Chicago ? As commissioner Bud Selig walked into U.S. Cellular Field Tuesday night, he had the same wish as any dad on Father’s Day: Anything but another tie.

A year after the 7-7 All-Star deadlock many still consider a brainlock by Selig, he is as hounded about that decision almost as much as he is asked about Pete Rose.

“You blew it last year, Bud!” a voice bellowed as Selig smiled.

Tom Dobry, a Cubs fan and apparently a Bud man, begged to differ.

“I went up to him and shook his hand to say I thought he made the right decision last year, and the right decision to make the winner get home-field advantage for the World Series,” Dobry said as Selig signed autographs outside Gate 4.

Selig’s reply?

“It was a tough decision,” he said, “but the right one.”

Most fans lingering outside the stadium agreed, including noted baseball historian George Will, who was soaking in the All-Star ambience like a Little Leaguer as he does every July.

“I’m all in favor (of tying the All-Star outcome to the World Series),” Will said. “Fox (Sports) wanted it and wanted it for the right reasons. It was the right thing to do.”

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels make a flyover before the start of the 74th All-Star game. The American League won, 7-6, Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.

Only the All-Stars themselves could answer whether playing for home-field advantage added to the intensity on the field, but anybody walking near 35th and Shields could feel the electricity in the air. The Midsummer Classic apparently still has magic.

It came from the sidewalks where hawkers gave away “I Still Call It Comiskey” T-shirts and “Clear Buck” buttons intended to get banned “Black Sox” third baseman Buck Weaver reinstated.

It came from the hundreds of fans clutching cameras and baseballs waiting near the players’ entrance, hoping to start their day by getting an autograph and end it by watching a signature All-Star moment.

It also came from the parking lots, where fans made a Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular feel a lot like a Sunday morning at Soldier Field.

What wasn’t to like for Chicago’s baseball fans? When the first pitch was thrown at 7:40 p.m., a Cubs manager sat in the National League dugout and a White Sox pitcher stood on the mound.

For a few hours, nobody worried whether Sox manager Jerry Manuel would get fired or whether the Cubs’ season would continue to die slowly this summer like a dry patch of grass.

Even Mayor Richard M. Daley, a lifelong Sox fan, showed up. On his way into U.S. Cellular, Daley smiled and shook hands like it was an election year as fellow Chicagoans cheered his every step.

“The All-Star Game is great exposure,” Daley said, “and it’s a great night for the city of Chicago.”