Enough With The Fucking All Star Game
The above is from John Scott’s new article in Player’s Tribune where he talks about his experience with the NHL trying to keep him out of the All Star Game despite winning a fan vote. If you don’t know the story, Scott is an enforcer, not a great hockey player as he admits, who won the fan vote on Twitter to play in the All Star Game. Fair and square, won the vote. Was it as a joke at first? Kind of, I guess. But the fans chose him, rallied behind him, and it became less of a joke and more of a nice story about a guy with 2 daughters with twins on the way getting to play in an All Star Game. Just a guy who has grinded in the NHL getting a cool opportunity, like one of us could only dream about. And the NHL tried to sabotage the entire thing, even having him traded from Phoenix to Montreal and immediately demoted to the minors. Because apparently there are actual rules about who can play in a fucking All Star Game, and you can’t if you’re in the minors. It’s such a fucking joke.
Fuck off, NHL. Asking if his kids would be proud of their dad playing in the All Star Game? I want to punch whoever made that phone call right in the nose. Why in the fuck does the NHL, or any other league, think a fucking exhibition game in the middle of the season is life and death? To the point they had Scott traded, they made him make an announcement that he shouldn’t play in it, and suspend players (Ovi and Toews) for choosing to rest their nagging injuries instead of playing a 3 on 3 tournament? Enough with the idea that the All Star Game matters. The MLB All Star Game decides home fucking advantage for the World Series and the pitchers are still throwing meatballs so Jeter could have a feel-good All Star Game moment. That’s how little these things matter. It is a joke.
The NBA ASG o/u is something like 502. It’s just LeBron seeing how many windmills he can go around before dunking it. The fucking Pro Bowl just announced Teddy Bridgewater made the team. 14 TD, 9 INTs, NFL Pro Bowler. At least those two sports don’t pretend the games matter. The NBA has a fashion show and Sting is performing for whatever reason. Pretty sure the NFL has tried to eliminate the Pro Bowl every year for 10 years now but will never turn down a good TV contract.
The NHL All Star Game is so fucking pointless and meaningless to fans and players alike. It is a 3 on 3 tournament that players don’t even want to play in. Jagr pleaded for the fans not to vote him in, and the Caps would rather Ovi get suspended for a game than show up (and he fucking LOVES the All Star Game). So enough with this whole pretending the game is something that it’s not. Put it at the end of the year, put the game on a Saturday with the Stanley Cup Finals starting the next night, and if you don’t want the fans deciding who plays, don’t give them the power. The NHL, for how they’ve handled this entire thing, is a joke.