We’re nearing that point of the year where people begin to think about the All-Star games and the Pro Bowl. Millions of fans worldwide are sending in their votes for who they would like to see in the spotlight. It is only because of the 2010 Winter Olympics that the NHL is not having an All-Star game this season, but their selection process is similar to the other major sports. The fan-selection process is highly contested by many who argue that the fans lack the proper dedication to vote for the “true” stars in sports. But which fans are right?

The leagues tend to allow fans to vote for the starting lineups, while the rest of the team is chosen by people within the game. The NFL does it a bit differently in that fans makeup one-third of the voters, the other two going to players and coaches. Some say that giving fans the power to decide who participates in these games takes away from the legitimacy of the event. Fans will vote for their hometown players and other favorites, while not considering who truly deserves the title of “All-Star” in a particular season. But frankly, who is worth the title really comes down to what your definition of “All-Star” is.

The fans are picking and voting for who they want to watch in the game, which is tremendously important. Games like this are already meaningless enough without potentially taking players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James out of the action because they were being outperformed by unexpected nobodies. Besides, getting the fans involved is a tremendous way for the league to make money. Having advertising all over the internet voting pages, or deals with T-Mobile for example, generates revenue out of nowhere for the leagues to cash in on. Fans who watch the games tune in to see popularity and spectacle, and there has to be a mix of talent and celebrity involved, and sometimes those two factors do not go hand-in-hand.

The term “All-Star Game” is synonymous with “Fans-Stars” game, and frankly, no league has it right. Prior to this season, the NFL has held the Pro Bowl after the Super Bowl, and for the last 30 years only in Hawaii, which clearly caused enough problems to result in this year’s change. MLB has a mandatory rule that every team be represented, even if a team’s rep is worse than every other player in the league. The NHL just can’t decide on a format and stick with it, and the NBA’s Slam Dunk and 3-Point Shootout contests are more popular than the game itself. Fans only care about games when they have some vested involvement with it. By allowing the fans to vote does exactly that. If these events were called the “Most Valuable Players Games,” then keep the fans out of it.