Is The NHL All-Star Weekend The Best In Sports?

    

     So after this weekend I'm ready to declare the NHL All-Star weekend the best in sports.  I've been saying for years that the NHL can easily compete with the NBA and MLB if they start marketing the players better and this entire weekend does just that.(Also, some love from ESPN every now and then might help.)  From the fantasy draft, to the skills competition, to the game, the entire weekend is almost perfect.  Granted, the quality of hockey during the actual game is pretty low it's entertaining nonetheless.  Unlike the Probowl where the lack of defense brings bordem in hockey it brings a Harlem Globetrotters like atmosphere to this game.  Players are making beautiful pasess, skill moves and shots all day long.  

     Unlike the MLB's home run derby the NHL skills competition is fresh and exciting.  It does a great job of displaying the skills and personalities of many different types of players in the NHL. While the NHL's skill competition seems to get better with each passing year the  NBA's equivalent is doing the exact opposite.  The NBA is filled with such prima donnas they can't even get the best players in the league to compete in it (I'm sorry but I don't want to see Gerald Green in the dunk contest).  

     I know all-star games in general are pretty universally disliked by the hardcore fans of each sport but you gotta realize that all-star games aren't marketed at the hardcore fans.  The entire point of an all-star game is so that people tune in to see their favorite player(s) and in doing so learn something new about the sport.  The NHL did an outstanding job with doing just that this year. 

     For example, not a lot of people outside of hardcore hockey land are familiar with the name Scott Hartnell, the Left Winger for the Flyers.  While I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Hartnell I really liked the mic'd up stuff NBC did with him.  (Sidenote: In what other sport has a guy said anytime he falls he's going to donate money to charity and then subsoquently every player on the field/ice/playing surface tries to knock him over? Great stuff.)  I hope the NHL keeps making improvements to the all-star weekend and everyone else gets their shit together so maybe I can watch an all-star game without wanting to gouge my eyes out. 

PS: How does the NHL get a better half time show for their all-star game than the NFL got for the Superbowl.  In what universe does Roger Goodell think 50 million people wanna see Madonna pretend she's singing while she drag her saggy tits all over the 50 yard line?