Should All Stars and Pro Bowls Be This Bad?

In what is surely the most desperate of sports weekends, that is, the Saturday and Sunday leading up to the Super Bowl we had 2...count 'em 2 league all-star games: The NHL and NFL put their best on the field and ice in a showcase designed to highlight the league's stars. The Hockey Gods convened in Raleigh, North Carolina, home of the Hurricanes and by all accounts the hospitality of the Carolinians was the highlight of the weekend- because the game certainly was not. Powered by a new concept of choosing sides, that is, a live fantasy draft where player captains picked their rosters regardless of team, division or conference, All Star Game #58 took to the ice pitting teammates against teammates and brother against brother, literally in the persona of Vancouver's Sedin twins. With a Saturday skills competition that provided few highlight moments, Sunday's game actually showed some promise when the players ratcheted up the intensity even a hint. However, the spectre of injury always looms and the participants come to play the game as a wide open version of pond hockey filling the net with goals in an offensive showcase. The Pro Bowl, set against the warm breezes in Hawaii is always a stiff and this year proved no exception, blocking, tackling, defense, all lost arts as a buffet of aerial and ground assault led to a combined explosion of over 90 points and a final 2 minutes that seemed to stretch longer than some regular season games. The premise of highlighting the league's stars in an all-star format is understandable- a marketing and p.r. bonanza that puts fans and players in an environment that is looser, more intimate and celebratory. But the games .....suck. The NBA as well, they must join the list of loser all-star contests. Only baseball, perhaps because of the mano a mano nature of the pitcher vs. batter dynamic seems to instill any sense of competition or interest. For hockey, the Winter Classic has eclipsed all-star weekend and captured the greater imagination of the fans, interrupted every 4 years by professional involvement in the Olympic games. Perhaps its best to let the all-star game die, like the dodo, a creature who's time has simply come and gone. The NFL is now a 4 season sport- draft, pre-season, regular season and 5 weeks of post season so the Pro Bowl seems diminished and unnecessary. The possibility of an 18 game regular season only adds to the 52 week nature of the league so the howdown in Honolulu becomes even more of a distraction to what fans are really craving. I would seem to be among many who love the sports and hate the all-star games but we tolerate them and pay meagre attention with a jaundiced eye. It's like having that one annoying relative at the Christmas dinner, you have to invite them and then 5 minutes in you can't remember why. Here's hoping the leagues look for alternatives, the current versions are tired and seem to be capturing more cynicism than imagination.