All-Star Games: Why They Mean Nothing to Sports and Need to Be Removed

Fans love All-Star games because they are the one time of year where the best players in the league all come together and put on a show for the fans, with more highlight reel moves than someone would ever see at a regular-season/postseason game.

It's okay if someone does something embarrassing, like miss a wide-open dunk or miss a shot with a wide open net, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, right?

Exactly. At the end of the day, it does not matter. All-Star games are fan-elected, overpriced meaningless games that have no influence on end-of-season results, yet have existed for a number of years.

Fans, as much as they love sports, do not necessarily know sports. If you're playing for the Yankees or Red Sox, you could be hitting .175 with two home runs and four RBIs and still be selected to start in the All-Star Game as long as the fans vote for you.

Jacoby Ellsbury hasn't played since April 13th due to injury, and he's still in the top 15 for outfielders. Mike Schmidt retired in 1989 and was still elected to start the game (which he declined to play in, but he did participate in other ceremonies).

As much fun as league higher-ups might think it is for the fans, there are more cons than pros in this case. This is supposed to be something for the fans, yet a ticket to sit in the nosebleed section along the first-base line for this year's All-Star game in Kansas City will cost $314. That same seat for a regular season Royals game is $27. And yet, this is for the fans?

Having guys compete in skills competitions during All-Star weekends, as fun as it should be to watch, has gotten increasingly dull. Just look at the four competitors in the dunk contest this past February: Chase Budinger, Jeremy Evans, Derrick Williams and Paul George. These are marketable people?

Gone are the days of top-notch talent such as Kobe Bryant (who competed before he became "Kobe"), LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, etc. competing in the contest. Blake Griffin competing in 2011 was a surprise considering who's been there in recent years. Rudy Fernandez? Jamario Moon? These guys are supposed to excite us?

The Home Run Derby is supposed to be a contest to find the best home-run hitter each season in major league baseball. Yet, despite having more home runs in the 2000s than any other player, Alex Rodriguez participated in just two Home Run Derbies during that time. Jim Thome, who was second in home runs over that 10-year span, and third-place Manny Ramirez participated in none.

Instead, we were treated to the likes of...Brandon Inge, Chris Young and Rickie Weeks, among others. Those three couldn't win Home Run Derbies if they were playing on XBOX 360.

The Pro Bowl takes perhaps the biggest contact sport there is, football, and makes it about as hard-hitting as curling. Players don't play defense, as evidenced by the Arena League like-scores put up every year. They're aren't really allowed to deliver the big hits that get fans out of their seats, and yet the game is played like it means anything.

It was bad enough when it was played after the Super Bowl. Now that it's been moved to the week before the Super Bowl, it's become even worse, as the AFC and NFC Champions no longer participate.

Why not just let the Pro Bowl be horrible where it was, after the Super Bowl, and leave the whole two-week period between conference championship games and the Super Bowl open for non-stories to become front-page news, like Tom Brady's boot during Super Bowl 42 or Dwight Freeney's ankle during Super Bowl 44?

All-Star games need to undergo a major change if they're ever to become important. What makes almost anything more important in life, sports-related or not? Doing it for charity.

If you're going to horribly overcharge thousands of fans, why not have 100 percent of the ticket sales go to a good cause?

The music industry brought together 47 stars in 1985 to record "We Are the World" for African famine relief, and more than 80 artists came together in 2010 to record a more modern version for Haiti earthquake relief, and all that song cost was $1 on iTunes. If that song had cost $347, people would not have bought it.

Have the major sports All-Star games played for charities. All-Star games, whether we like it or not, will be here for years to come. Something productive might as well be done with them.