In the world of sports, there is only one All-Star contest that anybody cares about - the baseball All-Star game. The past two days showed why - a fantastic Home Run Derby performance from Josh Hamilton followed by a 15-inning battle for home field advantage that included plays at the plate, dramatic double-plays and about fifteen errors by Dan Uggla (can you say Chuck Knoblaugh?).It was baseball at its best...and worst.
There are so many good things about baseball's All-Star Break. It is the only exhibition game that can truly be played the right way. The Pro Bowl is a pitiful excuse for football - even Hawaiians can't be troubled to fill the stadium to watch guys gently tackle each other and run out of bounds play after play. The NBA All-Star weekend is a little too And1-ish for most basketball fans as defense is token and repeated alley-oops lose their luster. The NHL All-Star game is, from what I hear (has anyone here ever watched it?), a check-less goal-a-thon. We all remember what happened to Apollo Creed (R.I.P.) when he fought Ivan Drago in a boxing exhibition match.
Last night's exhibition All-Star game featured strategy, stolen bases, collisions at home plate, hard slides, etc. At no point did anyone seem to be playing the game any differently than they would during the regular season. This gives baseball is All-Star superiority over its major sports rivals.
The Home Run Derby is the best skills competition as well. The Slam Dunk contest is a close second, but it has become more and more like a Carrot Top routine with all the props involved to bring something original to the floor. The NFL seems to have thrown in the towel on skills stuff after Robert Edwards snapped his leg playing in an ill-conceived beach flag football game. I think hockey does some speed skating or triple axle competition or something, but who knows? No, from the little kids colliding in the outfield after pop-ups to the mammoth taters in the upper deck, the Home Run Derby is a blast to watch.
Unfortunately, the festivities have some major flaws as well. The Home Run Derby formula needs obvious tweaking after Hamilton wore himself out putting on a terrific show in the opening round and lost in the anti-climatic finals. Justin Morneau may have won the contest, but everyone is talking about Hamilton's 28 home run first round.
Why don't those home runs carry over? By the time of the finals (where both sluggers start back at zero), Hamilton had nothing left to clear the fence and his poor pitcher (a 70+ year old man) looked like someone throwing the opening pitch rather than throwing real batting practice. There is no reason for a finals - combine the two rounds and declare a winner.
The game itself has the most flawed idea - the home-field advantage aspect. The condition does give the game some actual meaning, but does it really need actual meaning? It is an exhibition of baseball's greatest stars. Isn't that enough.
By playing for home-field advantage, the managers are forced to put other team's players in precarious positions. Take Brandon Webb of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched Sunday in a real game, throwing over 100 pitches. He should not have pitched last night after that type of outing, but skipper Clint Hurdle was forced to put him out there in the 15-inning marathon.
What about the Braves' Brian McCann? Can you imagine the anger of my post had McCann's leg been injured as he tried to block Justin Morneau from the plate? What if Morneau pulled a Pete Rose and made McCann is own personal Ray Fosse? The game means something, so it would have been excusable, but that does not mean it is right.
Bud Selig overreacted to the anger over the All-Star game tie in 2002 with the nonsensical home-field advantage stakes. Last night it played out like a nightmare for the commissioner and a bunch of managers, players and fans who held their breath that nobody would get hurt during the extra innings. Let the game be fun, carefree and a true exhibition again.
Baseball has a monopoly on relevant All-Star games, but there is substantial room for improvement with some common sense ideas.
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4 comments:
I think its obvious that the Baseball All Star game is the only one that matters. I remember when I first got into football, I tried to watch the pro bowl for about 20 seconds, and while it is more interesting than the draft, it didn't live up to what I expected.
I don't know what to make of the whole home-field advantage aspect. I like the fact that it means SOMETHING, the All-Star game, but it seems pretty unfair to the actual teams that make the World Series, that who gets home field advantage has nothing to do with their performance as a team, regardless of whether or not they had a lot of players in the All Star Game.
On a side note, the All Star Game took place only a couple of miles from where I type. When I was thirteen, I am sure I would have considered it heretical that I didn't go, to have lived so close.
Maybe it still is.
Unless teaching autistic kids pays much more than I think, I imagine that going to the last All-Star game in Yankee Stadium wasn't much of an option.
Heck, I can't even tickets for a regular season game this season for under $250, at least when I checked.
Front row seats for the Chattanooga Lookouts?
$8
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