I got an email from a guy named Sam T. this morning asking me if I was down to write up a post for a pretty cool new site he's started up called If I Ran. The concept is pretty much just as it sounds, it's a bunch of different bloggers sharing their thoughts about how they'd run things in the sports world if they were given the chance. Sam asked me if I'd help out by covering a pretty timely topic so, without further ado, I present to you my suggestions for the NBA's All-Star Weekend.
If I ran the NBA All-Star Weekend I would…
1. Never have the weekend anywhere but Las Vegas.
2. Change the name from NBA All-Star Weekend to Black Thanksgiving.
3. Switch the Rookie-Sophmore game to a game between a team of rookies and a NBDL All-Star game. If the NBDL team wins every player on the team gets a 10-day contract to replace the appropriate rookie (guard for guard, center for center) on their NBA team. They get the rookie’s paycheck for the 10 days.
4. Banish WNBA players from taking part in any festivities.
5. Take the lead of Charles Barkley and Dick Bavetta and have ex-All Stars race referees, celebrities, dancing girls and anyone else who wanted into the proceedings. I’d also have an eating contest between former NBA players with Hot Plate Williams, Kevin Duckworth and Dennis Scott lifetime invitees.
6. Alter the skills competition so it covered more ground. I’d have the players compete across a series of events to find the most well-rounded player. I’d include the dribbling obstacle course, some passing drills (i.e. eye of the needle bounce passing, alley oops to a teammate), buzzer beaters (catch and shoot in a second), charge taking, halfcourt shots, and incorporate the three-point shootout into this event.
7. Make the dunk contest a combination of the artistic and the athletic by making the backboard higher each round.
8. Steal the idea of many other people and make HORSE the cornerstone event of the night before the game.
9. Always have Marv Albert behind the microphone to call the game.
10. Just play this tape of Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem and never let a country music band or singer anywhere near the arena.
11. Have the players wear the jerseys of their regular teams, avoiding the affronts to humanity that were the jerseys from 1995 and 1996. Alternatively a player can choose to wear one of the uniforms of the ABA's Utah Stars.
12. Tweak the roster building process so that there’s never less than two “true” point guards on each team. That means guys like Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas don’t count. It’s too important to the flow of the game and makes for a much for aesthetically pleasing contest.
13. Cancel the halftime show and just install cameras in each conference’s locker room. Maybe install Gary Payton too although I have confidence in the ability of NBA All-Stars to entertain the masses.
Great ideas.. and also after last night's Sticker Dunk controversy, I would add this for future Dunk Contests: whenever a judge makes a blatant scoring error, everyone in the audience is allowed to punch said judge in the face (yes YOU MJ!)
Posted by: TheHype | February 18, 2007 at 02:04 PM