When an award really isn't an award at all

Henry Blanco, Chris Gomez and other also-rans are duking it out for the MLB Longevity Award. (AP photo)

With all of the Olympics hubbub going on right now, we almost feel guilty about neglecting our national pastime. A 162-game schedule spread out of six months makes the Major League Baseball season an epic journey, wrought with injuries, heartache and extremely painful moments.

To that end, MLB.com is presenting something they're calling the "Longevity Award."

"MLB.com would like to recognize the players who have shown the greatest efficiency and durability for the longest period of time; to honor the "iron men" of the sport, those who have stayed younger for longer."

So if you've always wanted to log on to your internet machine and cast a vote for Pirates utility man Chris Gomez, but haven't been able to do so in good conscience (for obvious reasons), your day has come.

Still, as a Michigander (get out of here with that Michiganian nonsense), this so-called "contest" puts me in quite a predicament. The Detroit Tigers' representative is Ivan Rodriguez, who is currently donning the tools of ignorance for the New York Yankees.

Can anyone out there think of a sillier award? How can there be any prestige behind a contest that touts players like Henry Blanco and Cristian Guzman alongside future Hall-of-Famers* Frank Thomas and Omar Vizquel?

A vote for anyone is a vote for pointlessness.

* My personal opinion.