Jordan Young

     Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Derrick Rose, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Alex Ovcheckin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Joe Mauer, Adam Jones, and Prince Fielder. When you hear these names together in their respective sports you think, “Wow this is going to be an interesting game!”

     WRONG!! In the annual All-Star games the public votes for their favorite players from each conference to face off against the other conference to gain bragging rights on which conference is better. But many just don’t care, considering that there are already the World Series, NBA Championship, Stanley Cup Finals, and the Super Bowl.

     The problem is that when all of these stars get together for a game, they don’t even try. I know they have to avoid injuries, but in that case why even have an All-Star game? I want to see a competitive battle of the conferences. In the first half they can play around, not try, and give up points left and right. Then, in the second half, I want to see people trying to make plays, and play some real defense. I don’t want to see Larry Fitzgerald just catch an easy 79 yard pass on Champ Bailey without even trying and walk into the end zone like he’s going on a light jog.

     To fix this problem, All-Star games need to have interesting stipulations for the game. For example, the winner of the MLB all star game gets their conference home field advantage of the World Series. The NHL can expand their rink from 200 ft long and 85 ft wide to 250 ft long to 95 ft wide. The winner would get their conference a game in the next year’s Winter Classic. The NBA winner of the All-Star game their conference gains the first overall pick to their worst team, and the NFL winner of the game gains the Super Bowl in one of their conferences field for next year.

     During the All-Star weekend, there should be more events occurring in the sports. MLB does a good job a having the homerun derby, so does the NBA also does a great job with the dunk competition and 3 point shootout. NFL doesn’t have any events, so they should start the best kicker competition, longest throw, longest punt and agility course. The NHL needs to add best goalie performance.

     The NFL pro bowl drew 8.6 million spectators in 2011, and then decreased to 7.9 million spectators in 2012 that’s an 8.1% decrease. If you want people to stay AND enjoy the all-star game, these four sports better start trying to make games interesting, and not just something to watch when, or if, the people are bored.