I’ll talk about these in chronological order as they happen
in 2012.
First is the NHL. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE hockey. It’s my favorite sport. I love watching my Pens and catching a Blue
Jackets game live. But watching their
all-star game is brutal. High flying
offense and no goalie effort = blah. The
skills competitions leave a lot to be desired because it’s not that
exciting. They’ve tried to mix it up
with the players picking their own teams.
In fact, I watched for the first time in years last year because two
team captains were selected and they picked their teams. It was cool!
In my opinion, keep this unique feature alive but couple it with the
Winter Classic! It’s already the marquee
event of the season, let’s make it one heck of a weekend for the sport. It would go a long way.
I almost didn’t even bother thinking about what the NFL Pro
Bowl is and has become. Let’s face
it. Nobody watches this thing. Only the players like it because they get a
free trip to Hawaii except for last year when it was in Florida (how dumb is
that?). NFL is trying to make it
relevant by squeezing it in between the Conference Championships and the Super
Bowl to have football in an off weekend.
Here’s a clue NFL, you already eliminated some of the best players
because usually they end up in the Super Bowl.
The skills competition is pretty cool because football drills are
exciting. Let’s just ship ‘em to
Honolulu and forget the game, it’s a waste.
In fact, let’s just name the team.
The NBA all-star game, like the previous two, is just a
backyard pick-up game. So many dunks and
high flying passes it’s outrageous.
However, it’s still fun to see all the best players get together and go
crazy athletic on everyone. NBA has
probably the most exciting skills competition with 3 point shooting, passing,
and dunks. Unfortunately the stars don’t
participate as much as they used to. I
mean LeBron is arguably the best player in the game and he’s never been in the
dunk contest. Last time I checked, MJ
won a couple. Why? Because he cared about the game. Good job Blake Griffin for manning up last
season. The NBA ranks third of the 4
major sports but it’s probably the best overall all-star weekend for fun and
excitement. Get some legit participants
and you got a nice weekend!
Major League Baseball, who do you think you are? Listen, I get it. You wanted to make the midsummer classic
relevant. But why put World Series home
field advantage on the line? The fans
still vote on the starters so you aren’t even guaranteed to have the most
deserving players on the field. I would
keep arguing but then I realized it’s an ALL-STAR game, it shouldn’t have a
meaning. It should be fun like the home
run derby. The home run derbys have been
pretty good the past few years but I think a lot of people are still turned off
by the steroid era. The game is already pretty
good because it’s hard to slack off for this game when the players only play an
inning or two. Bud Selig, you’re a
joke. Retire already and don’t make me
hate you for 2 more years. I’m ticked
because my favorite Atlanta Braves are risking injury on July 10th
for a game they are most likely not going to play in. Screw that.
These obviously were just suggestions and/or my
viewpoints. However, if it was up to me,
I wouldn’t have them at all. It really
only benefits the players already inflated egos and the home city that gets to
host the game. Fans still vote a lot of
the starters so most guys getting the nod don’t even deserve it. I’m all for the media getting together at the
end of each season and naming the all-star teams. Sure you lose all the fan fare and excitement
but if it’s so important, how about we take it seriously? On that note, I’d still keep the skills
competitions for each because that’s where each player gets a chance to
showcase his individual skill. Just don’t
play the games, you’re just wasting my and the players’ time.
Just like Happy Gilmore taught me...
