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Argue the hot topics of the day and vote on the biggest stories from the world of sports. The show airs on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. and midnight ET.

Note: Broadcast voting results as of this afternoon (ET).

Should Florida still be motivated by Georgia's '07 end-zone celebration?
Coaches have long memories when it comes to motivation. Winning a title should have changed the subject, but you never know in the SEC.

Which team should Mets fans root for in the World Series?
It's the cross-town rivals versus the division rivals. Maybe baseball fans in Queens will just switch to the NBA for the next two weeks.

How should Packers fans welcome back Brett Favre?
There's no doubt fans in Green Bay have torn loyalties about the QB who led their team to its most recent Super Bowl. Should they applaud? Boo? Turn their backs?

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The NFL fans are streaming through the turnstiles, but SportsNation continues to show great reach as demonstrated by Graceyballr21.

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It's been a rough week for Pirates GM Neal Huntington and Mets GM Omar Minaya (that's him, right). Huntington is taking a beating, here included, for continuing to destroy the value of his collectors set of genuine Pittsburgh Pirates by taking them out of the wrapping and trading them off individually. Minaya didn't need any questionable trades to draw criticism, just questionable judgment in calling out a New York writer in a press conference.

So in the interest of fairness, we turn to Keith Law for some good words on the two of them. All right, saying he's surprised Minaya hasn't been fired and questioning the Pirates' ability to judge talent isn't exactly glowing, but there's some positive in there.

Is it better to have hoped and lost or never to have hoped at all?

As you wake up in these hot, humid days of late July, is it more depressing to remember you're a Nationals fan mired in the middle of a season that never was (and never will be if they don't get Stephen Strasburg signed) or a Mets fan watching a season that was supposed to be fall apart like an Omar Minaya press conference?

As recently as a month ago, voters still viewed the Mets as serious playoff material, but as injuries continued knocking star player after star player out of the lineup, the season unraveled. Things hit rock bottom in Monday's press conference about the dismissal of Tony Bernazard when Minaya managed the nearly impossible feat of making a member of the New York media into a sympathetic figure.

As for the Nationals, well, consider that it took them until June 19 to win 20 games -- and even that required a three-game winning streak in which the team scored a grand total of seven runs. So you celebrated Opening Day, saw the Capitals through the playoffs and watched the first two rounds of the U.S. Open before your team won 20 games. That's a lot of miserable baseball to suffer through.

All we know for sure is the best place to be is stuck in the middle of the I-95 corridor, where Phillies fans must be reveling in the misfortune to the south and north.

• Rankings: Are there really five general managers worse than Omar Minaya?
• Nats still more popular than Sacramento Kings, New York Islanders.
• SportsNation growing less confident Strasburg will ever play for Nats | June 10
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• Groups: Nasty Nats live here | Wright, Reyes, Santana and the keys to the Citi

On the scale of epic disappointments, the modern-day Mets rank up there with jetpacks (with one possible exception), flying cars, Esperanto, and Ryan Leaf. The team is theoretically packed with talent, with dynamic players at third base, first base, shortstop, center field, ace, closer No. 1, and closer No. 2. Surround that core with even a few decent players, and you've got yourself a winning team.

Unfortunately for the Mets, average players seem to be a rarity in the vicinity of Citi Field. The injury bug has bitten the team, removing Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran from the equation for long stretches of time. Their replacements -- such luminaries as Alex Cora, Daniel Murphy, and Fernando Martinez -- have not exactly covered themselves in glory during their tenures. The Mets have gone long stretches of the season without scoring runs, perhaps due to the fact that they have zero power. When your purported team MVP has exactly four home runs on the season, that's somewhat of a problem.

Aside from Johan Santana, the starting rotation has been a disaster. Tim Redding, Livan Hernandez, and Mike Pelfrey have all logged major innings for a team that purports to compete for the World Series. For all the money the Mets spent upgrading their pitching staff, the team is 11th in the National League in runs allowed.

There's a lot of blame to go around. The only question is, who will shoulder the most responsibility for the Mets' collapse(s)? Management is safe for now, but the end of the season could bring big changes.

• Almost 90 percent of SportsNation thinks the Mets will miss the playoffs.
• New York fans are boo-happy, but most of SportsNation thought they'd boo their own team over Manny Ramirez.
• SportsNation saw this coming early -- almost two-thirds thought the Mets would falter if Carlos Delgado was out for too long.
• Groups: Let's Go Mets! | New York Mets Club | New York Amazin Mets Fans

We're poised on the precipice of the second half, caught between the cold reality of the first half of the season and the limitless potential of the second half. We're ... bored. Seriously, the Triple-A All-Star Game is all we get today? Couldn't the Nationals and Pirates play at least? It's not like their rosters are exactly swamped with All-Star Game obligations.

A practice round from the British Open? A midweek NASCAR race? Give us something.

It's the slowest day in sports, but that does give us the chance to look back and look ahead. We've been surveying SportsNation for the best each team had to offer before the break. Some of these votes are closer than the Minnesota Senate race, but the leaders as of Wednesday morning are as follows:

National League Team MVP
Dodgers: Andre Ethier
Phillies: Raul Ibanez
Giants: Tim Lincecum
Cardinals: Yadier Molina (non-Pujols)
Rockies: Brad Hawpe
Brewers: Prince Fielder
Marlins: Hanley Ramirez
Astros: Miguel Tejada
Cubs: Derrek Lee
Braves: Brian McCann
Reds: Brandon Phillips
Mets: David Wright
Pirates: Freddy Sanchez
Diamondbacks: Dan Haren
Padres: Adrian Gonzalez
Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman

• Who will lead the NL in home runs, batting average, wins, steals and RBIs?
• 83 percent: Dodgers will win the NL West.
• 61 percent: Cardinals will win the NL Central.
• 71 percent: Phillies will win the NL East.
• Midseason reviews: NL West | NL Central | NL East | NL Cy Young

Frustrated that the Mets traded away a clutch chemistry guy like Ryan Church for the enigma that remains Jeff Francoeur -- whose swing made him the best football player the Braves employed since Brian Jordan -- SportsNation blogger BirishB says the trade effectively sums up a year of things going wrong in New York.

We think that's selling it short; it pretty well sums up the entire NL East.

Only in the NL East could a team with a losing record at home and some of the worst pitching numbers in baseball find itself in control of the race. And only in the NL East could a pair of Braves pitchers who reached the break ranked in the top 10 in ERA have a combined 13-14 record.

But through it all, the Phillies have maintained SportsNation's support. On June 22, the team woke up having lost six in a row and with a scant 1.5-game lead on the Mets but still held a commanding lead among voters.

• If the Rays switched leagues, they would edge the Phillies in the NL East.
• SportsNation still confident Nationals will sign Stephen Strasburg.
• Which of the Phillies' All-Stars is team MVP? Vote on the NL East.
• More midseason reviews: AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL West | NL Central
• Groups: Florida Marlins Rock | Top of the Chop | Die Hard Phillies Phans

• Rank all 30 teams at midseason.

As the saying goes, the more things change, the more the Cubs struggle to find .500. At least, that's how we learned it. And by "we," we mean anyone born since 1909.

With the baseball season pausing for its official midpoint at the All-Star Game and its less official one in the firing of the Nationals manager, consider how SportsNation sized up the field after the first week of the season.

1. Florida Marlins
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Toronto Blue Jays

At least the Nationals were properly slotted at No. 30. Congrats on getting that gig, Jim Riggleman. Now the Cubs, Marlins and Braves are fighting for wild-card relevancy, hoping a division leader stumbles, and the Blue Jays are listening to offers for Roy Halladay.

• A Mariners fan, blogger Dawgman0387 gets a little excited about the team's winning record at the break and starts throwing out terms like "World Series run." But hey, with a top three like Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn, maybe he's on to something.
• Things aren't quite as rosy for the Reds. SportsNation blogger xubugg pleads for more "patients" at the plate. We're guessing that's supposed to be "patience," but when it comes to Dusty Baker's lineup experiments, you never know.
• We're all a little worse off having an All-Star Game without "Kung Fu Panda," but a Giants blogger upset that the so-nicknamed Pablo Sandoval won't be in St. Louis takes out his frutrations on the frauds that he feels are the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Rank the NL Cy Young contenders, now featuring genuine Rockies!

We salute NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for summiting Mount Rainier, although running a league that includes the Bengals does give him at least a little experience with things that tend to erupt and leave a swath of destruction in their wake. But as the MLB All-Star Game approaches, Goodell's trip takes second place to the high-altitude exploits of Rockies pitcher Jason Marquis.

Passing the still-frozen bodies of Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle (proverbially speaking, of course) on his way to the summit, Marquis is a legitimate Cy Young contender with 11 wins. We get that the humidor makes Coors Field slightly less ominous than the setting for the next "Saw" for pitchers these days, but there's still not exactly a line forming to go face batters a mile above sea level.

• Continuing the self-proclaimed third annual "Half-way Awards," blogger whitstatman hands out hardware in the NL, where a familiar (baby) face loses out to a teammate in the Cy Young race and the Mets ... stink.
• SN midseason awards: Rank AL MVP contenders | Rank AL Cy Young contenders
• Groups: ROCKIES ROCK!! | The Arizona Diamondbacks | National league

Manny Ramirez brought his own cheers with him when Dodgers fans flocked down I-5 to cheer his return from suspension in San Diego (much to SportsNation's surprise), but the greeting wasn't nearly as warm in his hometown Tuesday night during a game against the Mets. Just imagine what would happen in Boston.

Speaking of which, a day earlier, Nomar Garciaparra returned to Fenway Park for the first time since being traded midway through the 2004 season and received a sustained standing ovation from a fan base that wasn't unanimously sad to see him go.

Which perceived sins come with a statute of limitations, and which are unforgivable?

• At least in comparison to a couple of former Red Sox, Aaron "Bleepin'" Boone is apparently off the hook for the home run that beat Boston in the 2003 ALCS.
• If Rocket were still active, who would get a cooler reception at Fenway: Roger Clemens or Manny Ramirez?
• And nice moment aside, Garciaparra isn't getting to Cooperstown.