All-star games high on scores and snores
Published: February 6, 2001
Yawn.That's the reaction in this corner to this past weekend's NHL All-Star Game and Pro Bowl.Heck, that's the reaction to all-star games in almost any sport.So why the hostility to all-star games?It's simple. These exhibitions just aren't representative of their sports.Take the NHL's game, for instance. Sunday's 14-12 game was an aberration. During the marathon preseason, regular season and playoffs, the odds of fans seeing 26 goals in a game are slimmer than Calista Flockhart.And Sunday's game was devoid of two of the elements that make hockey such a great sport: goaltending and hitting. Matador defense was the theme of the day and pylons might have provided more resistance in net.The All-Star format also lends itself to such a terrible game. North America against the World was a novel concept prior to the 1998 Winter Olympics. Now, it's about as hip as a Rubik's Cube. And with NHL teammates often having to play against each other, all-star players will do anything to avoid injuring players that are integral to their teams' Stanley Cup hopes.But as bad as the NHL's all-star event is, it's got nothing on the Pro Bowl, which has all the intensity of church-league softball. by Greg Rajan
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