One of the most popular traditions in North American professional sports is the All-Star Game, an annual showcase where the best players of their respective sports come together and play a game. The fans enjoy the experience, while the players bask in the honor of being selected as one of the best in their craft. However, lately the All-Star Games in professional sports, which were once competitive and intense, have become a poor excuse for a game supposedly played by “the best.”
Most recently, the National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on Jan. 25 in Columbus, Ohio. All-Star weekend in the NHL consists of a skills competition and a regulation game. The average amount of goals a team scores per game in the NHL is approximately 2.75 this season. In the All-Star Game, however, the scoring was much higher. The final margin was 17-12. In a game filled with the best players in the sport, they forgot how to play defense.
Rather than being a game of showcasing skills, the NHL All-Star Game is now a mere popularity contest where the best players try to show off in order to drive away in a new car with an oversized key trophy for winning the MVP. Tragic, I know. It’s more like a bunch of kids than professionals.
The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is exactly the same set up: skills competition and regulation game. Unlike most basketball games that rarely see teams score over 120 points, the All-Star Game occasionally sees teams approaching the 200 mark. A sad excuse for the most talented players in the NBA.
Another poor excuse for an all-star contest is the National Football League Pro Bowl. When the game used to be played in Hawaii, the best players from the American Football Conference were pitted against the best from the National Football Conference. The best part of those games was the fact that they were played in Hawaii, and after the awful game was finished, fans were still in paradise. The old version of the Pro Bowl would finish with high score lines, either by a blowout victory or the last team to have the ball winning by a touchdown. The scores were comparable to extremely high scoring Arena Football games.
The Pro Bowl has since adapted from AFC vs. NFC, to teams picked at random by legendary captains. This year’s Pro Bowl was actually exciting, ending in a relatively low score of 32-28, with the winning touchdown being scored in the final two minutes. It was really one of the first exciting modern Pro Bowls, possibly resuscitating the NFL classic.
Another All-Star game that has recently become more competitive is Major League Soccer’s version. The game, in its first 10 years, changed from Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference, to MLS USA vs. MLS World, back to East vs. West, and now to its current format, the MLS Best 23 vs. a European opponent.
The game has been played in this format since 2005, the 10th season of MLS. Since the initiation of this All-Star game, the MLS has received great publicity from the annual event. Some of Europe’s most reputable clubs such as Chelsea FC, FC Bayern Munich, Celtic FC and Manchester United FC have taken part in the game, drawing in more and more fans each year. The game is a good chance for MLS stars to prove their skill is up to par with Europe’s and the World’s best players.
The only All-Star Game that matters is Major League Baseball’s mid-summer classic. A game that pits the best players from the American League and the National League, the game has a bigger prize on the line than just bragging rights. The winning team’s league champion in October gets home-field advantage for the World Series.
While the MLB’s All-Star Game might not be fair for the losing team, it provides a motive for All Stars to play their best without showing off or having a game end in an outlandish score line and a game that lasts far too long to be enjoyable.
So is the concept of an All-Star Game a joke in most sports? For the NHL and NBA, the All-Star Game, albeit an honor, is a meaningless waste of skill that is just a bunch of showoffs trying to win a car. The MLS and NFL All-Star Games were also noncompetitive, until recent changes in format changed the event from a joke to an interesting game of skill. However, I believe no All-Star game compares with the MLB’s edition. The game means something unlike other sports, and it is actually very competitive and fun to watch.
If the NHL and NBA can take the same initiative as the NFL and MLS and remodel the game to be competitive, the professional All-Star Game will be successfully resuscitated.
Daniel Shulman is a sophomore at Boston University majoring in Journalism through the College of Communication. A native of Stoughton, Dan is a sports fanatic who loves everything Boston sports related. He is currently a Sports Hawk at the Boston Globe in the High School sports department. He is also a statistician for both Men’s and Women’s Soccer and Men’s Ice Hockey. Aside from writing, Dan has an interest in music, movies and cooking.
