Rating the All-Star Events

Rating the All-Star Events by Joe Brackets:

Each major sports league has it’s All-Star Game, and NASCAR’s is actually pretty good in comparison.  While it’s not the best, it’s certainly not the worst.  That honor clearly belongs to…

6. Pro Bowl: Do I need to elaborate at all here?  The only thing the Pro Bowl has going for it is that the game is played in Hawaii.  Even the players don’t care.  That’s why Roger Goddell makes his annual threat to discontinue the game entirely.  Of course, his decision to move the date of the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl, thus disqualifying players from the two best teams in the league, is one of the major problems the Pro Bowl currently faces.  Too many guys drop out for other reasons, too.  As a result, we’re left with way too many no-name guys from mediocre/bad teams playing in the “All-Star” game.  The events surrounding the Pro Bowl aren’t that spectacular, either.

5. MLS: Raise your hand if you knew there was such a thing as an MLS All-Star Game.  They’ve actually had one every year since the league was formed.  It seems somewhat out-of-place for a soccer league to have an all-star game, but that’s something that can be blamed on the North American professional sports system.  Anyway, they did East vs. West for a while before settling into the new format where the MLS All-Stars take on a team from England that’s on an American tour.  It’s great that they’re able to pull in these international teams, which clearly helps attendance, but I think it’s time for them to go back to the old East vs. West format.  When they first did it, there were only 10 teams in MLS, so a league-wide all-star team made a lot more sense.  MLS has doubled in size since then, though.  The league is clearly strong enough to stand on its own and put on an All-Star Game where every player is from MLS.

4. NHL: The NHL All-Star Game is great when it actually happens, but lockouts and Olympic breaks make is so that it isn’t played about as frequently as it is.  (Although, not playing it in Olympic years makes total sense, and, if given the choice, everyone is picking NHL guys in the Olympics over an All-Star Game.)  I’m also not the biggest fan of this whole “choose your own team” format that they currently use.  I give them credit for trying something new, and the “All-Star Fantasy Draft” is cool, but it’s way too gimmicky.  Not only that, it’s confusing to have teammates on different teams.  (When it’s international competition, that’s totally different.)  The game itself is usually pretty good, though.  Hockey needs more offense most of the time.  That’s not a problem in the All-Star Game.  The NHL also has the best corresponding All-Star Weekend event in the Skills Competition, and the All-Star Game jerseys are usually pretty awesome.

3. NASCAR: I rank the Winston as the third-best All-Star Game in all of sports, bascially because I love the simple premise of it.  You win, you get $1 million.  You finish second, you get nothing.  It’s old-fashioned racing, made better by the fact that it’s under the lights.  And with no points on the line and $1 million at stake, it’s some of the best racing you’re gonna see. Everybody’s going all-out for the win, which makes the finish ridiculously exciting.  Sure, the idea of an individual sport having “All-Stars” is still somewhat confusing, but all that means is it’s the 20 guys you know with all those random schmos who aren’t going to win and just get in the way taken out of the equation.  Those drivers still get a chance.  There’s a qualifying race beforehand, and the top two advance.  There’s also a fan vote for one additional driver.  It would be nice if they didn’t change the rules every year.  Other than that, no complaints here about the Winston.

2. NBA: The NBA is a superstar’s league, which is why their All-Star Game works so well.  Nobody plays defense, but that’s not a problem.  Because that’s not what the fans are paying to see.  They want to see dunks and ridiculous plays.  With all the superlative talents in the NBA, providing that stuff is easy.  It makes for good entertainment, too.  Except, only five guys can be on the floor at one time, and there’s only one ball.  Regardless, there isn’t really much to compain about with the actual NBA All-Star Game.  I don’t watch it, but that has more to do with my disdain for the NBA as a whole than anything else.  The NBA also boasts an entertainment event that no other league can compete with.  The Slam Dunk Contest is a spectacle in its own right.  I still prefer the NHL Skills Competition because that involves everyone on both All-Star teams, but the NBA’s got a pretty nice setup with the slam dunk and three-point contests.

1. MLB: The original All-Star Game is still the best.  Say what you want about the whole All-Star Game deciding home field advantage in the World Series thing, but if that’s the biggest people have with the MLB All-Star Game, you know they’re doing something right.  Sure, the tie in Milwaukee was bad, but I think they’ve recovered from that (and with the roster adjustments they’ve made since, that’ll never happen again).  Sure, baseball is the sport that most lends itself to an All-Star Game.  The batters come to the plate one at a time, and every at-bat is a one-on-one battle between batter and pitcher.  It’s been that way since the game was invented.  The system worked long before they attached “meaning” to the game, and I don’t think things have really changed that much since.  And the biggest rule change they’ve made to the All-Star game is making it so that both teams use a DH every year, which I think we can all agree is for the best.  Nobody wants to see a pitcher hit in an All-Star Game, and you’d be pinch-hitting for them every time anyway.  Let’s not forget the incredible awesomeness of the Home Run Derby, either.  It’s the only All-Star Game broadcast on national TV, as well as the only major league sporting event on that Monday and Tuesday in mid-July.  I’m not saying that helps make the MLB All-Star Game the best, but it certainly doesn’t hurt either.