Get your game on

It's All-Star time in major league baseball. At this halfway point in the season, the contenders have been distinguished from the bottom-dwellers. You know whether your team has a decent shot of competing for a title, needs to step it up to get off the bubble, or will be unloading stars before the trading deadline.

This is the time of year when I look to my right, where Noel occupies the other recliner, and check his mood. In the last few years it's been darkling. The Braves hovered somewhere south of .500 ball, and even though they made a couple of runs, it was hard at the All-Star break to imagine them as pennant winners.

In 2010, it's different. The Braves are on top of their division and boast the best hitter in the league. Now I'm looking over at Noel and trying to remind him to enjoy the moment. Anything could happen in the second half. So we should resolve to be happy that our team is successful now, and not to be too disappointed if that doesn't translate into postseason play.

That's always been my philosophy as a sports fan, although I can rarely follow through: Keep expectations low and be pleasantly surprised if anything good happens. The All-Star game (which features five Braves on the NL squad) is such a pleasant surprise, and the standings at the break are another. It's too painful to get your hopes up that it will last. So the moment will have to be enough.