Comments on: Politically incorrect as usual: I enjoyed the All-Star Game

By: JE COOK

JE COOK — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:27:22 +0000

I have no problem with the ASG format and many of your suggestions are good tweaks
the problem I had this year was the horrible versus coverage. Bad Production, poor choices of
camera angles, and really bad announcing that ignored the action on the ice! Engblom would not
shut up and continued to chat over DOC. Doc inserted his normal color into the PP but forgot to call
any pp and left the viewer watching the action not knowing what player was doing what! I would say
go back and watch the VERSUS tivo of both the skills and ASG, but that would be torture.

Later on the NHL network they recapped the hi-lights and low and behold Strader the Phoenix PP guy
was calling them for some international broadcast. OUTSTANDING P by P

I assume you got good coverage on CBC. The versus was un-listenable (is that a word) I hit MUTE and
tried to recall the number changes and do my own PP in my head. Brian and DOC get bad marks for this fiasco!

_/jecook

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:20:02 +0000

The problem the NHL faces with the media is that Bud Selig and Major League Baseball set a horrific precedent in making their ASG "matter" by tying World Series home-field advantage to the result (this all due to Selig's personal embarrassment in 2002).

Has the MLB game improved any? Not really. Have ratings improved, indicating more people now care? Ha, quite the opposite. But there's an illusion that they're playing "hard," and that it "means something," and the sports media is as easily fooled by illusion as it is fueled by fake controversy. (Sports media falls just slightly above class-action lawyers in my hierarchy of job value. I can't think of anyone below class-action lawyers.)

As a result, the fans miss out on some of the fun moments that transpired in previous games (lefty Larry Walker turning around and finishing his at-bat right-handed vs. Randy Johnson in 1998; Alex Rodriguez switching positions on the field so that Cal Ripken could finish his final ASG as shortstop in 2001) - and THOSE are what we really remember.

If anything, we need rules that would make the game looser - that's what makes it more fun for the fans. It IS a party. Don't let it be destroyed by a Bud Selig approach.

By: Chris_Lemon

Chris_Lemon — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:59:09 +0000

Understand that this is not a complaint about the game; it is what it is. But: I was watching yesterday, and I got the vibe that the players were floating around a lot more than even in previous years. Am I right about that or am I just not remembering how laid back the ASG usually is?

(That said, I like replacing the Alzheimer's game with YoungStars, although the impact of that is lessened somewhat with the players playing at 75%. And I *really* like the new format for SuperSkills, especially doing away with the whole “scoring” system, which I always thought was a little silly considering how much it was weighted towards the Breakaway Relay anyhow.)

(And I am sad that Al Iafrate's Hardest Shot record was broken. )

By: Steven Fisher

Steven Fisher — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:41:47 +0000

Playing for charity is a great idea.

I enjoyed the game, too. Having Luongo wired was really interesting. He impressed me: He put in a great performance, at least in the third and in OT — and I'm not really one to blame a goalie in a shootout — and was obviously having a lot of fun with it.

By: squawky

squawky — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:06:15 +0000

Love it – some great ideas for the ASG… it's not my favorite game of the year, but I really think it belongs in the NHL (not to be replaced by the Winter Classic, which is a different beast), and these are some good ideas for improving the perception of the game.

It's nice to see these guys go out and just play for fun – try the between the legs goal or the wacky wraparound. Plus the line combinations/defensive pairings that we're likely to never see elsewhere…