Fan Balloting

By E. Spencer Kyte
Love of Sports Correspondent

Thanks to a brilliant marketing strategy by the team, the Washington Redskins currently are dominating the Pro Bowl voting.

In fact, more than half of the 22 voted-on positions are being led by a member of the Skins at the moment.

Seriously?!

While I applaud the Redskins marketing department for getting out there and urging their fans to vote, this situation only goes to further prove something I’ve believed for years:

FAN BALLOTING IS STUPID!

One of the Redskins who leads at his position is Shawn Springs. This is the same Shawn Springs who’s missed six of Washington’s 10 games this year.

But none of this is new. All-Star voting has always been a popularity contest.

Last season marked the first time in 15 years Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t voted an All-Star starter, despite the fact his game’s been in a steady decline since leaving Los Angeles.

Yao Ming always ends up with the most votes, whether he’s playing or not. Is he legitimately the best? Would Amare Stoudemire have something to say about that? How about Pau Gasol?

Baseball is the same. A whole bunch of Yankees and Red Sox get voted into the starting lineup each year, while more deserving players ride the pine for the first couple innings because the average fan doesn’t actually like the sport as much as they like their team.

More and more I wonder why we have All-Star Games in the first place. The voting process is idiotic, a handful of players always decide to skip the game for various reasons (though they never decline their bonus check) and the games themselves are annoying to watch because they’re sloppy and no one plays any defense.

Now, none of the major sports leagues will ever get rid of their All-Star Games, because the advertising and sponsorship almighty dollar is still priority No. 1, but if they ever wanted to really display the best talent in their respective leagues, they’d take the vote away from the fans and give it to the players and coaches.

You’re never going to make it mean anything – despite Bud Selig’s best efforts – but you could at least keep it from being such a joke.

Until then, we’re giving fan balloting some TOUGH LOVE today!

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