Hockey purists don't enjoy the NHL all-star game because they argue it gives a false representation of how the game is actually played. I admit that the game lacks the intensity of a regular season game but I tune in to see how players from different teams perform together. I watch for the pure skill and talents the players display. Plus the game is a great stage for lesser-known players to garner attention. Just ask Dany Heatley. Although for next time I'm sure he'll remember to put in his teeth before accepting the MVP trophy in front of a national audience.

	Belfour and Sundin's rehab schedule.

This year the NHL reverted back to the East vs. West format which gives the game some more competitiveness over the North American vs. World format. Wasn't the World team title a little misleading? I mean the team is made up entirely of Europeans. You don't see any players from Africa, Asia, Australia or South America on the roster. This year's all-star game was also characterized by strange fan ballot voting that included such selections as Sandis Ozolinsh, Brian Leetch and Nikolai Khabibulian. The game also had its share of no shows most notably Ed Belfour and Mats Sundin of the Maple Leafs. Both were named to the Eastern all-star roster but both declined, sighting injuries as their excuse. Strange, it didn't seem like either were in much pain in the three games they played for the Leafs immediately prior to the all-star game. That's the equivalent of being on work disability due to a bad back and the insurance claims investigator sees you helping a friend move his grand piano up a flight of stairs.

	Inspired by Al MacInnis' childhood.

Of course the game isn't the only attraction about all-star weekend. There's also the Young Stars game and skills competition. The Young Stars game has replaced the Old Timers game or as the NHL likes to call it the Heroes of Hockey game. Maybe the NHL should combine the games and have a Young Stars vs. Heroes of Hockey game. Can you imagine Ilya Kovalchuk having a breakaway against Greg Millen or Pete Peeters? With all his moves and dekes he would give both of them permanent groin strains. Somebody needs to make this game happen. The skills competition has become a bit of a bore in the past few years; it's the same old thing each year especially the hardest shot competition. Al MacInnis must have had his arm or shoulder broken as a kid ala the kid from that movie Rookie of the Year. The kid had his arm broken and the injury caused his tendons to tighten up and give him a 100mph fastball thus leading to him joining the Cubs. (All that for an Al MacInnis analogy. The lengths I go to for you readers.) Another given on all-star weekend is the countless number of jokes that commentators attempt to make about the goalies. "The only players not having fun this weekend will be the goalies". Here's a thought, goalies play their position to make as many saves as possible. Ergo it presents a challenge to stop the best players. Please stop with these lame jokes, leave that up to me.

The NFL Pro-Bowl is by far the worst all-star game of the four major sports. Football is a game that is based heavily on coaching, practice and a well thought out playbook. It doesn't translate well into an all-star game. It's like someone trying to tell you a story but then struggles with capturing all the details and ends up saying: "You had to be there", which of course loosely translates into: "I can't tell a good story for the life of me." Plus the Pro-Bowl is played at the end of the season, obviously for injury reasons. The problems with this are most players are already in post-season surgery mode. Having the Pro-Bowl at the end of the year is like having a high school dance in July. No one's interested in attending. Ever notice why the Pro-Bowl is exclusively played in Hawaii? It's the only way to attract players.

The NBA puts on one of the, if not the best, all-star showcases. The Slam-dunk contest is a highlight but I don't like the movement towards only putting in young and rising stars in the contest. Let's give everyone a chance, the best dunkers in the NBA regardless of age. My picks for a dream slam-dunk contest are: Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett and Michael Jordan, for some old school flair.

	Wookin pa nub in all the wong places.

This year's all-star game was special because it was Michael Jordan's last (we've all heard this before). The NBA always has great player introductions but I just wasn't into this year's Kool & the Gang/Soul Train line introductions. The best thing about the introductions was seeing Ben Wallace of the Pistons and his blown-out Buckwheat Afro. Now there's a player who caters to what the fans want to see. I also love how they introduce the all-star training staff but I feel they should take this further. They should have an all-star administrative staff, the all-star ticket sellers and all-star scalpers. Show the best of the league. One thing I noticed after the player's intro finished was the fact that the house lights never came back on with full strength. I mean the court was lit up but it looked like the crowd was blacked out. Maybe there wasn't a sellout and they decided to use an old wrestling trick and lay black tarps over the empty seats and darken out the crowd.

The game itself has its high and low points. I love seeing improbable lineups on the floor like the one the West sported for a while: Shaq, Yao, Duncan and Garnett all that was missing was Nowitzki playing the point. The low points of the game are all the missed passes and turnovers. Guys are mistiming the alley-oops worse than I miss time the countdown dryer at the end of the car wash. They give you 60 seconds, but by the 30-second mark I'm already drying off my back bumper.

The focus of course was all about Jordan and he didn't leave a good first impression. He started the game by shooting 1-9 from the floor, which included a missed dunk. Watching him play this poorly is equivalent to the feeling you get watching someone's knee bend the opposite way in a horrific sports injury or better yet, watching Jon Favreau's excruciating scene in Swingers when he leaves 6 phone messages for a girl after just meeting her hours ago. The cringe factor on all these things is very high.