The completion of the NBA All-Star Game this weekend in Las Vegas was a somber denouement to the month-long extravaganza of all-star exhibitions in three major professional sports. Now that some of the biggest, most anticipated events in all of the sports world have come and gone, all that's left to do is cherish the memories that each has left with us. Right.
What happened to these displays of the best players each sport has to offer? Rather than a celebration of the respective game, all-star events have become more of a chore than anything else. There are disputes about which players deserve to be there and which are snubbed. There are instances of players prolonging injuries to miss the event or just declining to participate for whatever reason. There are players simply going to the slam-dunk contest for the money. (Not to name any names, Tyrus Thomas.) This begs the question of why participants are even paid, but that is neither here nor there.
There just haven't been that many memorable moments in all-star games for me personally. If you take a look at each league, you will find a slew of issues surrounding its all-star festivities that have led to the decline in popularity of the events in recent years.
The MLB All-Star Game is usually lacking stars, as players in this league are notorious for trying to get out of playing in the game. The major league season is incredibly long, so it makes sense that many players would rather spend the three-day break with family away from the game. Commissioner Bud Selig has tried to gain viewers with the ridiculously desperate ploy of awarding home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that wins the all-star game. Though he's beaten this point to death with the "This Game Counts" slogans, you can see that the event is still struggling.
The NHL All-Star Game has become a joke to the extent that it took place on a Wednesday night on the league's little known cable channel partner, Versus. While MLB might be able to pull off a Tuesday night all-star game, a league struggling for viewers like the NHL should have figured that a weekend timeslot on NBC would have helped promote the game. With what little coverage the NHL already gets, casual hockey fans probably didn't even know about the game.
It's a shame because the NHL All-Star Game is not a bad deal. Though there is little to no hitting or physical play, the game is always high-scoring and offensively exciting. The skills competitions are usually fun to watch as well, but were also swept under the rug as a result of the poor coverage.
The NFL's Pro Bowl is the most worthless game of all. After a grueling 17-week regular season and another month of football for playoff teams, the last thing NFL players want to do is put on the pads again. Whereas other sports can take away physical aspects of the game for all-star exhibitions, the nature of football is contact on every single play. The chances of injury are just too great and don't seem to be worth the trip to Hawaii, in my opinion. Just select the All-Pro teams, announce the players and be done with it. About the only interesting thing surrounding the Pro Bowl is checking out how outrageously ugly the uniforms will be.
The most recent exhibition, the NBA All-Star Game, is probably the most popular of the four. That doesn't mean the game is what it once was, however. Similar to the home run derby in baseball, the slam dunk contest usually trumps the actual game in terms of interest. That said, the hype of the dunk contest has been steadily declining as the league's major stars refuse to participate.
Further, the 14 tries it took last year's champion Nate Robinson to complete his dunk as well as the "two minute plus two dunks" rule implemented for this year's event serve to show just how lame the event has become. There is little originality anymore, with competitors mostly jumping over objects or performing dunks that they would make in actual games.
As for the game itself, it is essentially a glorified display of pure showboating, which I guess is the NBA's only chance to try to rope in the AND1 mixtape crowd without compromising the integrity of the game. I find it interesting that David Stern is trying so desperately to get rid of the "gangsta" image in the league -- with initiatives like the dress code -- yet seems to be embracing the street ball crowd with an MC during the skills competitions and dunk contest.
Despite their shortcomings, all-star games are here to stay. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't take Ty Thomas opening up his checkbook to get me interested.
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