All-Star Games: Any Favorites?

Every player in every professional sports wants one thing for themselves: a championship, but being named to an all-star team in their respective sport is one of the greatest honors any athlete can achieve and something every athlete strives for. Each one of the four major sports in this country has their own unique all-star festivities which make us wonder which all-star game is better than all the rest.
The NFL has the Pro Bowl at the end of every season in Hawaii, (next year the Pro Bowl will be at the site of the Super Bowl instead and held one week before the big game instead of one week after) which is great for all the players and media people fortunate enough to attend the game. Leading up to the Pro Bowl the NFL holds numerous competitions for the players to compete in including a 40-yard dash, field goal competition, and the bench press competition, just to name a few. This is a great for fans on the game to get a look at the player's natural skills without the pads on. Everyone can agree the events leading up to the Pro Bowl are great, and so is the weather, but the game itself really is not anything special. Football is a violent game, and no one wants to get hurt or to hurt another player in the all-star game, so the play is generally slowed down to prevent injuries. This year the NFL offered a $45,000 bonus to each player on the winning team and only a $22,500 bonus to the losing squad hoping to motivate the players and to give the fans something interesting to watch. The Pro Bowl is pretty much a joke, the players are all honored to be there but are more concerned with starting the off-season or working on their tans to focus on the game.
The NBA All-star game is always entertaining for fans to watch because of all the superstars in attendance. The NBA is unique in the fact that its players are so recognizable because they do not wear pads or hats while playing so their exposure is maximized. On the eve on the game the NBA holds contests including H-O-R-S-E, 3-point contest, and the infamous slam dunk contest. These are great ways for fans to see the players abilities displayed in a way they don't often see. The game itself is fun to watch because their is always a ridiculous amount of points scored and amazing displays of athleticism to put those points on the board. Year after year I find myself watching the NBA All-Star game even though the NBA is my fourth favorite sport to watch out of the four.
The NHL All-Star game is my second favorite to watch. I think the hockey players are quite possibly the greatest athletes in the world and to see the best of the best play on the ice at the same time really is a treat. Like the NBA the NHL has special competitions on the eve of the game including the elimination challenge, hardest shot competition, and Alex Ovechkins favorite, the break away challenge. The NHL All-Star game is similar to the Pro Bowl in the sense that players do not hit each other which changes the game completely and the sole reason this past years game had a final score of 12-to-11. I know the NHL is the least popular of the four major sports but in my mind it is one of the best sports to watch hands down.
The MLB All-Star game is the only one of the four where the game actually counts for something. That something being the oh so important home field advantage in the World Series. The winning league in the all-star game gets to host games 1,2,6, and 7 of the World Series which could quite possibly decide which team wins the whole thing. The MLB All-Star game is great to watch because every player and manager wants to win the game; they play their hearts out. We get to see how each manager will use his bench and bullpen to hopefully win the game for their league. The game is great and all but preceding the game is the home run derby which is one of the most entertaining things to watch in all of sports. Millions of us watched Josh Hamiltion tear the cover off the ball a record 28 times in the first round in the final season at Yankee Stadium last summer, a performance that is still being talked about today. Although I do not necessarily like the idea of an all-star game deciding something as important as which league gets home field advantage in the W.S. but it is still the best all-star game to watch.