How would you fix all star games in professional sports?

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

regardless of what sport you're into, I think we're firmly in a real bad spot for all-star games across the board.

my favorite used to be baseball's all-star game but even that got screwed up by adding the home field advantage BS that thankfully went away in 2017. add in interleague play no longer having any intrigue to it and I consider that all-star game to be ruined.

even with the home run derby, its just kinda... there. it isn't like the other leagues are any better, NBA players are afraid of getting clowned on and by doing that, make people clown on them even more (anthony edwards). NFL players don't give a damn about the whole thing and NHL's is okay I guess?

MLS has an interesting concept where they have the best MLS players go against a team from a different part of the world but even that sucks cause all you're doing is saying "our best can't beat some randoms" most of the time. novel and fun to watch idea but eh.


what all star weekend/game/etc. is your favorite but also what would you do to attempt to fix any of them?

[fw91]

What if they did a single elimination tournament (like the NHL) does with divisions? The winning division has one of it's teams (based on a rotation) host the festivities the next year. For MLB all star festivities move Friday through Saturday with the home run derby taking place as a seperate entity Saturday night. you can have 7 inning games. AL and NL brackets. Division with the team that has the most wins in the league gets a first round bye. All managers are on the coaching staff with last year's results determining who the skipper of the all star team is.

[MrElijah]

-The NFL Sabotaged the Pro Bowl from moving it from Hawaii and putting it BEFORE the Super Bowl. So if the AFC & NFC Champs have Pro Bowlers, they're not going to play before the gane that really matters. Add in the fact the players aren't going hard anyway because of threat of injuries and here we are.
-MLB? Get rid of Interleauge Play?
-NBA: The players for some reason feel competitive spirit doesn't matter. I get the games back then had the players goof a bit but they knew when to turn it on.

[XIII]

I think that they shouldn’t even play the games and just do a bunch of skills challenges. Bring back the QB challenge that they had in the 90s where dudes were trying to throw the ball in a hole that was driving across he field, the long bomb for distance, etc. Have the punters and kickers trying to hit exact spots, etc.

Baseball has the home run derby and can come up with some other skill events.

Etc

[Cyno]

The novelty of the All Star games is completely gone because of the changed nature of how teams play each other along with the creation of free agency and advances in technology.

Especially in baseball, it used to be that the All Star Game was the only way to see star players from the other league/conference play each other outside of possibly the Finals series. Now with regular interleague/conference play, you see that way more often during the regular season. The advances in cable and internet also mean you can watch a lot of games all over the country.

And you're also not going to see anyone really go all out and risk serious injury in a glorified exhibition game. Which is how you get stuff like last night's game being a glorified shoot-around.

The easiest solution in theory is to dump interleague play, but that particular genie is out of the bottle. Hard to put it back in.

I'd just dump the actual All Star Games altogether and go purely with skills competitions. And even then, you've got some star players in baseball shirking at playing in stuff like the Home Run Derby because of the idea that it messes up your swing in the second half of the regular season.

[Mayonnaise]

Said it in another thread, get the people behind the old Rock n Jock games.

[MrElijah]

Feb 19, 2024 13:24:57 GMT -5 Cyno said:

The novelty of the All Star games is completely gone because of the changed nature of how teams play each other along with the creation of free agency and advances in technology.

Especially in baseball, it used to be that the All Star Game was the only way to see star players from the other league/conference play each other outside of possibly the Finals series. Now with regular interleague/conference play, you see that way more often during the regular season. The advances in cable and internet also mean you can watch a lot of games all over the country.

And you're also not going to see anyone really go all out and risk serious injury in a glorified exhibition game. Which is how you get stuff like last night's game being a glorified shoot-around.

The easiest solution in theory is to dump interleague play, but that particular genie is out of the bottle. Hard to put it back in.

I'd just dump the actual All Star Games altogether and go purely with skills competitions. And even then, you've got some star players in baseball shirking at playing in stuff like the Home Run Derby because of the idea that it messes up your swing in the second half of the regular season.

True but there's hasn't been a major injury in any NBA All-Star Game that caused a player to miss time. It's like the players got together and said f*** it.

[BRV]

Money.

That's the only way to get the players to care. Incentivize them with a cash reward for the winning team. Look at how hard players tried during that pointless NBA In-Season Tournament - because there was a $500,000 golden ticket waiting at the end of the tournament.

[Push R Truth]

Their families should be suspended above a tank of acid and every time a fan thinks the player is half assing it, they can click on the NBA App and the player's mom is lowered towards the acid.

[fw91]

Feb 20, 2024 13:33:13 GMT -5 BRV said:

Money.

That's the only way to get the players to care. Incentivize them with a cash reward for the winning team. Look at how hard players tried during that pointless NBA In-Season Tournament - because there was a $500,000 golden ticket waiting at the end of the tournament.

didn't those preliminary round games count for the regular season?

[Ishmeal Loves Kaseyhausen]

Feb 19, 2024 18:32:29 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

Said it in another thread, get the people behind the old Rock n Jock games.

I’d love to see the AL call for the 8-ball with Judge at the plate

[floundertime]

The mystique of watching all star games has gone away for me. Part of it was it might be the only time that year you could see the player play. Now if I want to see someone player I can just watch them on streaming or watch highlights at any time on my phone.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Feb 19, 2024 13:13:36 GMT -5 XIII said:

I think that they shouldn’t even play the games and just do a bunch of skills challenges. Bring back the QB challenge that they had in the 90s where dudes were trying to throw the ball in a hole that was driving across he field, the long bomb for distance, etc. Have the punters and kickers trying to hit exact spots, etc.

Baseball has the home run derby and can come up with some other skill events.

Etc

It’s not like the NFL doesn’t still have skills competitions, but there’s no stakes involved so players are going to goof around. It’s how Dan Olovsky, who has been a TV analyst for years now, got the top score in the QB passing competition for this season’s passing competition. He practically the only one who took it seriously.