There was a momentary sense of withdrawal Jan. 25 when turning on the television and realizing Hockey Night in Canada was not a real game, but rather the cartoon that is the NHL all-star game.
There is very little about all-star games of any league that I find of interest. I am sure those in the host city enjoy the spectacle and probably the access to players you would not normally get.
But, the games have little meaning, or worth.
Players ascend to spots on teams these days generally by fan vote, which shifts it from a spot earned by performance to one of popularity. It’s not that the idea of fans choosing players is a bad one, but it should not be called a game of stars at that point.
In hockey they have further spoiled the spectacle going to the ‘pond shinny’ format of 3-on-3, which has nothing to do with traditional hockey, other than to be a pasted on overtime format that the NHL created to try and finish ties in overtime and not a shoot-out. It is begrudgingly acceptable as a game-ending structure because the league is not going to unlimited overtime, but it will be forever a novelty concept.
So as a game to watch the hockey all-star game was a long way off my radar, which is where all-star games reside for me.
Baseball had put some value on the game, giving the winning team home field advantage in the World Series, but that meant players and managers had to try. It put more pressure on pitchers to actually pitch. There was a greater risk a player might break a sweat and end up on the injured list as result. So the idea was abandoned.
In baseball it is such a sad situation that the all-star game is now less interesting than the home run derby where a player such as Vlad Guerrero in 2019, can do something Herculean to create the sort of memories a fan can savior for a lifetime.
Sadly, all-star games fail to create such memories, as they focus on gimmickry, much like the convoluted scoring the NBA announced for this year’s game.
It’s time sports abandon all-star games and simply focus on the season.
A game that did have my attention on the weekend was the Toronto Wolfpack’s first regular season game in the top level of Super League Rugby. The ‘Pack was on the road facing the Castleford Tigers, and as was expected the level of play in Super League is just a bit quicker, tougher, plain better, and the Wolfpack looked like they were new to it all, especially in the first half. In spite of a game opening try by Liam Kay and a far better second half Toronto lost 28-10.
This will be an entertaining season, but wins will not come easy to Toronto after running the table last year at the lower division to climb into Super League this year.
The goal has to be to get enough wins to stay in the big show and build a program, which will make the season highly compelling as a fan.
