That's right. This year, both all-star games had fan voting so that the fans (you puck heads) could vote in your favorite player. Some of the choices were pretty clear, like Patrick Kane for the NHL and Stephen Curry for the NBA. However, it is the unlikely picks that got in. John Scott, an enforcer and a goon in the NHL, not only got to the All-Star Game but was picked to be a Captain. Because of that, it is believed that the league tried to get him demoted to the AHL to get him out of the All-Star Game.
For the NBA, the fans voted for Kobe Bryant to be a starter. Now, although I don't argue against that pick because this is Kobe's last season, Draymond Green, another superstar on the Golden State Warriors with Curry, was snubbed as a starter for the All-Star Game because Kobe has it. And Draymond has been playing a lot better than Kobe and on a team that are the favorites to win the championship.
All this comes to one critical question: Is fan voting really the answer for the All-Star Game? The leagues want their fans to be involved in the All-Star Game and with the players. The MLB has also tried this but somehow ended up having Royals players start that All-Star Game before the other votes came in and those numbers were dwindled. So maybe my answer should be no. I love fans and they want to be involved in sending players to the All-Star Game, but the fact of the matter is that there is always gonna be someone that ends up on the All-Star Game that probably shouldn't be there.
If I were in the league, I would probably go back to the old format, which was to pick the players that made the most sense, like the stars and the other players that are having good seasons. John Scott, for example, had only 5 goals and 6 assists so far this season, and that to me doesn't say All-Star capable. For Kobe Bryant, he hasn't played well at all. He can't shoot as well as he used to and the other players are not helping him by improving their game. So, even though Kobe should be in the All-Star Game, it shouldn't be as a starter. I want to be able to send the right players to the All-Star Game and I want them to be in the right positions for when they play the game. So Kobe would start on the bench and Draymond would be the starter. John Scott would probably not be in the NHL All-Star Game and it would probably go to someone more deserving of it.
Fan voting might've an experience the leagues were trying to use, but the results have been close to disastrous. I think the leagues need to rethink how they send players to All-Star Games, or even if the All-Star Game makes sense. Some players, like Alex Ovechkin, don't even like going to the All-Star Game. They would rather take the three days to rest their bodies after the injuries they've had in the first half of the season. Even the NBA had to extend their All-Star break to allow players more rest. So maybe the All-Star Game is not a good thing to have. If they want one, they should probably put it at the end of the season and not in the middle of it. Either way, the All-Star Game and its fan voting might not be the best thing for the leagues, after what has happened this season concerning them.
The NHL should be embarrassed by what they have done, doing this fan voting, because I think it sends the wrong messages to players. Players now have to hope the fans vote them into the games and some of them don't get it, even though they said. So I think it's time for a change. We already had the experience and it didn't work out. It's time to go in a different direction and to figure out exactly how to get players to the All-Star Game or even if we need one at all. After all, for the NHL and the NBA, they are exhibition games.
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