If you like All Star Games, this is your time of year. Within the next 10 days, the NHL, NBA and NFL versions will take place, along with all the attending hoopla, such as slam dunk contests and skills competitions.

Whenever polling on this matter takes place, the baseball all star game usually finishes first in popularity, even though football is clearly the most popular sport in the country and certain people want you to believe that basketball will surpass baseball in overall popularity any day. (No chance.)

When I was a kid, my dad and I used to bring foldout beach chairs in from the porch to watch the baseball all star game. (We never did that for a Wednesday night Phillies-Expos game.) But somewhere along the way, I lost interest in baseball’s all star game. I love baseball, but rarely watch more than an inning of the all star game.

I haven’t watched the NFL Pro Bowl in over 20 years. Even with the high number of Eagles going to the game in recent years, I just don’t want to watch a half-speed exhibition game played after the season is over. I think the Pro Bowl needs serious changing.

The NBA All Star Game is fun. The now stale slam dunk contest used to be one of the more eagerly awaited events of the winter, and I still really like the three-point shooting contest. But basketball has always been my least favorite among the four major team sports.

So it turns out that in recent years, my favorite all star game – in fact, the only one I make a point of watching – is the NHL all star game. I love the skills competition the night before and I love the game itself. This despite the fact that I generally like baseball and football more than hockey. So why do I love the NHL all star game and festivities?

I think the main reason is the obvious, natural camaraderie among the players. To be sure, there is some of this in each of the other all star games too, but during the skills competition, ESPN does such a great job of getting you “up close and personal” with the NHL all stars that you genuinely sense you’re seeing the real guys in their “natural habitat”. And they come across as guys you’d enjoy hanging out with

Honestly, I don’t feel that way about pro baseball, football and basketball players. I appreciate them and cheer for them, but I can’t imagine hanging with them, even the more personable guys like Jim Thome or Duce Staley. But, being a Flyers’ fan, guys like Jeremy Roenick, Robert Esche and Mark Recchi almost seem like family. When they get injured, I feel a level of concern I just don’t feel for guys in other sports. The average salary in the NHL may be over $1 million now, but the sport somehow has held onto some of the lunchpail, ordinary guy feel that the other three sports have lost since the rise of free agency.

Beyond that, the skills competition is so, well, cool. I love watching the guys shoot at those targets in the goal or speed skate against one another. So much of the beauty of hockey gets lost in the mucking and grinding of a typical regular season game – it is really nice to be reminded of the skills and talents these guys possess.

And that brings me to the all star game itself. Yes, there is little to no hitting. There are no neutral zone traps, no fighting. To some, including my dad, a much bigger hockey fan than me, that means the NHL all star game is a joke. But to me, in this era of the 2-1 game, when even mediocre goalies tote around goals-against-averages under 2.50, it is refreshing to see, for one afternoon, the offensive skills of Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla and Joe Thornton and Mike Modano and Alexei Kovalev and others set free.

Last year, Dany Heatley’s four-goal game was a revelation. A new star was born (and hopefully will be back to full strength soon). Some years, a goalie steals the show, providing an amazing performance in a room full of snipers, aided by little defensive support, if any.

The NHL’s game is the only all star game left that makes me wonder what will happen next. Hockey wouldn’t be the same sport without the hitting and even the occasional fight. But it is nice to see a clear example of the other side of the sport, too.

(The NHL Young Stars Game will be played at 8 pm, Saturday night, on ESPN, to be followed immediately by the Super Skills competition. The All Star Game is Sunday at 3 pm on ABC. If you want information about where and when to watch the Pro Bowl, you’re on your own.)