By: Jordan Hansen [Opinion Editor]

Every year the NFL and the NBA both have their own ways of showing who the best of the best in the sport is. For the NFL, it’s the Pro Bowl which is normally played in Hawaii, takes place the weekend before or after the Super Bowl. The NBA on the other hand has their All-Star game of the players from the East versus the players from the West halfway through the season. Both of these events are set-up to showcase the best of the best, though they go about it in very different ways and draw different types of criticism.

The Pro Bowl has, in the last couple years, drawn an extraordinary amount of criticism because the players didn’t really “play” to the standards that most are used to seeing. The game last year was treated as mostly a joke, and almost was canceled by the Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner. This year it was only marginally better and still took a bit of heat for the players not playing. While it is understandable that after a long season the players just want to have fun, it still hurts the leagues image. In addition, the last two years the Pro Bowl has been played a week before the Super Bowl, causing some players to not be able to play in the Pro Bowl. The league has a lot to do if it wants to keep the Pro Bowl and make it more of what it should be.

The NBA All-Star game is very different than the Pro Bowl in many ways. First, it is much more of an entertainment spectacle than anything else. Concerts take up a large portion of the weekend, many of them on live T.V. Also, there are many different events that go on in the nights leading up to the All-Star game such as the often criticized Slam Dunk contest. The reason that the Slam Dunk contest is often looked at in a skeptical light is that it rarely has the best of the best involved in it. Players like Blake Griffin and LeBron James have not competed in this event for several years, and the league is really hurt by that. In the first few minutes of the All-Star game Sunday night, Lebron and Griffin both had spectacular dunks that could have and should have won the contest. Having stars like them participate in the Slam Dunk contest portion of the All-Star game would increase the viewership and ratings by tenfold, and it’s baffling why they don’t participate in this section of it. The All-Star game itself wasn’t as bad as the Pro Bowl, but it still left something to be desired. There was very little defense and it was just somewhat boring to watch. It had its moments, but it still just didn’t have the level of competition that it should have.

While both games have there advantages and disadvantages, it’s obvious that they aren’t taken anywhere near as seriously as they used to be. Whether or not this is something that can be fixed is completely up in the air, but the fact remains that it needs to be fixed. The best of the best need to have a better showing for the events that showcase them to not be taken as jokes as well.