Tacko Fall’s All-Star Voting Coup Proves the Game Has Become a Farce

• It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL. All-Star games are a joke.
• The fan vote has always played a significant part in deciding who makes the NBA All-Star roster, opening the door for some unexpected and undeserving candidates.
• This year is no different.

Boston Celtics reserve center Tacko Fall might be an NBA All-Star. Let’s take a moment for that to sink in.

A guy who has played a total of 11 minutes  in the NBA this season has a shot at becoming an All-Star. The NBA released the early results of the fan vote, and the 7’5” rookie center for the Boston Celtics is sixth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players with 110,269 votes.

For reasons other than basketball (and we can say this because he has played so little in the NBA), the fans love Tacko Fall. So, it is a good thing they do not have complete control over who makes the All-Star game anymore.

Because, if they did, he would probably get his first start in the All-Star game – and perhaps play more minutes than he has during the entire regular season.

The NBA All-Star Game Is A Joke

It isn’t just the NBA. All professional sports All-Star games are a joke because of a total lack of effort. Baseball’s game isn’t bad. But since so many players find excuses not to show up, it is more of a pseudo-All-Star game than a true representation of the sport’s elite athletes.

But the NBA hasn’t even tried to hide the fact that the effort is lacking. The league has embraced the game as a chance for fans to see all of their favorite players. At least on the offensive end .

That’s why the league used to let the fans vote on who made the team—but that eventually created a problem. In the past, fans always picked their favorites over more deserving guys.

So, it shouldn’t be shocking that they like a guy who’s best moves this season came away from the court:

Tyson Chandler (2013), Kevin Garnett (2013), and Tim Duncan (2011) are just a few washed-up stars voted in because they were still popular—not because they were playing well. Allen Iverson certainly didn’t deserve the votes in 2009 or 2010—but he got them.

Yao Ming played in all of five games during the 2010-11 season but still received 1.1 million votes for the 2011 game. In 2014, Kobe Bryant asked fans not to vote for him because he knew other players were more deserving, but that didn’t stop them from doing so anyway.

Here’s Why Tacko Fall Still Might Not Make It

The All-Star game could feature anyone with the fans being the only voters, and it undoubtedly missed out on some very deserving players over the years. To stop that from happening, the NBA decided to change the voting format.

Fans still account for 50% of the vote, but players (25%) and media (25%) have the ability to tip the scales back in a reasonable direction.

So, as long as the players and media don’t treat it as a joke, the All-Star game should feature actual All-Stars. (Maybe next year, Tacko Fall.)

About the Author

Travis Pulver

Travis is a writer based in the United States who has been writing about sports, primarily the NFL, NCAAF, NBA, NCAAM, and MLB. He's worked as a writer for the last 12-13 years. If you want a spirited debate about anything having to do with the NFL or any sports team from Texas, he's your man. You can contact him at [email protected] or at LinkedIn.

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