By JB Ellis
The Pro Bowl used to be played in Hawaii, now it’s a flag football game and skills competition in Orlando. The NHL All Star Game has seen many iterations, now with 4 teams playing a tournament to win. The NBA now has 2 captains and pick teams and instead of playing a 4th quarter, play to a certain total. In MLB they are still trying to figure out how to make the game meaningful even toying with home field advantage for the World Series.
Back before The Sunday Ticket or MLB Extra Innings seeing your favorite player play would only happen a couple of times per year if they were playing your home town team. With the addition of these paid services now fans can watch almost every game live and see the players and teams they want whenever they choose. This cuts down on the thrill of seeing the stars of the game come together when you can watch Aaron Judge 150 plus times per season.
This with the tinkering of rules and game play makes for a mockery of the sport. No one plays defense in the NBA all star game, flag football for the NFL, let that sink in, flag football. Plus the game was moved from a location where players would love to vacation to Orlando, and the league still has issues selling the game out.
To see the best of the best play in an exhibition that doesn’t resemble the game played on a regular basis with the advancement of technology where almost any game is available to any fan has ruined what used to be a special time for every sports league. The time for All Star games has passed, just name the players All Stars and give them off for a few games instead of forcing a bad version of the current game down the viewers throats.
