The last game in town

First, let me just say I'm not making this post as a baseball fan.

I'm making it as a sports fan.

The Pro Bowl and the NHL All-Star Game are taking place today. Oh, joy.

Which one will I be watching? Neither. If anything, I'll have the NHL game on, but I won't be paying attention.

I do enjoy both football and hockey. But both of the All-Star games are just jokes. I'm all for having fun (that's what the All-Star week is for in every sport), but at least give us a real game. If I remember right, the final score for the NHL All-Star game last year was 12-11. So why even have goalies elected to the All-Star team? Why not just play with an empty net?

That being said, I do enjoy the skills competition during the NHL All-Star week. (Unfortunately, I missed it yesterday.) That's when the players are encouraged to show off. But don't do it in the actual game.

And don't even get me started on the Pro Bowl. No tackling, same defensive formation the whole game. It's a free trip to Hawaii for most of the players.

What gets me most upset about the Pro Bowl is that outlets like ESPN and FOX still hype it as an actual football game. Come on, I've seen better football at the local park district.

I won't even discuss the NBA All-Star game because I don't want to get off into too much of a tangent. But it's worse than the Pro Bowl.

Anyways, sorry for the rant.

I'm not saying the MLB All-Star week is perfect.

Although this is a cool card, the Home Run Derby has gotten tedious for me in the past couple years. I just feel like punching the TV after a couple hours of Chris Berman doing the same home run call over and over and over again. ("Back...back...back...gone!")

The derby is just too long. I like home runs as much as the next guy, but I don't need two hours of it. Maybe have four guys instead of eight.

And I'm still not a fan of the All-Star game determining home-field advantage in the World Series.

But...

...we baseball fans do get treated to a real, actual game of baseball come All-Star Game time.

Brian McCann still applies the hard tag on Jose Bautista at the plate. He doesn't step out of the way to avoid getting hurt.

And Marlon Byrd (at the top of the post) still slides into home with the same determination as a regular season game. He doesn't go in standing up.

I watched the entire MLB All-Star game last season and never got bored. After all, it was basically just like watching any other game that year, only it featured the absolute best players in the league.

And that's all I could ever ask for.