One word; incentive. I’m a huge sports fan; I love everything from watching a Manchester derby in English soccer to catching a game of the World Series. All of it excites me and makes me fall in love with sports all over again. There are however some drawbacks to being a sports fan, mainly, the All-Star Games our favorite leagues put on and expect us to watch.
I’ve never watched a full-length all-star game, and I am sure I’m not the only sports fan who will say that. The bottom line is the all-star games are just so boring. Most of the players don’t want to be there, there is little to no effort being put forth, it just really all seems like a money grab. Sure I love the NBA Celebrity Game and the Dunk Contest (this years was nothing to write home about) but that’s about it.
Don’t even mention the Pro-Bowl because that is the worst one of all. So how can we fix this problem of boring all-star games? Incentives! And no, I don’t mean like cash prizes or a car, professional athletes have plenty of that. I’m talking about incentives that could affect your team come playoff time or the draft.
Let’s start with the NBA. How do you get players to show some hustle and effort during the All-Star Game? Do what you did in the past and make the winning conference of the All-Star Game have a homecourt advantage during the entirety of the playoffs. This will definitely spark the players, and have them chasing down free-balls and hustling for blocks. I think this would make fans tune in and it would become one of the most-watched games of the year.
For football, I would say the league should adopt an All-Star Game where the two worst teams that year face off in-game to see who gets the first overall draft pick. Now, I cannot take credit for this idea as I saw it a couple of weeks ago in a football meme but hell, I thought it was a great idea. This would be more entertaining by leaps and bounds than what we regularly see at the Pro-Bowl year in and year out. At this point, they should just abolish the pro-bowl because every year it’s just a bunch of half-assed efforts at scoring a touchdown.
For the NHL and MLB, it’s about doing the same thing that the NBA would be doing; playing for home-field (or home-ice) advantage in the playoffs. This incentive, and this incentive only, would propel the players to actually care about the All-Star game and put forth some effort. Either that or give them a well-deserved break in the middle of the season. Professional sports are physically taxing, and the last thing players need is to worry about winning a homecourt advantage in a game. That’s why, I think all leagues should take a week and a half break, and play their all-star games on the weekend when that break ends. That way the players are well and rested, and they can use that game as a “warmup” before they get back into the groove of the regular season.
These are just some ideas I have for making the all-star games more interesting. After watching what went down this year, I think sports fans all around the world would rejoice if they found out their favorite leagues adopted these new playing formats.
What do you think? What would make the All-Star games more interesting? Let me know in the comments below!