Why the MLB All Star Game is Still One of My Favorite Sporting Events

The Major League Baseball All Star Game is still to this day one of my favorite sporting events of the year.

I know it doesn’t mean a thing. That it’s just an exhibition. But, it’s still one of my favorite sporting events of the year and I don’t think that will ever change.

You can debate whether or not the MLB All Star Game should “count,” as they say with the winning league receiving home-field advantage for the World Series. I personally don’t mind that aspect. But, I don’t think there’s a debate for the fact that the game shouldn’t exist.

It should still be a thrill for every single baseball fan to see stars from each and every one of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball play together and against each other one night of the year. If you don’t care for the game or even worse want to see it abolished I seriously have to question how big of a baseball fan you are.

When I was a kid this was the one baseball game all year I wanted to watch and if the game of baseball is going to survive and thrive into the future it should remain that way for the kids of this nation.

One of my favorite things as a young sports fan was actually the player introductions for the MLB All Star Game. Getting to see all of the stars smile and tip their cap, not only to the paying fans in attendance, but all of us at home made you feel like you were a part of it all. It’s still possibly my favorite part of the entire game.

Some who don’t think there should be a MLB All Star Game anymore claim that it’s just not special these days because due to cable television, MLB.tv and interleague play it’s just not thrilling to see one league compete against another anymore and you have the opportunity to see the stars of the game literally every night of the week.

It’s true that we have the opportunity to see the stars of baseball every night of the week, but how many of us actually do so? How many of us have that kind of time in our lives?

I have access to MLB.tv, meaning I have the opportunity to see each and every one of the 30 MLB teams play on any given night. Despite this there are many superstars who I will only see play all season long during the All Star Game. Between work, relationships and just living life who really has time to keep up with every star in the game?

That’s why I love the MLB All Star Game. That’s why I’ll always love the MLB All Star Game. If you don’t that’s fine, but don’t try to take my fun away. 

It's Not Always Your Patriotic Duty to Root for America

I was watching ESPN’s Ryen Russillo on his sports talk radio show earlier today before I left for work and he was talking about how he was torn a new one on Twitter last night because he was tweeting about the Boston Red Sox game and fans were letting into him for choosing a regular season baseball game over watching the U.S. women’s soccer team compete against Germany in the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup. Among the chief complaints was that Russillo was being unpatriotic.

Russillo explained that he just can’t get into the sport of soccer, which is perfectly fine. There’s not a section in the U.S. Constitution dictating that sports fans must follow sports they don’t like simply because their country has a team competing in it.

Fans giving Russillo hell for his not watching the U.S. women’s soccer team reminds me of the time I first truly recognized the idiocy of sports fans when it comes to what they perceive as a patriotic duty to root for American sports teams, even going so far as demeaning someone for choosing to watch anything else over those American teams.

In the last Women’s World Cup in 2009 the United States women met up against Japan in the final match for the tournament title and American sports fans could see nothing but red, white and blue. But, just a few months before the beginning of the World Cup the country of Japan was struck by a horrific earthquake that caused an even more horrific tsunami. More than 16,000 people were killed and it remains one of the worst tragedies of any kind during my lifetime, if not all-time.

So in July of 2011, Japan needed something good to happen to forget about the tragedy and death and heartbreak that had taken its toll on the country for months even for just a brief moment in time. The Japanese national soccer team beating the United States in the Women’s World Cup would give the country something to cheer on and smile about for at least one day during one of the nation’s worst years in its history.

And, so knowing the Japanese needed this more than any of us Americans did I openly rooted for the Japanese women on social media. It was something I have never once regretted, but I was ridiculed harshly for by fans claiming that I was being unpatriotic (as if rooting for a sports team can truly make someone patriotic or unpatriotic.)

I thought I was being humane by hoping the Japanese had something to lift their spirits (and I was, there’s no doubt in my mind and heart about it), but Americans will always care about American things regardless of the pain felt elsewhere. Thankfully for the millions of hurt Japanese their women’s team did give them something to smile about for at least a brief moment in time defeating the U.S. women in a hard fought and entertaining final.

The U.S. loss made it worse for me having openly rooted for the Japanese women, but I didn’t care. I could stand being a little less patriotic, because I’d rather care about an entire country’s pain than see the United States dominate yet another thing.