Leave it to Brett Favre to make an agonizingly slow day in sports a little more interesting.

I have often stated my belief that Opening Day in Major League Baseball combined with the basketball championship of the NCAA Tournament makes for the greatest day of the greatest week in the sports calendar.

There could be no starker contrast than the Wednesday after the MLB All-Star Game. It is the worst day of the sports year.

Flip through this section. Then do it again, but remove the Favre story from the regional/national landscape.

Scary isn’t it.

Sure there’s the British Open preview. By the time most of you read this, the Open will already be well into Round 1 in Scotland. But the run-up to golf’s third major of the season began in earnest on Sunday.

Other than that, it’s one big transaction wire with a feature or two sprinkled in for seasoning.

There was nary an event worth watching, let alone writing about.

Here’s a sample of what the sports channels programmed on Wednesday:

* ESPN: A replay of the mind-numbing Home Run Derby from Monday night. Sure Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder won. But the made-for-TV event doesn’t even play on TV anymore.

* Time Warner Cable Sports: A two-day old Single-A game between the South Bend Silver Hawks and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

* Comcast Sports Net Chicago: The Frontier Baseball League All-Star Game from Evansville, Ind. No more Kenosha Mammoths, no more interest in this game.

* Big Ten Network: “Hail to the Victors: Greatest Stories of Michigan Football” — no self-respecting Badger would plop down on the couch for that.

* Versus: A replay of the Tour de France’s Stage 11

* Fox Sports Wisconsin: An all-day World Tour Poker binge.

* ESPN2: The Triple-A All-Star Game (really should read: the best of the retreads and never-will-bes). But adding insult to the injury that was Wednesday’s TV lineup was ESPN2’s lead-in to the Triple-A game — an NFL Greatest Games presentation.

It was the Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs from Jan. 3, 1999.

Yes, that game.

Jerry Rice fumbles ... no call. Packers defense fails to cover the goal line and Terrell Owens begins his plague on the league with a TD reception from a stumbling Steve Young. Mike Holmgren leaves Green Bay, Reggie White retires and the Packers begin the slow trudge down to mediocrity.

Book it (19-13): The National League was unable to hold a 3-2 lead, finding a way to extend its winless streak to 13 All-Star contests.

This week, both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs will finish above .500 on their respective road trips coming out of the All-Star break. The Brewers play at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, while the Cubs travel to Washington and Philadelphia.

Mike Larsen is a sports writer for the News. E-mail him at mlarsen@kenoshanews.com