The All-Star Game

[thebin]

The Fox Schlock-fest that is known as the MLB All-Star game personifies everything that is wrong with American sports in modern times, the emphasis on style over substance. Actually "style" over substance is too fair, more like "crap" and "advertising" over actual sport. From the fact that it is geared seemingly to 10 year-olds to the ratio of 5 tv ads for every meaningful second of action. The orgy of sub-moronic ceremony which occupies the first 45 minutes of the broadcast is enough to make one wretch. It stands in such contrast to the World Cup that I don't think I'll ever watch another all star game of any kind. The real problem is that FOX does pretty much the same thing to the World Series. Or is it MLB doing it to itself....does it really matter?

[theexorcist]

My favorite was the overwrought introduction at the Griffith Observatory and the celebrity reminder that people who help to ensure that communities don't collapse deserve just a tiny bit of celebrity (though that was mainly because Harrison Ford looked like he had been pulled in off the street and waterboarded).

[TBird41]

It might be geared to 10 year olds, but it starts so late that there aren't very many 10 year olds watching.

There are few things I hate as much as the way that Fox broadcasts baseball.

[Boz]

I didn't watch. Was the Fox Robot present? I love that guy...AND his accompanying sound effects.

[rosslynhoya]

Jul 14, 2010 8:36:08 GMT -5 thebin said:

the ratio of 5 tv ads for every meaningful second of action

Congratulations!! Was it Jon Wallace or Chuck Norris who taught you the secret of dividing by zero?

The All-Star Game (all All-Star games?) is NOT meaningful. It is a gimmick, pageantry that has long outlived its usefulness -- other than giving the whole league a three-day bye at mid-season.

All you have left is a purely commercial marketing campaign perfectly tailored to maximize interest in the meta-game: the fan ballotting to choose starters, the last-man ballot, those evil managers who stock the pitching ranks with their own players instead of the best available. Bottom line: if ____ is giving ESPN something to talk about, it's probably not enjoyable from a substantive perspective.

Speaking of which, tonight- the first ever LIVE broadcast of the ESPYs!!!!! Who's in for an ESPY-watch party?!?!?

/regrets the lack of a vomitting smiley icon

[hoyainspirit]

I used to love the All Star game. Sigh!

[thebin]

It's not just the all star game or Fox, this particular example is just the most glaring one. The general manner in which almost all American sports are presented gets more infantile with every passing year. And the ad breaks....my god the ad breaks. PT Barnum had no idea. If he only knew how many tv ads the NFL gets away with shoving down our throats every Sunday..... The entire concept of the "time out" is one of the worst contributions Americans ever made to modern culture. Imagine how great basketball would be without them.

[DFW HOYA]

Much of this is due to the fact that Fox can't broadcast a baseball game with any sense of class or style; secondarily, that as long as baseball is run by Allan Selig the sport continues to drift in the water as the NFL, NBA...even NASCAR moves ahead. Still, it's light years better than the Pro Bowl, the NBA All Star Game, or whatever passes for the NHL (first one to 10 wins).

The "NBC Game of the Week" traditionalist in me would like to see it be repackaged as a daytime event as the World Cup games were, and sell it to a single sponsor "Limited commercial interruption provided by Cisco..." where there would be no commercial breaks between innings or pitching changes. Start at 1:00 CDT, be done by 3:30.

[rosslynhoya]

Jul 14, 2010 9:17:36 GMT -5 thebin said:

The entire concept of the "time out" is one of the worst contributions Americans ever made to modern culture. Imagine how great basketball would be without them.

Heck yeah! I was thinking this on Sunday at Kenner League... the clock (almost) never stops. I half-expected the refs to throw extra time on the clock at the end of each period to account for all the injury time, time spent inbounding, etc. Without media timeouts, the "real" timeouts called by the coaches were that much more dramatic and seemed to give the players a much-needed break in the action.

About halfway through the second half of the late game, it looked like Chris Wright was really sucking air and one of my fellow observers noted, well, he better get better conditioned by the start of the season. Then it occurred to me that Chris (nor any other high-major D-1A player) will never have to keep running for such long uninterrupted stretches in an actual game environment as he will in this summer league. (Note to haters: there's nothing wrong with CW's stamina, don't take that away from this post).

[strummer8526]

Jul 14, 2010 8:54:55 GMT -5 rosslynhoya said:

Jul 14, 2010 8:36:08 GMT -5 thebin said:

the ratio of 5 tv ads for every meaningful second of action

Congratulations!! Was it Jon Wallace or Chuck Norris who taught you the secret of dividing by zero?

The All-Star Game (all All-Star games?) is NOT meaningful. It is a gimmick, pageantry that has long outlived its usefulness -- other than giving the whole league a three-day bye at mid-season.

All you have left is a purely commercial marketing campaign perfectly tailored to maximize interest in the meta-game: the fan ballotting to choose starters, the last-man ballot, those evil managers who stock the pitching ranks with their own players instead of the best available. Bottom line: if ____ is giving ESPN something to talk about, it's probably not enjoyable from a substantive perspective.

Speaking of which, tonight- the first ever LIVE broadcast of the ESPYs!!!!! Who's in for an ESPY-watch party?!?!?

/regrets the lack of a vomitting smiley icon

It would be nice if the All-Star game were totally meaningless, and it should be totally meaningless, but with home field for the World Series riding on it, the game DOES actually matter. I think that resting home field on this scrimmage game—a game that is supposed to be about a fun, fan-friendly experience—now carries real post-season ramifications. Terrible FOX production aside, that's the worst thing they've done to the All-Star game.

[Nevada Hoya]

The situation that MLB has gotten into epitomizes itself by some of the lingo that the announcers use. The most glaring example to me is the phrase "walk off homer." It was only two months ago that I found out that this meant "game winning homer." That was a perfectly good phrase and you knew what they were talking about. Since I don't watch baseball too much or at all (I do confess I watched a couple of innings, mainly to see Jon Lester pitch), I am not privy to the day-in and day-out workings of baseball and those who promote it.

[hifigator]

I must admit that I can't really argue many of the points you all make, and yet I am still compelled to a degree to watch and even enjoy the all-star game. As a "national league" fan --no doubt, because of my team of choice, the Atlanta Braves!!! -- maybe the fact that they finally won a friggin game, distorts my judgment somewhat. I'm not sure.

I do agree with all arguments about the the All-Star game determining homefield advantage. I think that is silly. Yet, I must at least recognize, if not applaud, the effort to make the mid-season/summertime classic relevant. As most have said, it really isn't ... or at least wasn't. And maybe I am the traditionalist in the sense that I want the game to be played the same way, whether it is a meaningless split-squad scrimmage in early March or a late season, pennant-impacting, stretch-run game. I know that won't happen, but I can dream can't I?!

In all seriousness, maybe that is why I am drawn to the All-Star game, or at least the MLB All-Star game. It is really the only one of the bunch where the game is the same. In the Pro-Bowl of the NFL, or in the All-Star games for the NHL or the NBA, the game is a total aberration. And I can't argue that it should be any different. While injuries occur in baseball, the physical and demanding confrontations between individual players is significantly different than those in hockey, basketball or football.

Maybe it's just the naivety in me, but I somehow succeed in actually liking the MLB All-Star game. Don't burst my bubble or pi$$ on my cornflakes.

[hoyarooter]

I actually tend to agree with hifi here. I still enjoy the all-star game, although perhaps that's because all I ever get to see is the last two or three innings. I also agree, though, that having it determine who has home field advantage in the World Series is idiotic.

[Jack]

In terms of competition, the MLB All-Star game is far and away the best of the major exhibitions, but it has little to do with the artificially-added meaning from World Series advantage and much more to do with the nature of the game - baseball remains fundamentally an individual contest between batter and pitcher with some limited team play concepts like fielding and baserunning. The team play aspects of basketball, football, and hockey mean that a one-time gathering of stars is not going to produce play as intense or intricate as what teams built and drilled over the long season can accomplish.

Baseball, on the other hand, is not much worse for the wear when you simply throw together a team of great individuals, and at its best the All Star game can be some pretty great spectacle. At a regular season game, you are excited to see a matchup like Pujols vs. Lester four times a game, and the All Star game can be a non-stop series of those types of matchups at its best. Where it gets watered down is when rosters get so large, managers want everyone to play, and pitchers are limited to no more than two innings. You understand the practical considerations, especially the pitchers' health, but when Jimenez vs. Mauer turns into Buck v. Capps, its not quite the same idea.

Where the All Star game really loses its luster is the combination of interleague play and expanded access via things like the MLB package, MLB network, and Baseball Tonight. When I was a kid, there was a real thrill to seeing Bo Jackson and Kirby Puckett and Ozzie Smith and Nolan Ryan and Tony Gwynn all playing at the same time - some of those guys I only saw a few times a year when they played the Red Sox, and the NL guys I might not see outside of their baseball card, the All Star game, and maybe an NBC game of the week. Now I get to see them all the time, and on balance that is a very good thing, but it has destroyed the All Star game's uniqueness.

Even so, I generally have watched the games, and have enjoyed them with a special fondness for the games I remember growing up, and how fun it was to watch with my dad and stay up late on a hot summer night. Even some of the promotions and sideshows have been interesting, and one of my favorite baseball memories was being at the game in 99 to see Fenway Park welcome all the living legends and ending up with a farewell to Ted Williams as he was surrounded by all the current and former greats of the game in a spontaneous and emotional moment. But it has gotten to be too much, Buck and McCarver are insufferable, and the 4 hour eulogy to a convicted felon and liar twice suspended from the game made last night unwatchable for me. I doubt today's kids will be reminiscing about these games the way I have about 86 (Clemens mows down the NL at the Astrodome), or 89 (Bo Jackson's leadoff HR followed by the original Bo Knows commercials), or even 99 (Teddy ballgame plus Pedro Martinez dominating the best of the NL), and that is a little sad.

[DFW HOYA]

Jul 14, 2010 13:11:19 GMT -5 Jack said:

I doubt today's kids will be reminiscing about these games the way I have about 86 (Clemens mows down the NL at the Astrodome), or 89 (Bo Jackson's leadoff HR followed by the original Bo Knows commercials), or even 99 (Teddy ballgame plus Pedro Martinez dominating the best of the NL), and that is a little sad.

Or Fred Lynn's grand slam in '83. OK, he hit it for the Angels, but once a Red Sox, always... that is, unless you've got a fondness for the Bronx and pinstripes, in which case, you're out! (Which is why a certain #21 will never be retired at Fenway.)

[hifigator]

I actually enjoy the MLB All-Star game, and I'm not really sure why. As I mentioned, the game itself, is more competitive than its counterpart in the NBA, NHL or NFL, but there's more to it than that. While I agree that the addition of interleague play has taken some of the luster off of the summertime classic, and to a lesser degree, the World Series, I still think the novelty of the All-Star game runs much deeper than that. Maybe it's simply that the other sports' all-star events have competition, while the event of yesterday has the stage all its own. I don't know. Or maybe it's simply a matter that I am a sports junkie. Either way, rightly or wrongly, I do like the game and really the entire event as a whole. Sure, watching Jenny Finch take it easy on 50 or 60 year old former stars isn't as intense as the fourth quarter of almost any competitive football game. And sure, watching pseudo-bombers send 20 plus baseballs soaring into the cheap seats off 50 year old batting practice pitchers isn't remotely akin to the two minute warning of a tied game. But as I've said, I really enjoy the overall event that we have for 3 days. In fact, I really miss the minor-league all-star game that used to be held tonight, on the Wednesday after the summertime classic. But I guess I can't ask for too much.