Keller @ Large: Why The All-Star Game Is So Boring

BOSTON (CBS) - As you know if you're a regular reader, I am a big sports fan, only in part because it takes my mind off politics.

I also find there are important life lessons to be learned from sports, no more so than from tonight's annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The All-Star Game, you're thinking? What a huge bore.

I totally agree.

Related: Roche: All-Star Game Thoughts

I use the All-Star Game to help me get my deepest, most refreshing night's sleep of the year. A couple of innings of that thing, and I am down for the count. Perhaps others sit, riveted, and watch it all the way through, but not me.

But this raises a question – why is the All-Star game so dull, in spite of their sorry effort to give it meaning by granting the winning league home field advantage in the World Series?

It's because the game violates the very essence of what makes baseball interesting.

Baseball is a team game, requiring constant risk and sacrifice on behalf of the team. But the All-Star Game puts the emphasis on individuals, and most of the players follow suit.

Good baseball teams feature a mix of stars and role players. But in this game everyone is a star, and no one is left to do the dirty work – the sacrifice ground out, or getting hit by a pitch – that makes for winning baseball.

The all-star snoozefest reminds us of the value of teamwork, sacrifice and attention to detail – the real all-stars of the sport.

Watching stars play without all that is a perfect antidote for midsummer insomnia.

Listen to Jon's commentary: