In honor of the upcoming new Harry Potter movie, I felt that it would only be appropriate to dedicate an article to Quidditch, the ficitional sport that is depicted throughout the popular book and movie series.

Therefore, in this article I will put forth a hypothetical scenario: imagine that Quidditch suddenly became an actual sport, and a new team was recruting the world's top athletes to play. Who should be selected for this challenge?

Here are my picks:

The Cubs cause a lot of pain. Unless you're a true Cubs fan, you have no idea. 101 years is a long time to wait for a championship.

A lot of people ask me, "Why do you invest so much into a team that produces so little?" That is a great question. I finally sat down to think of why.

Here are the reasons:

Because we play two.

Because we had Ernie, Ronny, Billy, Fergie, and Phil all on one team.

Because we experienced the magical summer of 1969.

Because we call 1969 magical even though we choked in August.

On Sunday night, in front a national television audience, the creative genius Chicago Cubs' fans have been begging Lou Piniella to employ finally showed up.

If you read the play-by-play for the ninth inning, there is a sequence that will undoubtedly have you scratching your head.

Sean Marshall relieves Angel Guzman. OK, nothing major there.

Aaron Heilman relieves Marshall; Marshall to left field. What? It's bad enough Heilman's pitching, but Marshall in left field?

Thankfully, for the Braves, the first half is over. Well technically, the first 54 percent of the season is over, but I digress.

Due to the up-and-down nature of Braves baseball in '09, I have decided to split this article up. The past will refer to the time period between April to late June. The present will cover late June to now. And, as day follows the night, the future will refer to the second half of the season.

Now that I've dedicated an entire paragraph to setting the article up, it's time to get to it!

The Past

Here is the un-official mid-way point of the Major League Baseball season.

It's the All-Star break!

We've got a day of long balls, followed by a day of a game that is supposed to mean something, followed by the one true day in America where the sports world stops.

Nothing happens in any major sport. MLB, the NBA, NHL, NFL, NASCAR, and the PGA are all idle.

That is, it really feels like a day that never ends. I'm working on that day this year, so who knows about that?

The All-Star Break looms only three days away.

Teams are assessing their standing for the second half and eagerly awaiting their opportunity for redemption (or, for some teams, more of the same) in the second half.

One team that is probably having difficulties doing the former is the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves are sitting at a decent 43-44, only (used in context here) five games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Braves have gotten what they paid for with their off-season money: very consistent starting pitching.

As baseball rolls through the final weekend before the All-Star break, it is easy to see that some changes are necessary if the Twins are serious about winning the division.

Heading into play on Saturday, the Twins’ record is a pedestrian 44-43, one game over .500 and four back of the Tigers in the tough American League Central.

Billy Beane needs to take a play out of the Colorado Rockies playbook. The Rockies were playing uninspired and painfully poor baseball under manager Clint Hurdle. So, what did the Rockies management do?

The Rockies did not subscribe to Beane's theory that firing a manager during the season is a sign of weakness for a team. Instead the Rockies fired Hurdle and offered him a job in the organization, which he turned down and is now an announcer for MLB TV.

Let's just be honest, nobody around baseball figured Jonathan Sanchez would be the first San Francisco Giant to throw a no-hitter since 1976.

If anyone was willing to venture a guess, the most likely Giant would be either Tim Lincecum or perhaps Matt Cain. Even double-A prospects Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson were more likely to throw a no-hitter than Jonathan Sanchez.