FILE - This is an Oct. 26, 2014, file photo showing San Jose Sharks' John Scott during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, in Anaheim, Calif. Despite a trade and a demotion to the minors, tough guy John Scott will still be allowed to play in the NHL All-Star 3-on-3 tournament. Scott was voted Pacific Division captain by fans. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Majority rules?
When it comes to selecting all-star teams, it’s more like majority fools.
I still remember the first time I voted for who I thought should be in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
I was 12 years old. I scanned the fill-in-the-bubbles paper ballot as I sat with my parents on the metal bleachers high in the Kingdome.
The ballot included one player from every team at each position. If I wanted, I could have voted for an “all-star team” entirely of Seattle Mariners such as Alvin Davis, Jim Presley, Darnell Coles and Dave Valle.
But this was 1989. The Mariners were dreadful. And even my pre-teen fanboy brain felt a sense of responsibility to make wise and informed choices for the most deserving all-stars.
So when I dropped my ballot into a box on the Kingdome concourse, it included the likes of Bo Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr., Wade Boggs and Mark McGwire.
Fast forward 27 years. We’ve arrived at the year when all-star fan voting jumped the shark.
Last summer, a Kansas City Royals fan/blogger organized an online ballot-stuffing effort that nearly resulted in the entire American League starting lineup being made up of Royals.
A similar online movement has taken ahold of the NHL All-Star Game, where fans have voted in John Scott as a captain.
What? The name John Scott doesn’t ring a bell? That’s because he is a slow-footed enforcer, a “goon” in hockey parlance, who has logged 542 penalty minutes and just five goals over parts of eight NHL seasons.
Scott is not currently on an NHL roster, having been demoted to St. John’s of the American Hockey League. Yet he’ll be an all-star, thanks to the power of an internet movement that has made a mockery of the NHL all-star vote.
But you can’t make a mockery out of something that’s already a joke.
All-star games have become increasingly irrelevant in an age when every game is televised and highlights of your favorite players are a mouse click away.
In response, leagues have turned all-star games into freak shows. The NFL let celebrity “coaches” draft their roster and narrowed the goalposts for extra points in last year’s Pro Bowl. The NHL is trying a new three-on-three format for this year’s game.
So what happens when fans don’t take those games seriously? They don’t take the voting seriously. No serious basketball fan would vote Zaza Pachulia to an NBA all-star team over Draymond Green. Yet the journeyman Dallas center got more votes than Green, who outside of Stephen Curry is the player most responsible for Golden State’s 40-4 record.
But Pachulia had a secret weapon in a 30-second clip from pop star Wyclef Jean, who urged fans to Vote Zaza. In an all-star vote, that’s more valuable than any measure of basketball talent.
So what’s the solution? Don’t make voting so easy.
Baseball allows anyone to vote 35 times from each e-mail address. And that was before that Kansas City fan found away to circumvent that limit.
Stay informed on what is happening in Clark County, WA and beyond for only
I’m not suggesting going back to the Stone Age of paper ballots available only at stadiums. But at least those voters had enough vested interest in the sport to have attended a game.
Internet voting should be accompanied by a more laborious registration process and lower limits on the number of votes anyone can cast.
Leagues should also limit the players on the ballot to a handful of top performers at each position. Even though the games are meaningless, being named an “all-star” is an important mark on a player’s legacy that should not be taken lightly.
Collectively, the great masses on the internet have shown an amazing ability to devolve any topic into crude humor.
That has happened with online all-star voting, which has become one giant bad joke.
Micah Rice is The Columbian’s sports editor. Reach him at 360-735-4548, micah.rice@columbian.com or via Twitter @col_mrice.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
