All-Star Weekend Review and Grades

Even though this isn't a full season we, the NBA audience, still received a full slate of events at All-Star Weekend in Orlando. There were ups, there were downs, there was dancing, there music and although I think he's great, there was too damn much Kevin Hart. If you didn't get a chance to see everything, this is the post for you, and if you did see everything, let's relive the weekend together, shall we?

FRIDAY NIGHT

Celebrity Game
The celebrity game was actually kind of entertaining this year. Despite there being a huge blowout, no Justin Beiber and Kevin Hart dominating the spotlight the entire time, the C-List was shining and there were a lot of pluses to this game. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and ESPN personality Doug Gottlieb showed some actual impressive and entertaining basketball skill.

Gottlieb played at Oklahoma State and Notre Dame as well as the Russian Basketball Super League, so you knew he was going to be a ringer. He even administered a full court press on Ne-Yo! And we saw what Duncan can do in last year's game, but this year the two blew up and really caught my eye with some flashy moves and great team play. Kevin Hart was pretty funny, and when he got tossed from the game after throwing his shoe he locked up the MVP award right there. I was also happy to see that Michael Rappaport was not playing this year, because he annoys me, but was upset when they had him in the broadcast booth for what seemed like an eternity.

Grade: B

Rising Stars Challenge
As you probably know, this was not your older brother's Rookies v. Sophomores Rising Star challenge. The NBA decided to borrow an idea from the NHL and add a new twist to the event with Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley drafted from a pool of all the first and second year players who would participate in the event. Team Chuck really surprised me. Coming in everyone I was watching with was talking about how Team Shaq had all the big names and talent, but let me put this is CAPS so the point is well taken, KYRIE IRVING IS LEGIT. Didn't miss from beyond the arc. Perfect 8-for-8.

As far as the entertaiment factor goes, Ricky Rubio was my MVP. Some of his passes were just a beauty to watch, and he had one Cousy-esque fake that sent me into a man-crush fit. And he dribbled through my boy Boogie Cousins' legs before throwing a lob to Mr. Lob City himself Blake Griffin, who provided some huge slams both Friday and Sunday night (but none Saturday night, I'll get to that). John Wall also had some highlight dunks and passes that are worth noting. Watch all these highlights here. Love the new draft format. Improvements are being made to this game and I like it.

Grade: B+

Linsanity 2: The Return of Melo

The second week that would be the sequel (weekuel?) in the Jeremy Lin saga certainly did not lack the drama that his audience saw in the first week, and it also included many of the same themes. There were big numbers, racist headlines, infinite hype and speculation. But in Linsanity 2, there were two new plot twists: the introduction of losing and the return of the Knicks' best player, Carmelo Anthony (played by Carmelo Anthony).

When the Knicks suffered their first loss (to the New Orleans Hornets of all teams), ESPN used the offensive headline, "Chink in the Armor" to get the point across that Jeremy Lin is indeed human. What that headline wasn't, was humorous, and I can't think of a more straightforward, obvious and useless inclusion of race possible in a headline. How any one (1) human, especially one who works at ESPN and has seen all of the backlash from racist comments about Lin, could think that that headline wouldn't stir controversy and get him fired, is a total mystery to me. Just shameless, offensive thought process.

But Linsanity 2 also included lots of drama on the court as well, the main point of conflict coming in the Knicks' 100-92 loss to the New Jersey Nets (what's with them losing to bad teams?). This game was Carmelo's triumphant return, and speculation had been growing in the previous days that Lin and Anthony would not be able to co-exist. The Knicks did lose that game, and Lin and Anthony had a bad communication late in the fourth resulting in a key turnover, but for most of the game they seemed to work well together. So while people may have blown off the handle about the two main characters losing in their first game together, I think the real story of that loss was our hero's defensive liabilities.

Deron Williams torched Lin most of the game resulting in 38 points for D-Will and Lin fouling out. But this wasn't the first time we saw this out of Lin. Jose Calderon had his way with Lin six days previous (11-17 FG, 29 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) and John Wall dropped 29 on him in his second start. I don't think Lin's cooperation with the Knicks' superstar is going to be anything he needs to concentrate on too much, but he is certainly going to have to work on his one-on-one defense (and his decision making and ball control; gotta limit those turnovers).

What will we see in the third installment of this Linsanity movie franchise? Who knows. Things may cool down a bit for now, (although with All-Star weekend coming up he will be getting tons of attention) but they will certinaly be "heating" up when the Knicks take their talents to South Beach tonight. What we do know, is that people will still be flocking to theaters, bars and TV sets to see the Linsanity saga continue, and if they stop, the Knicks can always bring in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to save the franchise.

New Thoughts on Concussions

After watching some pretty heart wrenching media pieces on concussions and the results they can lead to last week, I definitely have a more intensified view towards how cautious we should be about them happening, and also how they are treated after the injury. Concussions, and really all head injuries, are something that should be taken extremely seriously, and monitored heavily, in all sports, not just the ones heavy on contact.

The main thing that stuck out for me, as well as most of my other classmates since we talked about this a lot, was the second impact syndrome. I had never even heard of this condition and it seems like the most dangerous aspect of this entire issue, especially since younger folk are particularly susceptible. Since the injury is so serious and can turn fatal fairly rapidly and leaves most people who live through it disabled, it becomes infinitely important to take precaution in preventing putting athletes in a situation where it could happen.

The problem is, these things are often difficult to detect. The second impact could happen days, weeks or even months after the first one. This makes it very hard to detect if the athlete is still suffering from symptoms. In the case of the video we watched where the kid died, the kid said he was okay, the mother gave him the okay to play, his doctor gave him the okay to play, and clearly the coaches and players thought he was good to go. So how do we prevent SIS when it's hard to detect when the athlete is at risk? That becomes the question.

Clearly more must be learned about lingering symptoms and how we can the diagnose leftover effects of a concussion even months after the initial incident. It's such a fleeting thing and the slightest mistake could mean life or death. But like any issue, the main question is, 'where do you draw the line?' In this case, the line would be where we start over-preparing and taking too much precaution, if there is such a line in this case with the consequences being so severe.

When an athlete suffers a concussion do you sit them out all season? All year? When does it become safe to bring someone back. Is it ever? One of the concussion victims we saw who was left disabled said, "I could have sat out a season, and now I'll sit out the rest of my life." That is what is at stake here, but what if a player really is okay and they miss out on a prime chance to prove themselves to scouts, coaches, etc. which could lead to a future scholarship or lucrative career? How do we go about playing those who need to and sitting those who are at risk when we aren't always sure who falls under which category. That question almost comes down to a life vs. money issue.

Well, I've gone on for longer than I needed to. I'll have to just think these questions through. Until next time.

Superbowl XLVI commercials

We all love Superbowl commercials. Sure, that may be a gross generalization, and it's probably untrue, but how else can you start a blog post to get people excited about ads? Maybe the real question is, how do companies get people excited about ads?

One factor working for them on Superbowl Sunday is the mystic that surround Superbowl commercials. Since more people will be watching television during that time than any other, companies tend to trot out their best stuff when they are shelling out the most bucks to have it seen. For these economic reasons, companies have to make sure they are getting their message across to the correct audience when all that money is on the line. So who are these commercials speaking to? What message are they trying to send?

For this past Superbowl we can get NBC out of the way. With their ad time they are sending a clear message. "We're awesome. We're giving you this great game. Your welcome. Now watch our shows!" As for the rest of the commercials, I found that they seemed to be targeting various audiences, which would make sense since everyone is watching.

With everyone watching (more than any program ever), it does make sense for companies to try to reach as wide of a demographic as they can (and apparently EVERYBODY loves dogs). Which is why this year, like many, a large number of ads made attempts at humor (Acura with Seinfeld) or unnecessary theatrics (Samsung's ad featuring The Darkness, my favorite of the night since they are my favorite band) sometimes to the point where the ad has nothing to do with the product, which is a risk. Either your joke misses and nobody gets your message, or the joke hits, and people still don't get the message but are talking about the ad because they love it. Even if the joke hits you are at risk of people identifying the ad as "the one with Seinfeld" or "the one with The Darkness, oh, and did you see Brian Urlacher in there?!" which eliminates the involvement of your company, which is the opposite of the goal.

Basically, I think the idea with Superbowl commercials is to appeal to as many different people as possible, and hope that people identify the ad with your brand and not just the content.