Anybody watching the All Star festivities?

- the rookie-sophmore game turned into a slam dunk competition, allowing Jason Richardson to show off why he's the 2-time slam dunk competition
- Desmond Mason was a worthy runner up to J.Rich, but where was Ricky Davis?
- missed the skills competition, won by Jason Kidd
- missed the 3-point shoot-out, won by that delicious furry-chested Croatian Peja Stojakovic
- saw a bit of the Hoop-it-Up pro-Am game; whoever's idea it was to put sexy Marko Jaric and Ashton Kutcher on the same team--thank you!
- Magic Johnson looks like he's been spending a bit too much time at Burger King... he looked like Derrick Coleman out there

All Star Game is tonight!

I caught the show last night. I tend to enjoy the competitions vs. the actual game.

You're right. Magic needs to call Jarrod and get help quick!

Gary Payton should have won the skills competition but he choked on the last round. The old guys showed the younger ones (Tony Parker and Stephon Marbury) they still got it.

Peja was absolutely amazing! He can hit from outside the arch with so much accuracy and so little effort.

I'm interested-what do you guys think of the Carter/Jordan controversity?It's beyond me how a supposed "superstar" can be so thick-headed and selfish to not realize what a fool he is making of himself.Earth to Vince-you played in 15 GAMES-you ought to be embarrassed to even think about stepping on the court. :confused: The fact that IDIOTS voted you in the starting lineup is probably grounds for taking the vote away from the fans- no offense to anyone here who might have voted for Mr. Carter.I can't imagine anyone being "disappointed" that Vince wouldn't start-does he really think all those fans of his that he doesn't want to disappoint would feel cheated by not getting to hear his name announced in the starting line up? Come on Vince-give us some credit and show some class. If he continues with this silly charade,I think it would be great if the fans in Atlanta booed him mercilessly when he's introduced. I know I would.

Isiah Thomas called his team together, explained the hostory of players stepping aside for "legends" at all-star games and talked about Michael Jordan's importance to the game (did he REALLY have to do that??) and then looked around for someone to react. Carter said "Don't look at me." What an idiot!! Carter winds up looking even worse than previous--if that's possible. Especially considering his limited playing time this season, he should let Michael start and be proud to merely come off the bench. The man is a classless fool.

But how do I really feel about it? wink

~Adam

I agree there should have been no question aobut Vince letting MJ start. Didnt look good at all, one hell of a game, was hoping the game would be over with Michael hitting the late shot.
Great game, really enjoyed watching it and the show last night was very good also, great weekend for the NBA.

But the FANS could have very easily voted Michael into the starting line-up. Why didn't they? It's not like he's an unknown commodity. It's not like nobody knew it was his last All-Star game. And what right do they have to NOT vote for Michael and then demand in be inserted in the starting line-up? (For the record: I did not vote for Michael, nor did I vote for Vince.)

Jordan is certainly one of the greatest players of all time, but having retired/returned (twice) and peaked in the mid/late 90's, I think many people feel that his best years are behind him. He's still one of the best players on the court, but fans know he's not as good as he once was. How much can making another All Star team possibly matter to him at this point. I think some fans feel it's time to make room in the limelight for some others.

I wish he would go. If managing a team is not compatible with him, then he could actually retire a few years (God forbid!), and then decide how he's like to spend the rest of his life.

I'm curious, though, as to why he didn't stick with management. It seemed to be a great follow-up for him.....nevertheless, there are tons of things he can do with all his money that will speak of a great man after pro basketball.

[ February 10, 2003, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: bluebird48234 ]

Hey guys,
I was fortunate enough to have been at every event over the weekend and I can tell you it was a fantastic occassion. The dunk contest was exciting, Peja was great and the game was its best in years. Though Jordan launched 27 shots, hitting that last one on the baseline was magical. He was not nearly as out of place as The Big Z and Yao Ming. Those boys had no business being out there and their coaches saw that fairly quickly. One thing I must report is that Matt Harpring looks great in a pair of jeans. Saw him at the Players Association party and I couldn't help but stare at his assets. Very nice He and Jaric from the Clippers and Desmond Mason from Seattle were just too hot for words.

Lucky you, Zman. Where was your camera?

p.s. I heard some talk about a "disturbance" at the Players Association party. You know anything about that?

No camera and I didn't hear of a disturbance though Bill Clinton shook things up a bit when he walked in.

Seemed like there were tons of celebs courtside, incl. Puff Daddy, Adam Sandler, Janet Jackson, Lennox Lewis, Usher... were you able to get up close and personal with any of them Z?

I've seen P. Diddy all over town since I've been here. He's a regular clubber. Same for Janet, though I've never talked to her.
I ran into Jeff Gordon. Very cute. Very short. He was with a pretty hot chick, so I guess he's recovering nicely from the divorce.
I also spoke with Snoop, Fat Joe, Ice Cube and LL. Sorry guys, I"m a big hip hop fan so I was going for that more than the actors, though Denzel was very cool. Hung out with Pau Gasol for a bit. He is tall, thin but very cute guy and extremely nice. I bought him a drink at the party and we talked for about 30 minutes about everything but basketball. Very bright dude. I wish him well.
Most of the parties were average though Diddy's party Friday night was off the chain.

Hmmm, I heard there were an unusually large amount of votes coming from Toronto from a guy named Mark that were for Vince. Is this just a coincidence?

Matt Harpring is a STUD, very sexy guy and so is Jaric, i think both of them are very hot : )

Sounds like You had a connection a lot of gay men look for. wink

You got to meet Denzel?!?!?! and saw Bill Clinton?!?!?! I would have stuttered the whole time. They are two people with whom I'd love to spend an evening. I find both of them to have brilliant minds.

It's simple. No one was buying Wizards tickets. By coming out of retirement, he increased his team's revenue because people flocked to the arena. Of course, he had to divest himself of the part-ownership he had, so he couldn't directly benefit from it. But if he gets his part-ownership back after he retires, it might be worth more...at least for a while. My guess is Wizards attendance will drop off again next season.

Theo,
I have to admit, last weekend was pretty exciting. I went to the NHL All-Star weekend to help cover that but it didn't have the same star power or party feel. One thing I will say though is I found the foreign players to be far more engaging than the American ones. I'm sure part of that was projection on my part, but also they just seem to be more appreciative of the position they are in. Peja is extremely humble and gracious. Jaric is as well. Gasol just really impressed me. He, like Yao Ming, are huge back home but Gasol never came across as arrogant.

Z

Seems a lot of people saw the game, despite the move.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/sports/co...rney/index.html

It got a high rating for cable, but 8 million fewer viewers saw this game than last year's (which didn't have the Michael's Last Game theme). The NBA is the only major sport whose All-Star game is not on a network.

NBC gave up the NBA, including the All-Star game, leaving ABC/ESPN and TNT to fight over it. It it because cable has dug into the money pit, that NBC was not willing to fork over the dollars to keep the NBA. As you recall CBS was outbid by NBC a few years back. That's just the nature of the biz, not a true testament to the interest in the game. With that said, 8 milion viewers are a lot to lose because of poor penetration and I suspect ABC/ESPN will broadcast it next year when it's in LA.

Z

Was last years game broadcast in primetime? That would go a long way towards explaining part of the drop off. There is a good deal of competition on Sunday night. These games belong on Sunday afternoon. TV viewers are creatures of habit and they aren't about to miss an episode of their favorite Sunday night (one of the biggest nights for TV viewing, if not THE biggest) programs in lieu of an All Star game. Plus there was some real skepticism regarding this being MJ's last hurrah.

I think in recent years the game has started at 6 or so, so that it would extend into prime time but not take up a whole night of network programming.