All-Star
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All-star (also, Allstar or All Star) is a term with meanings in both the worlds of sports and entertainment. In the entertainment sense, it is used to describe the cast of a movie in which most of the speaking parts, even relatively minor ones, are played by motion picture stars who are generally associated with leading or major supporting roles. Obviously this practice is limited to large-budget, "epic" pictures, an outstanding example of which would be the original 1962 motion picture version (not the later television version) of How the West Was Won.
In sports
"All-star" as a sports term can refer to an "all-star" team selected as the best players at particular positions in team sports, or a list of top participants in individual sports such as golf and automobile racing. Events limited to all-stars in the field of individual sports are referred to as "all-star events"; in team sports the premier all-star game was generally considered to be that of Major League Baseball until the fiasco resulting from the game ending in a tie in 2002. The all-star games of the other major North American team sports are often derided by purists, mostly due to a perceived lack of effort by the players, especially on defense. Many all-star teams, such as collegiate "all-conference", All-America or All-Australian teams, are named on a purely honorary basis with no intent of their ever performing together as a unit.
The British and Irish Lions rugby union team is similar to an all-stars team; they tour to either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa every four years and are a composite team from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Being selected for the Lions is the biggest honour a player from those nations can receive. The Pacific Islanders rugby union team is a similar team from Samoa, Fiji and Tonga but thus far have only played 3 separate one-off tests against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 2004.
The Gaelic Athletic Association chooses GAA All-Stars teams in hurling and Gaelic football every year.
Variations
A variation on this term is used to show that an individual has been honored to be chosen ahead of his or her peers within a certain geographical or other limitation. Hence, All State and All District denotes someone chosen as a top performer within their state or district, respectively.See also
Sources
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