Searching For Something Entertaining

Tuesday the 89th edition of the "Midsummer Classic" was held. In Washington D.C., Major League Baseball hosted its' annual All-Star game, pitting the American and National Leagues against each other.

Early reports are coming in, showing 8.3 million people watched the game, down from last year's 8.6 million people that tuned in.

This begs the question: Who cares?

The other major sports: NFL, NBA, and NHL, all had down years in terms of viewership with 8.6, 7.8 and 2.0 million viewers respectively. There just isn't much reason to watch an exhibition in the middle of the season (unless you're the NFL) where nothing is on the line.

Here's a prime example of how little people pay attention. Tuesday, I was listening to "Morning Men" on Mad Dog Sports Radio (Sirius XM Channel 82). Mike Babchik, was being quizzed by co-host Evan Cohen on naming the MVP from the past All-Star games. Cohen would give the location of the game, and winner. Babchik got ZERO right. I can understand missing 2014, even 2015. But, he started with 2017.

Now, Babchik might not be the best person to gauge the popularity, because it's possible he wouldn't know the 2018 MVP (Sorry Babs).

For those who don't: Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was named All-Star Game MVP.

However, this proves my point. Ask any average sports fan who was MLB's, NBA's or MVP, they would likely get that right. In case you didn't: Jose Altuve & Giancarlo Stanton in the MLB, James Harden in the NBA and Tom Brady in the NFL.

But, quiz them about a sport's all-star game? Pretty sure they'd miss them. That's simply because no one cares. Players don't want to get hurt, and play little defense. The 2018 NBA All-Star game finished 148-145, filled with acrobatic dunks, things wouldn't typically see in a regular season game.

If you want to see those, why watch the game? Just wait until the highlight reel a day or two after. Why spend 2-3 hours watching a game, when you can spend 5-10 minutes watching a recap to see what you missed?

But, how do you fix these? How do you get people to turn in and watch their favorite players, the best of the best, compete against one another?

Separate leagues, holding drafts or US against the world - as the NHL does - haven't pulled in viewers like a league's championships can pull in. Obviously letting fans vote for starters, or players, doesn't drive the needle.

Letting it be the determining factor for home-field advantage for the World Series, might have been the worst idea, MLB. NFL players just want to go home, since their season is over. So, what do you do?

Do you give the winning team money? Do you giving the winning league a small advantage during the playoffs? Does the league give money to the winning team's charity of choice? Is it impossible to have more people tune into the game? Do you get rid of all All-Star games?

With the amount of revenue the league, and hosting team makes, I highly doubt there will ever be an end to these games.

Personally, I think each league should put more attention on the skills competitions held the day before the game itself. Whether it is the NBA Slam Dunk competition, NHL's Faster Skater, MLB's Home Run Derby or NFL's Kick Tac Toe these seem more entertaining than watching athletes compete casually in glorified exhibitions.

I still remember the days of Jordan and Dominique in the slam dunk contest. My mom once bought me a Ken Griffey Jr baseball hat, that looked like the one he wore at the home run derby in 1998.

I remember watching events like those, held 20-plus years ago, more than a game held one year ago.

That's what you need, the stars to show up. Who wouldn't turn in to see a dunk competition featuring LeBron, Giannis, Russell Westbrook and Donovan Mitchell?

What about a home run derby with Kris Bryant, JD Martinez, Aaron Judge and Mike Trout?

If you can convince the stars to come out for the skills events, you will be the eyes. No one needs to know if Max Scherzer can strike out Mookie Betts. We've already seen it. Who cares if Kevin Durant can guard Harden? People see it often enough during the season.

What we want to see is the stars showing off their freakish abilities in skills competitions. We want to seem them relaxed and having fun, like the Dodgeball competition held during the NFL's skills competition.

That's where the popularity can rise, and bring more eyes to the television. Leagues just need to promote it better, and bring the faces of their sport into it.