White Hat Sports Headlines

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Jogging Diary Presents the 57th Annual NBA All Star Game

Welcome to a special edition of the Jogging Diary. Tonight I present to you the 57th annual NBA All Star game. Can…You…Dig…Ittttttttt!!!

7:57 pm Couple of notes about yesterdays NBA All Star events. Dwight Howard and Gerald Green have officially brought back the Slam Dunk Contest. The rest of the events were alright, but these two guys really put on a show. The video underneath this has a recap of the best dunks from last night in case you missed it. I would suggest leaving the volume down, as the music someone put to this is pretty bad.

It’s great that TNT covers this event because they clearly have the best NBA coverage. They let just about anything go, and it makes for a much better show. Where else could you coverage that involves random former players like Karl Malone taking over a microphone during a broadcast just to complain to Charles about the suits they wore on draft day. It’s great stuff. Kenny Smith, Reggie Miller, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson are all perfect for their coverage. They are actually excited to be covering NBA basketball, and they show that every night.

8:07 pm Where did Craig Sager get that suit? He never ceases to amaze me with his outfits. The tie is bedazzled. Wow. Of course the guys in the booth all make fun of him. It wouldn't be a TNT broadcast without it.

8:11 pm Jason Kidd always looks like he has something he wants to yell that is absolutely hilarious, but he knows he can't say it. I can see him breaking down if he isn't traded at the deadline to a contender and just yelling out whatever it is he knows. "Kobe, that white woman you slept with, she's actually a man. She told me to tell you that you owe her 20 bucks." Too soon? Charles Barkley's take; "That's terble you knuuckleheead."

8:28 pm There are two old women with all the cheerleaders dancing with the starters as they are announced. My question is how did they get in there? Did two of the cheerleaders get into a fight leaving two open slots for these women? I demand to know the answer.

8:32 pm Can't ignore the fact that the game is in New Orleans. Great to see the city starting to rebound and become what it once was. Also great to see how hard the NBA tried to add the actual flavor of New Orleans into the festivities. They really did a great job this year.

8:36 pm Alright, predictions before the game starts. I had the West winning it, but after watching the introductions I am switching over to the East. They had a lot more energy and looked excited to play, whereas the West players were all veterans that could care less. I've got Dwight Howard winning the MVP of the game. My boy Kalle has the East as well, with Lebron as the MVP.

8:48 pm Looks like P. Diddy designed these uniforms too. I say this because they are almost uglier than the jerseys he made for the Mav's a few seasons ago. The West's are completely gold in the back and completely white in the front, whereas the East's are completely blue in the front and completely white in the back. Score right now is 10-5 East, with Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh showing how athletic they are compared to Yao Ming and Tim Duncan.

8:55 pm Right now the East is scoring only off dunks, but they are winning 18-7. They are actually trying in this game, whereas the West's possessions go as follows; Iverson dribbles the ball into traffic, realizes no one at all has moved, passes it out to the guy who is the most open, then they shoot a jumper. Tim Duncan right now has taken two shots out towards the three point line. The entire team looks like they should be in a nursing home wondering when their diaper will get changed. Byron Scott needs to bring in Chris Paul and David West, get some excitement going.

9:03 pm They keep on updating us on the Jason Kidd situation, yet they don't actually have anything to update us on, so they keep rehashing the same old things. Personally, I think the Mavericks are idiots for wanting him so bad. They don't need him, they need a presence down low. Devin Harris and Jason Terry can handle the point there, but Desagna Diop and Erick Dampier cannot handle the center position. Not only that, but they don't have any power forwards that really play down low either. I still think Shaq would have fit perfect for their style of play. On another note, I said in my NBA Power Rankings that the Hawks needed a point guard. They must have been reading it, because one week later and they pull off a deal for Mike Bibby while giving up next to nothing valuable (Shelden Williams is considered the best player going towards the Kings). Great job by them, this is a team you won't want to face in the Eastern playoffs for the next few years.

9:10 pm Will Ferrell must be hanging out with the Manning brothers, because not only is he doing commercials for his new movie, but he is also doing commercials for Bud Light and Old Spice. This means we see him about every 10-15 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for his new movie, but at some point I have had enough of him in previews. As we get back to the game they show Arnold Schwarzenegger for a good 10 seconds, and in that entire time his facial expression does not change. Normally this wouldn't be completely abnormal, but in this case his mouth was open about half way and he had a slightly concerned, slightly surprised look on his face. Someone might want to "pump him up."

9:15 pm First quarter complete with the East leading 34-28.

9:22 pm The score is now 46-38. I think I saw better defense in One Night In Paris.

9:33 pm Dwight Howard and Lebron James are dominating this game right now. Lebron must be in heaven right now. If he was to throw some of the passes he is throwing to Dwight to Zydrunas Big Z would just point at them and laugh as they sailed out of bounds and knocked out a fan. It could never happen.

9:39 pm Yao Ming hasn't played since the beginning of the first quarter. Clearly the coaches realize he hurts the team more than he helps them, especially in a game like this. He is just to slow and nonathletic to compete. Then again, he was voted a starter. 3 billion Chinese people can't be wrong, right?

9:42 pm Just saw a preview for American Gangster on DVD. Definitely a movie you want to rent if you haven't seen it yet. It's close to a movie you can buy without watching, but Russell Crowe wasn't that great in it for me. Denzel Washington was great though. If you like him it's definitely one to buy.

9:50 pm An exchange between my friend Kalle and I:
Kalle: "I can't wait for Yi to be on the ballot next year. What the hell is the NBA going to do, everyone in China will vote for him regardless of how bad he is."
Me: "They'll have to change his name on the ballot to something like Craig Johnson, then change his picture to Chris "Birdman" Anderson's. It'll be like the witness protection program, that'll keep them from voting for him." Your score at the half: East 74 West 65. I'm taking a break, I'll be back some time in the third.

10:33 pm The game is getting close now, with the score 100-93 with 2 minutes to go in the third. Hopefully this game can stay close so that the fourth is exciting. Regardless, there has been plenty of scoring.

10:55 pm West has tied it up at 112 each. This is now a ball game with 6 minutes to go. The East has slowed down significantly, that is why the West is still in it. That, and the fact that Yao is not on the court. Somewhere in China there are riots going on with burning pictures of David Stern.

11:03 pm 3 minutes left and the West is up by one. Chris Paul has 13 points and 13 assists. I said earlier he could change the game, and he absolutely has. He is even guarding Lebron right now on defense.

11:11 pm Dwayne Wade just got away with a travel, then makes a ridiculously hard bank shot with a foul. If the foul was a touch foul it would have reminded me too much of the 2005 finals to go on.

11:14 pm Final score 134 to 128, East wins it. I got that part right, but the MVP is likely to go to Ray Allen (28 points, most coming in the fourth) or Lebron James 27 points, 9 assists, 8 boards. Just tried to put in my vote for Dwight Howard (16 points 9 boards) only because I predicted him to win, but the voting screen on NBA.com wouldn't let it go through. I blame this on all the Chinese trying to vote for Yi Jianlian for All Star MVP, then realizing he wasn't in the game.

11:18 pm Lebron James wins the MVP. Deservedly so. That's his second All Star MVP and he's only 23. Should be interesting to see if he can break the record for most All Star MVPs, currently held by Bob Pettit with four. My boy Kalle got the winner and the MVP right, so props to him. I am now going to pass out, this was a long game.

~Aaron Jackson

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