Not Quite All-Star Sunday

The Super Bowl aside, the first of many football-less Sundays is fast approaching.  To fill the void, there will be an abundance of college basketball games on Sunday afternoons for our viewing pleasure.  However, this Sunday is "All-Star Sunday" (sort of), as the NHL All-Star Game and Pro Bowl take center stage.  I used to be among the 11 people that watches each of these events, but this year I'm not going to be watching either one (and the fact that I'll be on a road trip in Buffalo is only part of the reason why).

"All-Star Sunday" actually gets underway at 3 a.m. with the Australian Open men's final.  This event is only included here because it will likely feature the two biggest stars in men's tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.  The Australian Open men's final used to be on Saturday night U.S. time, but the tournament organizers decided to move the men's final to Sunday night a few years ago, moving the start time from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. in New York.  ESPN2 is smart enough to realize that only about six people will watch a tennis match (even Federer-Nadal) at 3 in the morning, so they're probably going to replay it during the afternoon.  The afternoon replay might actually generate higher ratings than the two all-star games put together.

Now, on the surface, I'd normally be excited about the NHL All-Star Game.  The NHL's broadcast TV partner is NBC, but both the league and network know that nobody's going to watch the game, so it's on Versus.  Seeing as the game is in Raleigh, North Carolina, I'm not sure anyone is going to attend either.  When the NHL returned from the lockout in 2005, it was put into the new CBA that the players would participate in the Olympics (which they want to do), but there would also be no All-Star Game in Olympic years.  Since 2006 was an Olympic year, that meant the 2007 NHL All-Star Game was the first in three years.  While the no All-Star Game in Olympic years thing was a good idea, it completely killed any possible buzz there might've been for the event when it returned in 2007.  In fact, I think they had it on like a Tuesday or Wednesday night.  The 2009 All-Star Game was in Montreal to celebrate the Canadiens' 100th anniversary, and that one successfully revived the enthusiasm that any all-star game should have.

However, last year was another Olympic year, which meant that there was no All-Star Game again.  Again, that was the right call.  But it meant the NHL was going to have a hard time generating buzz for this year's All-Star Game.  The fact that the game's in Raleigh made it an even tougher sell.  So, they came up with the "brilliant" idea to make it one giant fantasy game.  This is why I'm not going to watch.  The fantasy game idea is incredibly dumb.  I've already voiced my opinion on this subject in my blog, and it hasn't changed.  Apparently it's going to be "Team Staal," captained by Hurricanes captain Eric Staal, against "Team Lidstrom," captained by Red Wings captain Niklas Lidstrom.  I give them credit for trying, but this doesn't improve the NHL All-Star Game at all.  It's confusing.  The North America vs. the World format didn't work, so they went back to East vs. West.  Expect that to happen again.

Sunday's other "all-star game" is the Pro Bowl.  If you want to call the Pro Bowl an all-star game.  I'm still on record as being one of the eight remaining people who watched the Pro Bowl, but that all changed last year when Roger Baddell changed the date of the game.  The site's at least been moved back to Honolulu, where it belongs, but it's still on the bye week between the conference championship games and Super Bowl.  That means no Packers and no Steelers.  But why would you want players from the two best teams in the league to participate in the all-star game anyway?  You already know my feelings on this subject, too.  The only way I'll go back to watching the Pro Bowl (which is usually pretty entertaining) is if they switch the date back to the week after the Super Bowl.  When it should be.

So, even though "All-Star Sunday" is great on the surface, the two games are so ridiculously unappealing that nobody is going to watch either one.  I know that the NHL All-Star Game is on a network that only very few people get (and even fewer realize they get), which doesn't help matters, and that no matter the date of the game, nobody's going to watch the Pro Bowl anyway, but that's not the point.  People are supposed to get excited about all-star games.  This Sunday, there's not just one, there's two.  But nobody cares about either one.  That's just sad.

For the record, your college basketball alternative programming options include Manhattan-Marist (12:00 on MSG), Duke-St. John's (1:00 on CBS), Miami-Virginia Tech (5:30 on Fox Sports Net), Maryland-Georgia Tech (7:45 on Fox Sports Net), Indiana-Michigan State (6:00 on, I'm assuming, the Big Ten Network) and Washington-Washington State (10:00 on Fox Sports Net).