Exhibition vs. Classic

The NBA All Star Game is in the books with the West prevailing by a score of 152-149.  Does it really matter?  Unlike the Major League Baseball All-Star Game the NBA, NHL, and Pro Bowl games are purely an exhibition for the fans, and nothing more.  That's why it is not a huge surprise that, according to USA Today, the NBA All-Star Game outranked the NASCAR Daytona 500 rainout by only a slight margin in television ratings, (5.4 to 4.5), and the race never started.   Major League Baseball did a great thing by adding the incentive of home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that won its' All-Star game and the stats don't lie.   Since the incentive was introduced to the game in 2003, the team with the home-field advantage has won 6 out of those 9 World Series Championships including the last 3.  No team wants to open the World Series in Philadelphia, or Yankee Stadium in New York where it's hard to get a win in April let alone October.  The players play harder and the game is more intriguing for the fans, especially those who have teams in the hunt for a championship.  In comparison to other sports, the "exhibition" games fall way short of the Midsummer Classic that is Major League Baseball's All Star Game.