The three americans that watch it will be devastated.

I just wish they'd put more Curling on TV eh.

It's good, you know, all the brushing action and strategy.

It's like chess, but on ice, and really dangerous, you know.

I watched Curling last Olympics for some reason -- it wasn't that bad, even though you could tell Fred Roggin and the other announcers were bitter about it.

Boss: "Guess what? You get to go to Torino for the Olympics!"
Reporter: "What do I get to cover? Figure skating? Hockey?"
Boss: "Curling."
Reporter: "*Dump button*"

Canadian Curling Championships, brought to you by Propecia...

first off, the skill comp is by far more interesting than the ASG. Keep the skills, make that the event, and forget the game that (1) never has any real checks, (2) never has any penalties, and (3) often times outscores the pro-bowl.

Speaking of Pro-Bowl, anyone interested in seeing the game played as flag football instead of the real deal? I know this sounds pansy at first, but the players would screw around, actually have fun, and there might even be more contact.

Just a stupid thought.

Maybe if a certain network chose to at least acknowledge that it took place instead of giving us minute-by-minute Tom Brady updates, some people might be interested.

If player disinterest is part of it, the NBA, NFL, and baseball might as well cancel theirs, too

Here's a chance for the NHL to LEAD the rest of the sports world and do something progressive, intead of just following the other leagues like normal.
Come up with an ORIGINAL idea NHL.
Not copy the NFL and play games out of the country now.

I am all for getting rid of all All-Star games. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm Canadian, a hockey fan and say Youppi! to that idea.

NBC Execs:

Mens' Figure Skating > NHL All-Star game

What? The NHL all-star game is not better than the Pro Bowl! Not by one bit. C'mon, if you had the chose you'd choose football over hockey.

The problem with the Pro Bowl and NHL ASG is that what makes the games great, hard hits and physical play are practically nonexsistent. The goalies could be replaced with cardboard cutouts and the scores of the games probably wouldnt be much different.

Its video games with real people playing the game.

Well, at the current rate of one knucklehead hijacking the comments section, it was nice while you had it.

"Come up with an ORIGINAL idea NHL.
Not copy the NFL and play games out of the country now."

Um ... you do realize that the NHL started this season in Europe, before the Giants-Dolphins game in London, right?

Personally, I think the skills competition is more interesting than the all-star game itself. It doesn't help that the D-men that get voted in are always the scoring D-men instead of the ones that play lockdown defense. That said, I would have watched if I had Versus.

Okay, just move the game from Versus to NBC. That solves one problem, unless it gets dumped in most of the sun belt for an ACC game, a movie or infomercials.

And of they drop it, how will the folks in Phoenix feel? They were supposed to get the event on 2008, but the lockout came, then they were supposed to get the 2009 game, but that went to Montreal. Now, they are scheduled to get 2011, but that now might not happen for two reasons: The Labor agreement ends after 2010, and if they get a agreement and avoid another nuclear summer like 2004-05, and the game is permanatly cancelled, what does Gretzky tell the Valley of the Sun?

With NHL participation in the Winter Olympics in 2010, the league wouldn't be having an All-Star game that season anyway. That was part of the deal coming out of the lockout: no All-Star game in a year when NHL players would be participating in the Olympics. Further, when the entire CBA is up, the AS game might be something that comes up in the negotiations.

And the NHL was playing regular season games outside North America before the NFL decided to play in front of a crowd that had no idea what the hell was going on. The NHL had a couple years in the late 1990s where they opened the season in Japan. At least in going to Europe, the NHL is playing in front of crowds that understand the game.

If you don't like the All-Star game, don't watch it. Having the game in Atlanta this year accomplished something that rarely happens when the Thrashers play -- they actually filled up Philips Arena for a hockey game.

The All-Star game was boring? It wasn't to me, at least compared to the Pro Bowl or the NBA All-Star Game with scores like 125-118.

The skills competition was awesome. It's a shame people can't even watch hockey nowadays. I'm still waiting for ESPN to get the TV deal. As much animosity that ESPN gets from the blogosphere, their production would be about 10x better than what Versus does. This was the second year in a row that Versus had mic and audio problems during the All-Star weekend.

I was going to say the same thing, Spartandad. The NHL did that this year, but the NFL did it first in 2005 with their Mexico City game.