This past weekend was the NHL all star game. The day before as always was the skills competition. Growing up i loved watching this event. Ray Bourque going 4-4 on the plates. Al Iafrate shooting 102 with a wood stick! that was fun to watch. Now, eh not so much. Lets start with the fastest skater. First of all i would never wish injury on anyone but what is the league gonna do when someone loses an edge and goes barreling into the wall? Secondly I don't think too many people care how fast you can go around the rink. That's not an actual game skill. If they started on a goal line and went full ice and had to weave around a cone or 2 or catch a pass somewhere fine that's more interesting. Moving on to the passing challenge. This one I actually like. It has skill with that cross ice sauce pass into the little net. That takes skill and its fun watching them try and try. I'm gonna skip over the other 3 events because yes I'm bitching about them but i want to make a point about skills comps in general over all the major sports and i only wanna use the hardest shot as my point maker. Zdeno Chara currently holds the record at 108.8. But since hitting that mark he has not been in an all star game. That part I'm ok with. I'm not trying to say vote him an all star just so he can defend his title. But i think that the defending champ of all these records as long as they are still in the league and not injured should be at the skills comp to defend their title. Which brings me to the other major sports. Baseball only real skills competition is the home run derby. This has become the most boring thing to watch on TV next to the NBA all star game. Growing up it was swing til you get 10 outs. Any swing that didn't result in a home run was an out. The 99 derby with Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa was the best thing baseball has had at the mid summer classic. Now the event is timed. Again baseball also does not let the previous years champion defend their title unless voted onto an all star roster. Ill skip over basketball because their skills competition is dumb except for the dunk contest which hasn't been good since Vince Carter. Yes that includes Dwight Howard and his superman dunk. That brings me to the NFL. I'm gonna bet most of my followers were unaware that the NFL even has a skills competition on the same weekend as the Pro bowl. I figured it out only 5 years ago. I did a quick search and found videos of past years. This competition is legit. Every drill involves effort, skill and stamina. There is a drill where a QB has to hit a moving target at different yardages for points. This takes some major skill. I know because i still cant hit my buddies on a simple "go to the Chevy and turn around" pass. However if you haven't yet noticed a theme to this post here it comes. The NFL pro bowl and by virtue the skills comp, is the biggest waste of time of all the 4 major sports. Here's why. Its the week before the Super bowl. Which means that technically some of their "best" players will not play because they will be preparing for the Super bowl. Now correct me if I'm wrong but it used to be held 2 weeks or maybe even the week after the super bowl, meaning that those who played in the super bowl have the option to participate. It also used to be held in Hawaii. Now its in Orlando. That brings me to my final gripe about all star games and skill competitions, With the exception of the NFL for reasons just mentioned about date of game. If your selected to an all star team you should shut up and participate. Its a fan thing. Fans pay hundreds of dollars to see their local teams play night in and night out and they pay even more to see an all star game that features the best in the sport. By snubbing the game the player in my eyes in snubbing the fan. Don't give me shit about "family time" or "i need to recover and rest" that's bull shit (Alex Ovechkin) because if this was a break for the Olympics your pampered ass would be the first one throwing on his countries jersey and happily playing more then one extra game during that break. To wrap up this rant, all star games are useless and un necessary and most of the skills competitions are getting that way. just let the winners of the events come defend their title without having to be voted into the game. It would make for a better product.
Cheers,
Brad
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