Unafraid of the curse, Joey Votto will appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated on August 30, 2010.

I’m about as unsuperstitious as they come, but I will point out that the last Red to appear on the cover of this magazine was Ken Griffey, Jr., and we all know how that turned out.

It’s a common for magazine covers to have numerals in their headlines. For some reason, plugging stories like “5 Easy Ways to Lose Your Gut at the Game” and “The 0 Best Places for Ball Park Sushi” are just really appealing to readers.

But this cover features only one numeral: the 19 on Votto’s chest. Even the secondary story about the kindergartner-slugger breaks AP style by spelling out an age. Apparently that 19 carries a lot of weight all on its own.

That, and the come-hither look Votto’s giving the newstand passer-by, a smoldering look that seems to say, “Me? Cursed? I’ve already survived Dusty Baker: I’m untouchable.”

There was a lovely Scott-Rolen-is-a-Saint story in the Toronto Sun yesterday. It’s about the camp he’s built for kids who are sick or who have sick family members who need a week of outdoorsy fun.

It is not specific to children attacked by one cruel disease.

“It’s for the kid walking home from school, head down, kicking stones,” Rolen said. “He may be healthy, but maybe mom is sick, or his father. It’s for kids who have spent too much time in the hospital.”

The Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis makes the recommendations.

Four cabins have been built, along with a man-made lake. There are paddle boats, a petting zoo, a lodge with a fireplace, two horses, a Little League diamond, a soccer field and a tree house. And they’re not finished.

“My brother, Todd, and I came up with the idea of building a camp for children and their families for a week,” Rolen said. “To have fun, have a blast. Let’s play. ”

That’s what they do.

It’s the kind of do-good-goodness that will have you furtively wiping away a tear before anyone walks by your cube and sees you crying like a little girl.

This little bit, right at the end struck me:

“This game we play, it isn’t real,” Rolen said. “The game has given me great value in my personal life. It’s like I always tell Joey Votto. There’s no karma in baseball: Bad guys can do well in this game. You can be happy in this game and not be happy in life.

“Would you rather be 4-for-4 with, two home runs and knock in six and be divorced? Or would you rather go home to your family?”

I just wonder: why single out Votto for this message? I imagine work-life balance would be particularly challenging when your work *is* a game. What do you do for relaxation? Lay bricks?

It’s Wednesday morning, and, as it turns out, the NL winning the All-Star game for once was not a dream. Today is the one day that I and my NL fan coworkers are on the same side, banding together to harass and annoy the local White Sox fans.

That’s right, it’s the one day when I commune with the Cards fans and even Cubs fans to…wait, what did Joey Votto say according to the Chicago Cubs blog on ESPN?

I don’t like the Cubs,” Votto said. “And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today.

Ha! Well said. I almost take back what I said about thinking Votto would be a boring conversationalist, what with all his “Manuel was just looking out for his own guy,” and “I’m just grateful to get the opportunity” nicey-nice stuff.

I almost get the feeling there could be a real justified-in-being-arrogant guy buried deep down in that mild-mannered, work-ethic, too-shy-to-want-to-be-famous, Canadian-Mountie exterior. Letting the guy out right after seeing all of two pitches in two All-Star ABs might be a touch premauture, but it’s certainly not boring.

For the first time since Joey Votto was 12 years old–6th grade (or whatever they call it in Canada)–the National League has won the All-Star game.

Scott Rolen went 1-for-2 with a run scored. Brandon Phillips got a key out. Votto saved some for the sequel. Arthur Rhodes rested. All-in-all, I give Reds almost all of the credit for this win. Hopefully they’ll get all the benefit from it.

Go NL, and Go Reds!

The irony is that just as my summer classes wrapped up, and I can watch baseball without the guilt of not reading my homework, the All-Star Break comes around, preceded briefly by four of the crappiest games the Reds have played all season.

I mean, sure, I have one whole late-game Joey Votto AB to look forward to, but this isn’t exactly a standard week of baseball. That’s probably a good thing, given those four crappy games I just mentioned. Clearly I’m not there, and I can’t say for sure that the team could use a few days off, but I know that, personally, I pretty much always could use a few days off.

In other news, MLB sent me an email with a “reward” for voting in the Last Man competition. Just think: 10 whole days of a free trial of MLB.tv! How did I ever get so lucky?

MLB almost tricked me into entering the Win a Free All Star Batting Practice Jersey contest, by sending the message through Reds.com. “Giving away 30 jerseys?” I thought, “among a hundred thousand people who will enter? I like those odds!” When I read closer and realized it was one jersey per team, so 30 jerseys among 20 million fans, suddenly I found myself not so willing to hand over access to my browser activity after all.

Home Run Derby is tomorrow, and it’s not exactly a magnet for the heavy hitters this year. I like how they’re spinning it on MLB.com

The cast in Monday’s State Farm Home Run Derby may not be as star-studded as in years past, but the intrigue has hardly taken a hit.

It’s “hardly” taken a hit. Just barely. Just entirely. Personally, I may take a nap. I can’t speak for the Reds, but I’m tired.

And it’s about time!

Congratulations to everyone out there who did their part to get Joey Votto elected to the All-Star Game. From Reds.com:

Votto was a machine throughout the Final Vote. The Reds’ first baseman won wire-to-wire, powered by a fury of snub response and leading all vote-getters with 13.7 million en route to becoming the first Cincinnati player to win the All-Star Final Vote.

I think I’ll celebrate my finishing my Business Law final and drinking a Canadian beer. Go Reds!

I love waking up in the morning to find an alert on my phone that the Cardinals bullpen struck again and the team’s early lead evaporated at the last possible moment. St. Louis has had the worst luck this season–enough, I think, to call them snake-bit. It’s about time. This puts the Reds three games into the lead of the division and 12 games over .500. Those are some nice numbers.

The last-man voting for the All-Star Game ends today at 4 p.m. ET, which is a little more than five hours away. If the Twitter feeds are to be believed, there are some people who are really throwing their heart and soul into this vote. A surprising number of people have claimed to have voted “the maximum,” which apparently means they didn’t even go to the site before claiming to have thrown in their lot with Votto, since there is not limit on how many times you can vote in this contest.

That’s right, five hours of voting and no limit on what you, too, can contribute. Even with as slow as the site loads the verification codes, you can squeeze in about 400 votes per hour. You still have time to tack on a couple thousand votes! No lead is safe!

A couple hours after we get the news about whether our voting efforts have been fruitful, the Reds will take on the Phillies. Tonight game will be to take a shot for every line-drive that almost takes Ryan Howard’s head off.

Voting ends at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. Real fans have voted hundreds, if not thousands, of times, and Votto’s lead remains slim. It’s not too late to do your part and join this elite group of Votto supporters: start now!

Tomorrow, Jamie from Better Off Red will be hosting a lunch at Great American Ball Park, where you can apparently just show up and get free food that you try not to spill on your keyboard while you join the masses of other Reds fans voting for Joey Votto.

VOTE VOTTO LUNCH TOMORROW AT GABP!

In support of Joey Votto, Better Off Red will be hosting a Vote Votto Lunch here at Great American Ball Park tomorrow (Wednesday, July 7) from noon to 2pm ET in the press dining room.

You’re invited to join me and many others as we enjoy some free food and plenty of Votto voting.

We will have laptops available for you to help us vote Joey onto the NL All-Star team. If you’d rather use your own computer, you’re more than welcome to bring it to the event. I promise I won’t break it.

Joey needs your help. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to cast your ballots than the very building in which Joey does all of his fantastic work. So come on down to “campaign headquarters” tomorrow to VOTE  VOTTO!

If you plan on attending, enter the main gates at Great American Ball Park on Crosley Terrace. From there, someone will escort you to the press dining room where all of the partying/voting is taking place.

In the meantime, click here to vote Votto.

It’s nice: you don’t see many bloggers these days with the balls to use the all-caps header. The years it must have taken him to work his way to a Google page rank of 5 do come with certain privileges.

I hope that you can make it. Eat a piece of fried chicken for Jeff Brantley and me. I, unfortunately, will be working in the Indianapolis software company coal mine tomorrow, but the Lean Cuisine I’ll eat at my desk will taste all the healthier with a side of Vote Votto.

Was Joey Votto the reason for the creation of the What I Love About series? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I’m not ready to delve into that part of my psyche, so back off. What’s for sure is that I’ve put off writing it, always feeling like I was too tired, my time was too tight, or I wasn’t feeling eloquent enough to do justice to the awesomeness that is Joey Votto.

Suddenly, we are post All-Star voting and in the unthinkable scenario of the league’s best first basemen omitted. Like many people, the fact that this is even possible makes me throw up my hands at the joke that the All-Star game has become–maybe has always been–and if it were just about me, I would turn my back on the whole charade, shake my head at the obvious meaninglessness of it and try to get on with my day.

However, it’s not just about me or even about all the fans (ironically enough), but it’s also about Joey Votto. Guys, this team has sucked hard for friggin’ decade. This is our chance to express our gratitude to the man who has played such an important role in changing that and who has been, up till now, ignored. This guy doesn’t deserve to be left behind just because MLB found it necessary to pimp Albert Pujols and Charlie Manuel felt the need to practice nepotism.

Which gets to the heart of why I love Joey Votto. Because no matter what goes on around him in the league or on the field, he’s going to keep on being awesome. If the world is too blind to see that for themselves, well then we’ll just tell them.

Balloting began immediately following Sunday’s Major League All-Star Selection Show and continues until 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 8. The winners will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.

Mobile voting in the U.S. is exclusive to Sprint, Nextel, and Boost subscribers. To receive the 2010 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint mobile ballot, text the word “VOTE” to 1122. To vote for a specific player, simply text message your choice to 1122. EXAMPLE: Text “A3″ to vote for AL Player 3 or “N3″ to vote for NL Player 3. Messaging and Data Rates May Apply. Mobile voting in Canada is open to all carriers; fans should text their choices to 88555. Std rates may apply.