I'd sit out All-Star Game
I’m usually the first to complain about pro athletes who don’t answer the call. I was all over Carlos Boozer’s hamstring absences. I also questioned the night he didn’t play in the 2010 season finale against Phoenix due to a stomach injury. It was a game that could have improved the Jazz’s playoff seeding.
But I find myself uncharacteristically understanding of Major League Baseball players who withdrew from this year’s All-Star Game.
So far 16 players have dropped out. Some of those were legitimate injuries. Some were the result of pitchers starting on Sunday, and thus ineligible, though that’s a fairly weird deal, too. But don’t tell me all of them were legitimate and couldn’t be worked out.
I’m not buying the party line that it was just an unusual set of circumstances.
At the same time, players are people, too. Given the choice of working for free (Jeter-like bonuses excluded) at any job or taking a few days off with the family, most of us would prefer the days off. Athletes aren’t much different.
To them it’s work. They play a 162-game schedule. Days off are rare. (True, they get four months off in winter, but still.)
JETER A NO SHOW
In the current sports climate, it’s hard to motivate athletes to compete in these things. They get paid for what they produce in real games, not sideshows. But with sports in a win-at-all-costs mode, it’s risky to indulge in All-Star competition when injury might occur. The bottom line is owners who have invested millions probably aren’t all that excited about All-Star appearances by their players.
Save it for the pennant races.
I grew up loving the All-Star Game. But that was a different place and time.
Nowadays, if it were me, I’d think about spending some down time in St. Thomas.
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?