgers threw an incompletion, he’d be booed.

Now, after speaking with Fox, Favre is clearing it up: He wants to play, but not for the Pack.

“I am guilty of retiring early and there is a reason for that,” Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press. “And the major issue is ‘Why did he retire,’ and ‘He asked for a release because he doesn’t want to play in Green Bay.’ That’s not true. And I hope people are hearing this and saying ‘OK, that clears it up.’ ”

“Them moving on does not bother me. It doesn’t. I totally understand that. By me retiring March 3rd I knew that could possibly happen. All I was saying is you know I’m thinking about playing again. The ‘itch’ has been used. That is the word that has been used if you want to say itch, or the fire is coming back, or whatever.

“If I’m going to play it’s going to be 100 percent commitment. … And so if you move on, you tell me one thing, don’t come back and tell the public … just say it. ‘You know, we’ve moved on and we’ll work with Brett on whatever it is.’ Don’t make up a lot of stuff or give half of the truth.”

Brett: Leave the poor city alone. Leave football alone. You were there — you were right on the edge of it, and you’d actually jumped — for retirement. . . stay retired. We don’t need to have the debates every year from this year forward if you’re going to be around anymore. And when you do retire, we don’t need to continue debating if you’ve really retired.

There. I’m done. No more publicity for the guy. It’s what he wants. Brett, I hope you go to a team and throw another pick in the playoffs, ultimately ending your team’s chance at a Super Bowl. Just give it up, man. Just give it up.

We’re at the All Star break now. Here’s how the games went heading into it.

Houston Astros 5, Washington Nationals 0: I never thought I’d be worried about the Nationals catching my Braves. Sadly, I’m worried.

Arizona Diamondbacks 3, Philadelphia Phillies 6: The Phillies haven’t played their best baseball, yet they’ve still got a firm grip on first place in the NL East.

St. Louis Cardinals 11, Pittsburgh Pirates 6: Outside of the Rays, are the Cards the first half surprise of the year?

Cincinnati Bengals 2, Milwaukee Brewers 3: The Cubs are 5 games up, but with the addition of CC Sabathia, you’ve gotta imagine the NL Central race will be a fun one to watch.

San Francisco Giants 4, Chicago Cubs 2: I doubt they wanted to lose heading into the break — and to the Giants, no less — but they can’t complain too much about how the first half of their season has gone.

Atlanta Braves 12, San Diego Padres 3: A prime example of two teams not living up to expectations.

Florida Marlins 1, LA Dodgers 9: Who would have thought the Marlins would have 50 wins at the break? Not me.

Colorado Rockies 0, New York Mets 7: The Mets are really, really hot right now.

Tampa Bay Rays 2, Cleveland Indians 5: The Rays are really, really cold right now.

Minnesota Twins 2, Detroit Tigers 4: It’s not where they wanted to be, but given their early season struggles, the Tigers are probably happy about being .500 heading into the break.

New York Yankees 1, Toronto Blue Jays 4: AJ Burnett is finally starting to play to his potential.

Baltimore Orioles 1, Boston Red Sox 2: The Red Sox just find way after way to win ball games.

Seattle Mariners 4, Kansas City Royals 3: This one was probably fun to watch. Two teams going absolutely nowhere.

Chicago White Sox 11, Texas Rangers 12: Every game the Rangers are involved in, they seem to put up mounds and mounds of points.

LA Angels 4, Oakland A’s 3: They rallied in the ninth, scoring two to win the game, and the Angels have to be happy about being tied for the best record in baseball.

St. Louis Cardinals 2, Philadelphia Phillies 0: Cole Hamels had a solid start, going 7 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, but his counterpart, Joel Pineiro, pitched 6 innings only giving up 5 hits and zero runs.

Houston Astros 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 4: The Astros are reeling, and reeling fast. Over .500 not long ago, they’re now 9 games under.

Arizona Diamondbacks 2, Washington Nationals 0: Brandon Webb got his 13th win of the season, and may be well on his way to another Cy Young.

San Francisco Giants 0, New York Mets 7: The Mets are getting hot, and are starting to play ball the way everyone thought they would at the beginning of the season.

Colorado Rockies 3, Milwaukee Brewers 7: It was the debut of CC Sabathia, who gave up two earned but did walk five. Maybe some first game jitters.

Cincinnati Reds 3, Chicago Cubs 7: The Cubs just got Rich Harden. Things are going to be very interesting in the NL Central.

Florida Marlins 1, San Diego Padres 10: This is one of the few times you’ll see San Diego score more than four runs in a single game.

Atlanta Braves 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 3: The Braves need the Mets, Phils, and Marlins to go cold, and they need to get really, really hot. Really, really soon.

Minnesota Twins 5, Boston Red Sox 6: The Red Sox scored four runs in the eighth to rally past the Twins.

Cleveland Indians 2, Detroit Tigers 9: The Indians lost their ninth straight game of the season.

Tampa Bay Rays 0, New York Yankees 5: Scott Kazmir is 7-4 with a 2.69 ERA. When he pitches well, his team just doesn’t hit. He gave up two earned in this one over five innings while striking out nine.

Baltimore Orioles 6, Toronto Blue Jays 7: There was a botched grounder in the ninth that led to the winning run for the Jays.

LA Angels 2, Texas Rangers 3: Josh Hamilton knocked in his 87th RBI. That’s 87, folks, and no, we’re not at the All-Star break yet.

Chicago White Sox 8, Kansas City Royals 7: The Chi-Sox continue to roll.

Seattle Mariners 0, Oakland A’s 2: Did the A’s already give up on this season by dealing Harden? At 49-41, you’d think they could’ve made a push.

Remember a few years ago when the Clippers signed Brand to a deal, keeping a young team in place and making everyone believe they were going to make a run over the next few years? Well, they made a run one year, and I guess have decided that’ll be enough. The always stingy team has apparently lost the Elton Brand sweepstakes, and it’s apparently been won by Philadelphia.

I don’t have any details on the signing yet, but sources are saying the deal will be worth nearly $82 million. Given that the Sixers were able to give Detroit a scare in the playoffs this year, and now they apparently have Elton Brand. . . well, it certainly helps bolster the East, which is generally looked at as half the competition of the West.

It was hard for me to swallow the whole Michael Vick thing — he was pretty much my favorite player ever, and he played for my hometown Falcons — but as time has gone on, I’ve realized that the whole thing is actually quite funny. And what I mean by funny is this: This guy, who once had the city of Atlanta in the palm of his hand, Nike shoes waiting at his feet, endorsements all over the place, and a life most of us could only dream of, is now broke. Flat. Broke.

Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

I understand being rich and taking a loan here and a loan there. You know, sometimes you get drunk or high and become a little careless with your cash. But fifty-damn-million? Either he made a lot of bad investments, or the dogs he bet on performed real, real poorly.

New York Mets 10, Philadelphia Phillies 9: The Mets were up 10-1. They won 10-9. Had they lost, Willie Randolph was going to be brought back.

Houston Astros 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 10: Carlos Lee knocked in his 20th homer of the year for the struggling Astros.

Colorado Rockies 4, Milwaukee Brewers 3: The game is tonight, where C.C. Sabathia pitches for hte first time for the Brew-Crew.

Florida Marlins 3, San Diego Padres 1: Greg Maddux is 3-7 on the year. With a 3.90 ERA, his record should be better, but San Diego just can’t hit the ball.

Kansas City Royals 7, Tampa Bay Rays 4: It took 10 innings, but the Royals ended the Rays 7 game winning streak.

Minnesota Twins 0, Boston Red Sox 1: Dice K went 7 innings giving up six hits and zero runs, but didn’t get the win. Ironically, Johan Santanna wanted out of Minnesota because the team wasn’t moving in the right direction; at 50-39, they’re moving in a better direction than New York.

LA Angels 9, Texas Rangers 6: K-Rod recorded his 35th save, putting him well on pace to snap the record. First it was John Smoltz, then Eric Gagne. Is this going to be a record broken every year?

Seattle Mariners 3, Oakland A’s 4: It’ll be tough to make the playoffs, but the A’s are exceeding expectations.