A lot of people are whining about the Home Run Derby. Chris Berman is annoying. It’s boring. Steroids are ruining everything.

This is mostly warranted. Last night’s event seemed to slog on forever until Prince Fielder beat Nelson Cruz for the title. Also there was some Doppler radar fishtail on the balls or something. That was cool! Last year there was some serious splash with Josh Hamilton’s ridiculous first round, but he didn’t even win the thing.

I’m left wondering if there’s anything that can jazz this sucker up a bit. And I don’t know if you can. Unless you get super gimmicky, and involve some sort of zany scoring system, or have guys hit at the same time, or something of that nature, it’s going to just be what it is … guys trying to hit home runs. When Dwight Howard dons a Superman cape or raises the rim, or when Nate Robinson jumps over Spud Webb, basketball fans go wild. It’s just not like that in baseball. Basketball is swagger and flash, baseball (mostly) shuns any sort of gimmicks. Outside some impressive rounds where a guy goes 20-plus or hits one 500-plus, and then is left insanely tired and putters out late, I’m not sure where the flash is anymore.

So maybe it’s not about improving the HR Derby. Maybe it’s about adding in another event that won’t have people complaining about its length or structure or general monotony. Pitchers trying to throw the fastest fastball in the league? No one is going to risk their arm for that.

The only thing I can think of is some sort of skills challenge. Maybe take some outfielders, see who can throw into a bucket at home plate from the outfield first, have them try to hit certain spots on the field from the plate, things of this nature.

I’m not sure if that solves everyone’s gripes — it probably doesn’t. But there are so many voices out there now, I’m not sure anything will.