All-Star Games = All Bore Games.
Today is All Star sunday as both the NHL and the NFL are playing thier All Star game today, plus the Celtics are playing the Lakers and that's basically an All Star game. I thought this would be a great time to point out why I hate All Star games. This goes for all four sports as well although there are some exceptions to my hate. The games are meaningless (no matter what MLB tells you) and just a huge waste of time. Personally I much rather the players on my favorite teams took the three or four days off to rest up, heal up, and get ready for the second half of the season.
No one cares who wins these games and surely no one ever remebers. Think about it, who won last years Pro Bowl?? It's O.K. if you don't know, no one does. I'm willing to bet half the guys who played don't. WIth the advent of free agency in sports and players changing teas so much there is no longer any real rivalry between players or leagues. The American League and National League had a great rivalry in the olds days when player hardly ever changed leagues and teams from each league only played each other in the World Series. That all changed at the end of last century and the All Star game lost all meaning. And that was the only All Star game that ever had any meaning. Even when leagues try to create meaning it doesn't work. The NHL tried to build off the Olympics and make it North America vs the World. That didn't work. MLB insists on having home field advantage in the World Series based on the All Star game. That didn't work. When the games are meaningless to both the players and the fans, one has to consider why they bother playing them.
Worst then the games not mattering could be the fact that most of them aren't played like real games (baseball would be an exception, for the most part to all of this paragraph for that matter). The NHL and NFL games lose most, if not all, of their physicality which is a big aspect of thier games and no one plays any real defense in any all star game. The NBA game is just fooling around for 45 minutes and then playing for the last 3 to see who wins. It's like going to a Globetrotters game only either team could pull out the victory. The NFL goes as far as to change the rules of game and even eliminates blitzes. Guys playing pick up games at the local gym play harder then anyone in an All-Star game. The exception to all of this, as I stated, is the MLB game. Aside from players only playing a couple of innings, the game is pretty much the same. Pitchers are still trying to strike guys out and hitter are still trying to get on base. No one wants to get lit up or strike out, even if the game doesn't matter. There's no pysical play in baseball (for the most part) so there really isn't much missing from the All-Star game.
The other problems I have with the All Star games is who to cheer for. This is a two fold problem. First, there have been occasions, as in this years NHL game, where players from the same team have been on opposite All-Star teams. This is the same problem international play has and one of the reasons I don't care for international play but that's for another time. In todays NHLgame Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas will be in oppsing teams. So, not only wouldn't I have cared to begin with, but now I really don't care which team wins. Either way a Bruin is gonna win. The other side to this is with the mixing of teams, If I cared, i would have to root for guys I hate. The NBA game is a great example. Suddenly I'm supposed to root for LeBron James and Dwight Howard even though I spend the rest of the year hateing them and wishing bad things on them. Why would I want to do that. Hell, If it were up to me James and Howard would run into each other and suffer season ending injuries, who cares if it costs the East the game. I won't even get into having to hope some schmuck from the Royals comes through so the Yankees can have home filed advantage if they make the World Series.
This leads to the last problem I have with All-Star games. How the teams are chosen. First off, you should never, ever let the fans have a say in anything you want to be good. I'll let you all in on a little secret. most fans are idiots. The All Star voting is nothing more then a popularity contest and shouldn't be used as a gage of who the best players are. I mean obviously Yoa Ming is the best Center in the West. Those 5 games he played in this season were magnificent. The Pro Bowl actually does the best job as they incorperate the fans votes with player votes and coaches votes so that ballances it out. The MLB rule that each team has to have a player is aweful as well. It forces not as good players to take the place of a guy who happens to play a loaded position. The NBA refuses to recognize the different positions lumping all the guards together and all of the forwards together rather then seperating point guards from 2 guards or small forwards from power forwards. All of this leads to snubs all over the place. I can't imagine why players have bonuses in their contracts based on All Star apperances. Why would you leave your paycheck up to the fans?
I will say this, while All Star games suck, some of the All Star weekend stuff can be fun. I absolutely love the NHL Skill competition and the draft was great. Props to Shanny for comming up with it. It's only a matter of time befor the NBA steals the idea. The Three point contest and Slam Dunk Contests can be good if there are Celtics involved. The home run derby is pretty boring no matter what. These pre game events, if you will, can be a great way to see the personalities of the players when they are not in full compete mode. The NHL stuff is great for this. Still if it were up to me, any Celtic, Bruin, Niner, Yankee or Mercury would just head home for some R&R for the weekend and get ready to kick some ass the rest fo the way!
