Expand the All-Star game?

[Senser81]

I was thinking of having the MLB all-stars participate in a 3-hour game of "running bases". That would be almost as boring as baseball itself.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Athletes are pussies I guess.

How do you get scared of skills competition ?

An avg joe I can see being worries of pulling a muscle on some random race. But trained athletes ?

Especially fuckin baseball. I love the sport but its not like I would have to worry about getting landing awkward on the hard wood or 225 lb weights slipping off my hand on nailing my chest.

[mfbmike]

Kinda like the skills competition the NBA has. Not a bad idea.

I'm sure if it's successful in the other leagues they might adapt it soon. It's all about whether or not it can bring in revenue.

[Senser81]

It's pretty cool that VSN has turned into nothing but posts of seeing who can have the funniest post rather than anything constructive.

The funniest comment in this thread was yours..."I know the HR Derby draws a lot of attention"...

[FedEx227]

I would love that idea but the thought of someone getting hurt trying to be the fastest baserunner would probably take it away, but honestly I would love those type of skill competitions.

[NAHSTE]

Skill competitions are gimmicky and lame, so I say no. As much as I love the All-Star Saturday stuff in the NBA, it'd be so boring in baseball.

HR derby is already stale, the atmosphere in the stadium has been kind of flat for that one the last few years. Supposedly going to those things in person is incredibly boring with all the down time between batters and stuff.

I don't think watching baseball players do skill drills would catch on too much.

[JTRaines92]

It would be cool to see fastest baserunner, best outfielder arm, best outfielder range, best catcher's arm, quickest doubleplay and stuff like that.

But everyone will be scared to get hurt.

I would love to see all of that.

[Senser81]

No, actually. No, it's not.

Yes, actually. Yes, it is.

[Warner2BruceTD]

If they just stopped playing All Star games, and stopped doing all these goofy things like Slam Dunk contestes and the HR Derby, I honestly don't think I would even notice.

[Senser81]

*Awaits idiotic senser response that tries to appear articulate but has no substance whatsoever*

Yeah, your comment of "No, actually. No, it's not." was filled to the brim with substance.


The HR derby is nothing new. It was around for awhile, but then it was discontinued due to fan apathy. They brought it back a few years ago, but I've never heard that the HR derby was so overwhelmingly popular that the MLB just HAD to add more skills contests. I thought they did the HR derby just to kill some of the dead time around the All-Star game. I didn't know that people actually looked forward to hearing Chris Berman's highly variable and exciting home run calls...

"Thats outta here!"

"He got all of that one!"

"Home Run"

"Get outta here!"

"Thats a home run!"

"He got all of that one! Home Run!"

"Its outta here!"

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Skill competitions are gimmicky and lame, so I say no. As much as I love the All-Star Saturday stuff in the NBA, it'd be so boring in baseball.

HR derby is already stale, the atmosphere in the stadium has been kind of flat for that one the last few years. Supposedly going to those things in person is incredibly boring with all the down time between batters and stuff.

I don't think watching baseball players do skill drills would catch on too much.

I loved em when I was young. Dont see the harm in these skill competitions especially if gets younger fans into the game. Theyll be us in not too long a time.

[JeremyHight]

Didn't they do this one year and Barry Larkin got seriously injured. Since then, it has been scraped.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Didn't they do this one year and Barry Larkin got seriously injured. Since then, it has been scraped.

1989, he was neck & neck with Tony Gwynn for the batting title and missed a very large chunk of the second half.

Skills competitions and All Star Games are dumb. I'm waiting for someone to get paralyzed at the Pro Bowl so they can finally kill the worlds most useless sporting event.

[Senser81]

Also, yes, the HR Derby is popular. The media and fans both talk more about the HR Derby than they do about the actual game...people still talk about Abreu in Detroit

At least in the old HR Derby of the 1960's, you'd have Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle....come on, Bobby Abreu? Is he really a legendary figure in baseball? Why even bother having a HR Derby if you don't have the big name guys?

So yes, the HR Derby IS popular, arguably moreso than the all-star game itself.

Why? Because you say it is? The All-Star game for baseball had been incredibly popular. Its waned in recent times, but so has baseball in general. For you to say that the HR Derby, and event thats been around for probably 10 years, is more popular than the All-Star game itself is the height of lunacy.

[Senser81]

When is the last time someone was paralyzed in the NFL?

Last year, JaMarcus Russell was paralyzed from the neck up.