Baseball's biggest popularity contest is right around the corner. No, not the ESPYs (although those are fast approaching on the July calendar as well)... the All-Star Game. You might also know it as the annual arbitrary recognition of the player at each position who can shoehorn the most votes out of the general public based on no stated criteria, and featuring a selection process influenced by blatant campaigning from the ballclubs. It's the Homecoming Court for ballplayers, except largely chosen by "the fans" - people bored and/or inebriated enough to bother filling out the ballot... always an accurate barometer for sorting baseball's wheat from the chaff.

Today marks the final day that Joe Q. Public can vote for the 2008 MLB All-Star Game roster. And despite the fact that All-Star selection process is often nothing short of a dog and pony show, there are still plenty of good reasons to get involved and vote - ranging from the logical to the juvenile. There's something for everyone!

So here they are, the Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Vote For The All-Stars:

1. Counteract The Masses
There are plenty of folks out there who believe that All-Star appearances bear some kind of statistical relevancy to a ballplayer's legacy, and help conclusively prove any given player's dominating skill at his position. Even with an ASG selection system based on popularity (and one that mandates every club must have someone on the team, no matter how mediocre), pundits and fans alike continue to cite All-Star appearances as a criteria for Cooperstown. So long as those people exist, it is the right - nay, the duty - of every logical and right-thinking baseball fan to vote based on actual skill and merit to counteract the drunken frat boy ballots.

2. Rage Against the Machine
If helping the All-Star voting process to become more legitimate doesn't motivate fans to vote, how about the complete opposite reasoning? Voting nonsensically to exploit the ridiculousness of the whole thing. See how many different alternate personas you can create, each with their own hotmail or gmail account. Foil the sponsors dastardly plans to fool voters into forgetting to check the "do not contact me over email" box on the balloting form, and load them up with useless email addresses. Vote to get Julio Lugo the starting shortstop roster slot. You know, general insanity like that.

3. Relive Your Childhood
Remember what it was like to snag a ballot at the ballpark, and punch out the little circles next to the names of your favorite players? If you were lucky, you'd get a nice usher who would slip you several ballots, and you could go town - punching out a whole bunch of ballots, and making it rain with paper chads. The 2008 version of that unforunately involves clicking buttons on a computer keyboard... but you could always concoct your own homemade ballot out of notebook paper, complete with hanging chads.

4. Or Just Act Like A Child
Go all out with the ridiculousness, and vote based on whatever random criteria you please. Vote for the All-Stink Team. Vote for the roster of guys all born in the state of Florida. Vote for the players with the cutest smiles. Vote for guys whose names all start with the letter "C"... Coco Crisp is finally a shoo-in!

5. Blatant Homerism
If the other four reasons aren't compelling, why not vote based on the simplest reason of all: blatant homerism. If I'm going to be forced to watch two teams of ballplayers duke it out in a largely meaningless exhibition game, with a roster selected based on popularity and not particularly based on merit, I'd much rather watch the guys from the Red Sox. Plus, if there's any chance I could somehow, in some small way, contribute to denying players I dislike (or players from teams I dislike) a spot on the All-Star roster, that's just an added (alebeit admittedly juvenile) bonus. Is it too late to band together and keep A-Rod off the roster?