cabbagedad posted:If you are not into a sport, you may watch the finals, championship, majors, big rivalry or highlights but you are probably not going to watch an all-star game. But if you are into the sport, you will have some level of intrigue in seeing a gathering of the very best players in that sport, playing against each other.
All-Star games have limitations but they have intrigue as well. I chuckle at all the attempts to make it something more. I guess some of those attempts have worked out, i.e. the HR derby (although that has been around much longer than most imagine). It is what it is. It is something great. It's just different than regular games that count in the standings. The baseball version is still far better and more true to it's sport than the others (football, basketball, hockey). There is unquestionably far more straight up competing and less tanking for the purposes of avoiding injury.
I remember, as a kid, watching to see how the guy or guys from my team would stack up against the best of the rest. Would they do something special? I remember wanting to see how the best hitters would do against the best pitchers. Would these rival players that seem to hate each other get along in the same dugout? And, who are the new young guys? This, combined with all the best players on the field at one time? Come on...
You chuckle? That's so cute