All Star Games

Some things work together, some things just don’t. Peanut butter and jam is a match made in gastronomic heaven; peanut butter and cheese isn’t. Some guys look good with long hair; Tom Brady doesn’t. Now what does all of this have to do with All Star games?

Well, to put it in my crazy analogies, NHL All Star weekend is PB&J, and the Pro Bowl is Tom Brady (Beiber style).

Let me elaborate. I haven’t watched any part of the Pro Bowl in five years, and I’ve probably never watched a full Pro Bowl in my life. The NFL has tried to spark some interest in the game in recent years, scheduling it for the weekend between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl. The problem is, no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, it’s still a pig. And the NFL/Pro Bowl combo is a pretty ugly pig.

The Pro Bowl is awful, and there’s one key reason why. Football can never be a theatrical, light hearted, fun game; and that is exactly what the All Star game is supposed to be.  Football is all about micromanaging, preparation, and following the game plan. Football needs physicality. All Star games are all about entertaining the fans with excitement and skill. As a sport, football just doesn’t work in an All Star Game format.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the All Star team needs to stay. There should still be two all star teams, they just shouldn’t play. Pick the teams, give the players something to be proud of, and leave it at that.

Luckily, not all sports are so unfit for All Star games. Looking at the other side of the coin, we find the NHL’s All Star weekend. I’m not even talking about the new fantasy draft, schoolyard style pickup game thing, I’m talking about the actual events.

From the skills competition to the game itself, NHL All star weekend is full of excitement. Hockey, especially professional hockey, is the perfect sport for an All Star game. Like I said before, All Star games are all about letting the most talented players shine, and this is exactly what the NHL All star game does. Unlike football, where everything needs to be structured and well planned, some of the most beautiful and fun to watch hockey is usually played at a free-wheeling pace. Without any real hitting or defensive tactics, the game becomes a showcase of talent and creativity which even non hockey fans enjoy. When you get to watch Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos and Daniel Sedin go tic-tac-toe for a tap in, it’s safe to say no one’s complaining.

NHL All Star weekend also has a fantastic skills competition. In hockey, unlike most sports, every player has to perform in almost every aspect of the game. In basketball, not all players need to be able to shoot threes, in baseball there are pitchers and position players, and in football, every player has a completely different role. In hockey however, every player has to be able to skate, shoot and pass, to at least some degree. This is why the skills competition is so great.

We’d love to know which player shoots the hardest, skates the fastest, and is the most accurate. It’s fun to watch players compete individually, talent on talent, instead of watching them in their usual team setting. The NHL skills competition even has fun little gimmicks like the breakway challenge, adding to the creativity aspect of the event.

In the case of big sporting events, I think one of the best ways to judge them is through memories. If you can think of one fond memory from the Pro Bowl, honestly, I commend you. NHL All star weekend, on the other hand, is littered with great moments. From Owen Nolan’s called shot to Alex Ovechkin’s cowboy hat-sunglasses-double stick shootout attempt, All Star weekend has given us plenty to remember.  

It might look like I’m trying to rip apart the NFL, but really, I’m not. There is nothing the NFL can do to fix the Pro Bowl; it’s just the nature of their sport. Like Tom Brady and his hair, the NFL can pull off a lot of things, but this just isn’t one of them. Sometimes, you need to learn to know your limits, swallow your pride, and realize that not everything’s a perfect fit. After all, nobody’s perfect.