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SAN DIEGO -- Goose Gossage keeps a bottle of Weibel Vineyards champagne with Cubs on the label perched on a shelf in his pantry, a reminder of when Chicago arrived in San Diego needing one win to reach the 1984 World Series and wound up crushed yet again.This years All-Star Game is a mini-Cubs celebration, with seven players on the NL roster, including the entire starting infield, after a remarkable half-season. But a summer slump serves as a reminder: A good start is a long way from Chicago winning its first championship since 1908 or even bringing the World Series to Sheffield and Waveland Avenues for the first time since 1945.Everyone crowned us the World Series champion in December, which is unfair to the whole organization, first baseman Anthony Rizzo said Monday. Everyone put this high expectation on us, and we lived up to it.When Chris Sale of the South Sides White Sox throws the first pitch to the Cubs Ben Zobrist on Tuesday night, the All-Star Game will be back in San Diego for the first time since 1992 at Jack Murphy Stadium, where Ken Griffey Jr. batted seventh for the AL between another pair of juniors -- Cal Ripken and Sandy Alomar. Griffey was the MVP, going 3 for 3 and falling a triple short of the cycle. Tony Gwynn -- the Padres Hall of Famer who would die of salivary gland cancer in 2014 -- had a pair of assists in right field.A new generation has taken over, led by Washingtons Bryce Harper, the Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout and Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant -- who is happy to see his old friends from University of San Diego days. The Nationals Stephen Strasburg also is having reunion; he played for San Diego State.He probably did more at San Diego State than I did for USD, Bryant said.Chicago has become a favorite second team, longtime losers trying to win the North Sides first championship in 108 years.The Cubs are like the Cowboys. Wherever you go in the country, theres fans there, reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta said about his team. You go as far as you can west and as far as you can east, theres Cubs fans, and anywhere in-between.Boston also has its supporters around the world.The Red Sox, who ended an 86-year title drought in 2004 and have added two more, put six players on the AL team and four of them are starters. Designated hitter David Ortiz is retiring at the end of the season and will be making his 10th and final All-Star appearance, Steven Wright, a 31-year-old knuckleballer, could follow the flame-throwers to the mound in the middle-to-late innings.I feel like 95 is the new 90, Wright said of their mph velocity. Everybody is coming in throwing 98, 100, and then you got somebody coming in throwing 75, and Ill drop it down to 60.San Franciscos Johnny Cueto starts for the NL, which has lost three in a row and 10 of 13 since the All-Star winner determined home-field advantage for the World Series. That served Cueto well last fall, when he pitched a two-hitter for host Kansas City in Game 2 for a 2-0 lead of New York Mets, who never recovered.San Diego may not have won the World Series during its 48-year existence, but the Padres are a team of distinction: The only one not to have thrown a no-hitter, and famous for their golden yellow and brown color scheme in the 1970s under owner Ray Kroc, who also headed McDonalds. Players wore jerseys in the vintage Padres mustard-and-mud style for Mondays Home Run Derby.Of course, San Diego has been cruel to the Cubs. Back in 1984, they left Wrigley Field to the sound of Van Halens Jump and headed west convinced they would play Detroit or Kansas City for the title. Cubs fans were giddy with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL Championship Series.There was at least 100 brooms around our bus, recalled Gossage, the future Hall of Famer who got a six-out save in the Game 5 finale.But current players try to think only about the game in front of them. History is for the fans.Thats something we dont really discuss very often, Arrieta said.Chicago got off to a 25-6 start and was 39-15 in early June. But the Cubs skidded into the break by losing 15 of their last 21 games.Weve got to play better than we have recently, Zobrist said.With Rizzo, Zobrist, shortstop Addison Russell and Bryant, the Cubs joined the 1963 St. Louis Cardinals as the only teams to start all four infielders in an All-Star Game -- a fifth Chicago player, Dexter Fowler, was voted to the starting lineup but will miss out due to a hamstring injury.Rizzo led NL players with 3.2 million votes.Its crazy to me, just because of all the superstars in this game, and I do not classify myself as one of them, he said. When that first voting came out, I was like, `Is this a fluke? Was there a glitch?The NL is hosting the All-Stars in at least four straight years, which is unprecedented, starting with Cincinnati last season and continuing with Miami next year and Washington in 2018. Because the game is used to determine Series home-field advantage, the All-Star home team is alternating -- meaning the AL wears white uniforms and bats last this time.Because of that, Wil Myers and Drew Pomeranz of the Padres had to vacate their own clubhouse and move to the visitors locker room on the third-base side of Petco Park.The clubhouse doesnt really play a factor, but just being able to come out there and being in front of the home crowd is going to be awesome, said Myers, the NLs starting DH. Its something Ive always looked forward to.Game notes Miamis Giancarlo Stanton, who is not an All-Star, won the Home Run Derby by defeating defending champion Todd Frazier 20-13 in the final round, hitting two drives off the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building brick warehouse in the left-field corner. Stanton hit a record 61 homers over three rounds, including a 497-foot drive. Fake NHL Jerseys .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Stitched NHL Jerseys . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. http://www.cheapnhlcustomjerseys.com/ .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. NHL Jerseys From China . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Fake Adidas NHL Jerseys . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. The Big 12 better hope Texas is for real.The leagues College Football Playoff hopes are already dangling like a pinata after Arkansas, Houston and Central Michigan (with an asterisk) have taken their swings.Yes, its still early, but thats part of the problem -- the heart of the conference schedule hasnt even begun yet, and the Big 12s preseason favorites are already playing from behind.Oklahoma already has a loss to Houston -- and faces Ohio State next week before taking on TCU and Texas. TCU couldnt seal the deal in a double-overtime loss to Arkansas and once again faces a back-loaded schedule that includes November games against Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas.The Longhorns? Theyre 2-0 and looking like one of the most improved teams in the country after a season-opening statement win over Notre Dame in double overtime. But Texas is entering a stretch against Cal, Oklahoma State and OU.Well be ready, Texas linebacker Malik Jefferson said of the upcoming road trip to Cal. It just takes preparation like we do every week, and we all have to be in our playbooks. We all have to be ready for this week because were going in as the big dogs.Or the lone wolf.As of right now, No. 11 Texas and No. 23 Baylor are the only undefeated, ranked teams in the Big 12. Its not that the CFP wont take a one-loss team -- six of the eight previous playoff teams, including Oklahoma in 2015, have each had a loss in the past two seasons, with Clemson (2015) and Florida State (2014) being the only undefeated teams to make the semifinals. But theres immense pressure to produce a one-loss champion in large part because the Big 12 still doesnt have its championship game to help compensate for another ink stain on the résumé. Not until 2017 will the Big 12 officially add its championship game.For one more season, the Big 12 faces a similar gamble to Notre Dames status as an independent -- it has to impress the committee with the 12 games on its schedule.Like I told them in there, theyve got 10 more chances, said TCU coach Gary Patterson. Youve got to feel positive. Weve got a lot of football to go. We havent played our best football yet.That much was clear after the Frogs loss to the Razorbacks, which followed a 59-41 season-opening win over FCS team South Dakotta State in which TCU struggled defensively.ddddddddddddOn the flip side, the front-runners from the Big Ten (Ohio State and Michigan), the SEC (Alabama and Georgia), ACC (Florida State and Clemson) and Pac-12 (Stanford and Washington) havent lost. Granted, Stanford was off this week and has a ho-hum win over K-State on its résumé, but thats an improvement from a year ago, when the Cardinal opened with a loss to Northwestern.The good news -- as Stanford can attest to -- is that now is the best time to lose because the Big 12 title is still up for grabs, and any team with a shot to win its league has a chance at the top four. The committee places a great emphasis on winning a conference championship and is directed by the CFP protocol to use league titles as one of its tiebreakers when two teams are similar.It will also factor in who they lost to, how and where. Oklahoma lost to a ranked opponent, and TCU lost to a respectable SEC team. The committee will also take into account the officiating gaffe that cost Oklahoma State its game against Central Michigan on the last play -- a play that never should have happened.The teams records will reflect the outcome of the game, said Bill?Hancock, executive director of the playoff. Of course, the committee members will be well aware of what happened on the field -- as they will about all the games that will comprise every teams body of work. That ability to comprehensively consider each game is one of the most significant benefits of the CFP protocol.The human element is what makes this system impossible to predict.None of the Big 12s top teams have been eliminated from the CFP (the committees first rankings dont even come out until Nov. 1), but its only going to become more difficult. In the Longhorns win over UTEP, Texas showed it can handle success. But heres the question: Can that continue into league play?Coach [Charlie Strong] was talking about how often teams look past an opponent like this after winning a huge game, Texas safety Kevin Vaccaro said. We started off slow, but we kept it together.The challenge now is for the rest of the league to do the same. ' ' '