Your Desperately Awaited Guide To NBA All-Star Weekend

I know, I know, I should've had this post up weeks earlier.  You'll have to excuse me, I got caught up with news of athletes and drugs, or something like that.

So, without further ado, here's what you need to keep your eye on as the weekend rolls on in this most boring month of sports.

Friday

Ok, there's the celebrity game on at 6:30.  But, I'd only recommend that one if you have very little else to do.  On its face, it doesn't seem so bad.  A few comedians, a few athletes, and a few rappers out there balling.  But, after about thirty or forty seconds, you realize how bad they actually are, how not-funny the whole thing is, and you move on.  Trust me, I know from experience.

The thing to watch tonight is the Rookie/Sophomore game.  This one is one that always doesn't get enough play.  It's not on the same night as anything else worth watching, be it the actual All-Star Game or the other festivities, so it seems to simply get swept under the rug.  However, it's usually a lot of fun.  Again, this is an NBA nerd talking to you, so take the phrase "usually a lot of fun" with a grain of salt.  I mean, I'm a guy that watched parts of the D-League ASG last year, so you can imagine what my idea of fun is.

But, with all the talent in this year's rookie crop alone, it should be amusing to see what Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo have in store. 

Quick note here, on Y! Sports, Rod Benson found an interesting possible twist to the rookie game.  Check it out.

Saturday

There's your cast of regulars on Saturday night.  There's your Dunk Contest and your 3 Point Contest and Skills Competition (which is so utterly unwatchable its amazing someone thinks its worth keeping in).  There's even the Shooting Stars Competition.  Which, by the way, could be a whole heck of a lot better.  As it is now, the way it works is they put together an old NBA player, a current NBA player, and a current WNBA player from the same city and have them shoot a bunch of set shots, team with the fastest time wins.  What would really be fun would be if they had the teams square off in 3 on 3's.  Women can guard the women so it doesn't get ridiculously physical, and if you're worried about the older guys than you haven't seen Scottie Pippen or David Robinson recently.

As it is though, the thing to watch will be this year's new competition, H-O-R-S-E, featuring Mayo, Joe Johnson, and Kevin Durant.  How on Earth they chose these guys for this, I have no idea.  Whether or not it'll work out, I also don't know.  But, at least it's a fresh idea.

Sunday

Come on, do you need me to do this one for you?

My Idea

As the heading says, the following is my idea.  Well, other people have said it I'm sure, but my idea for changing the All-Star festivities would go as follows:

1. Take away everything other than the main game.
2. Instead of all the other tired, played out crap they have on Saturday night, introduce the Pick Up Game. 
3. The top vote getter for the actual game from each conference will pick teams, playground style.  The selection can be televised sometime before the weekend.
4. Teams of five, no subs, no refs.  Games up to 21, ones and twos.  Call your own fouls.  
5. Mic a few players up, let them talk some smack, and have them go at it.

You might think, how's this any different than the actual game?  They won't play D in this game, they don't in the real game.  But, the difference here is that you'll get to see the best basketball players on the planet playing the game the way we all do, playground/pickup style.  The only difference being they're really good, and we're not.  As naturally skilled and competitive as these guys are, I'd have a hard time imagining it wouldn't be great basketball to watch.