Filed under: Boston Celtics
If any of you watched the NBA All-Star Skills competition on Saturday evening, you probably saw a familiar face to Celtics fans introduce the challenge. Former Celtic and leading Tommy-point winner Walter McCarty, who now plays for the Clippers, showed off his pipes by singing the National Anthem. I think good old Waltah was a little nervous though since the rendition was certainly not the best I have witnessed. I give him credit for getting up there and doing it though. He was probably doomed from the start knowing that Destiny’s Child was doing the Anthem before the actual All-Star Game. By the way, their a cappella version was one of the best National Anthems I have ever heard. The only thing that could have made it better would be a Tommy Heinsohn “I LOVE BEYONCE!!!” at the end of it. Actually nevermind. That probably would have ruined it.
The All-Star weekend overall was just ok in my opinion. I actually enjoyed watching the skills competition. Obviously the Dunk Contest has faltered in recent years. It has been a sharp decline since Vince pretty much set an impossible to top performance 7 years ago. His show at that dunk contest is like the oldest child being the star athlete and then going to Harvard. No matter what the younger children do they are not going to top that.
I did thoroughly enjoy Andre Iguodala’s behind the backboard dunk though. And little Nate Robinson did well for himself, especially with the over-the-Spud Webb dunk. Obviously everyone is upset that Robinson got to take 50 chances to finally get his dunk right. I understand the point that the crowd wants to see a great dunk rather than an easy-gimme-because its your last chance dunk but I am pretty sure everyone agrees that giving Robinson that many chances is pretty ridiculous. I do agree that it was absurd and seemed a little fixed, but is anyone completely surprised and disgusted by this? C’mon people it’s the 2006 NBA Dunk Contest. Does it really strike people as the kind of event that’s completely uncorruptable? They probably just needed to give Knicks fans something to cheer about or be proud of. It is a big market you know.
The only other thing that really upset me(the sloppy play and bad basketball is pretty much expected), was actually just one person. I think I actually got nauseous when Kobe was announced and people cheered. Seriously though, I almost threw up. I was totally shocked that people actually cheered for this guy? I don’t think I realized how much I actually hate Kobe Bryant. I mean I really hate him. There are no other active professional athletes that disgust me more than Kobe. I don’t care that he is a good basketball player. He is one of the most classless athletes I have ever seen. Is this guy fooling anyone? It really bothers me that people might actually believe he is a good person/teammate. On my Professional Athlete Hateometer, Kobe has successfully surpassed Jason Kidd to join the ranks of Barry Bonds and Warren Sapp. Good company. I think I actually hate him more than the Yankees at this point. Ugh I have to stop typing this before I vomit on my keyboard.
Lastly, its hard for me to believe its only the All-Star Break. I usually equate the All-Star Break with the mid-way point of the season. However with all the frustration that has consumed me as a Celtics fan, its kind of hard to believe this has only been a little more than half a season. I have been more upset than any fan should be over half a season. Yet I still can’t stop rooting for these guys. Well, maybe not until April 3rd. But seriously, can they turn it around? Is it possible for them to transform into a playoff caliber team? I am still hoping. But I guess only time will tell. I guess it’s a good thing that the phrase isn’t “it ain’t over ‘til the former sixth man sings”.
theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com
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