i was at the 90 NHL one at the igloo, it was awesome. never heard a louder chant than when Mario was announced, still gives me goosebumps. 4 minutes of MARIO MARIO, man it was sweet.
maybe, just seems like games were actual games back then but maybe not. recently though, man they are brutal. and pretty much across the board with hockey and hoops.
I sat next to Mario's mom and dad during that game. I mean in the seat right next to them. It was awesome to see them react to the chants and cheers.
Most of us reminiscing about the all star games of our better days are getting closer to our expiration date as well. There’s always Blue Bloods reruns on some channel.
As long as the risks outweigh the incentives, it's just a weird exhibition that most of the players don't really want to be at.
What changed is that the stakes are way to high to bother with playing aggressively. Imagine a playoff contender with a very small window to win a championship, losing their best player for the rest of the season? There would be a-holes like Steven A Smith questioning why a player would go all out in a meaningless game. It's really a no-win for the players. No matter what they do, it's wrong. Most of them would rather have a few days off.
ok, i get it but the stakes were high in the 80s yet magic, bird, worthy, drexler, all those guys played hard. stakes were high for michael jordan in the 90s and kobe in the 00's but they all played pretty hard in the all star game, they all seemed to genuinely care and not want to embarress themselves or the league out there with pitiful performances..
watching an nba player take a jump shot from half court is insane. i agree, the strength alone is crazy. i'd be doing the same, running and heaving it like the halftime guy who makes one occasionally for a 50k check.
Jordan made around $100 million in his career. Steph Curry will make that in two seasons.
Hockey had a most natural thing to make it somewhat interesting, but they went away from it. North America vs the World. There are enough great Euros to field more than a competitive team to play against the US/Canadian guys.
This is why NIL has ruined sports, everyone from a young age will be programmed that it's not worth the effort without big pay. used to be guys wanted to win for free. Just to say they won.
Well we are seeing this in college now with opt outs and so forth. And I hate to say this, this is the divide between Gen X/Boomers vs Millennials/Gen Z. We were taught rightly or wrongly to honor commitments and when you are part of a team you do your part, where now it is being taught selfishness and self serving/promotion (aka your brand) is the way to go. Maybe we were suckers, but maybe society was better for us subscribing to kind of being a bit less selfish.
It's not a generational thing...it's an intelligent thing. These players are not locked into long term contracts with one team (free agency) and need to protect their most valuable asset (themselves). These games will not put bread on the table and are risk a long term opulent contract. Anyone with half a brain would not risk any type of injury to play the all star games.
Rugby League. Pronounced Rugba Lig.
