BY COREY MAXWELL

Sporting events have set times when they are scheduled to start and we all know that they rarely ever begin at that particular time. They usually start a few minutes late, which we as sports fans have come to terms with.

Starting an hour late is not okay, though.

The 2014 NBA All-Star game on TNT was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. last Sunday night. Not really early, but not particularly late either.

The game did not tip until 8:56 p.m., almost an hour after it was supposed to.

There was quite a bit of wasted time during TNT’s broadcast which contributed to the game being started later than scheduled.

There was a musical performance which took around 25 minutes. The starting lineups for both the East and West teams were announced throughout the duration of the performance. Following that, there was a commercial break and following the commercial break was the singing of both Canada’s and the United States’ national anthem.

Typically, the game begins after the singing of the national anthem. That was not the case with Sunday night. TNT felt they had to introduce the starting lineups AGAIN. They played a video showing the players’ highlights and proceeded to talk about the players a little more. The game started soon after.

The delay to the game was pretty aggravating for fans. While scrolling through Twitter I saw quite a few people expressing their annoyance over the fact that it was taking so long for the game to start.

The NBA hasn’t been this popular in years one could argue. If the NBA wants to build on their popularity, then starting a game almost an hour late isn’t going to increase your fan base. I became a fan of the NBA when I was younger and I grew up watching the Lakers win titles with Shaq and Kobe. I had a bedtime though which meant I couldn’t particularly stay up to watch late games. If the NBA wants to appeal to that younger audience, TNT and the NBA must start the games at a reasonable hour to keep that demographics’ viewership.

TNT and the NBA should have been thinking of their fans during All-Star Sunday. I’m sure the fans that were in attendance didn’t really care to wait that long for the game to start. Sure the NBA already had their money, but they have to at least show some consideration to the fans and start the games close to when they are scheduled. If they could promise to do that, and KEEP that promise, then they would have much happier fans.