This SUCKED!!!!!!!!

The NBA just finished up their All-Star weekend and again the weekend left little to be remembered. The league unveiled their new feature the H-O-R-S-E competition but it was sponsored by Geico so missed shots had the contestants spelling G-E-I-C-O. I get that money runs the world but selling every aspect of a game leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The Geico brand sponsorship was apparent by the banners plastered all over the court and surrounding the playing area but to change the contest to spell out the sponsors name was a little much for me. I turned the channel because it was obvious this was an after thought that wasn't even part of the actual All Star broadcast.

As for All Star Saturday Night ... I skipped the skills challenge, team competition featuring the WNBA, and the 3 points shoot out along with the introductions to All Stars because really who cares. The overall skill in the NBA is disappointing as was displayed in the skills challenge with Mo Williams trying multiple times to bounce a ball through a tire 4 feet away. That was painful as was the rest of the night that I caught up with by fast forwarding through the night’s festivities by the use of the DVR. God Bless the DVR!!!!

The dunk contest was underwhelming as it is most years. Last year was entertaining because the players brought out some interesting props like Dwight Howard as Super Man and other big time dunks. This year Howard went back to the Super Man idea but didn't do anything new to top last year and showed his lack of creativity. As for his dunk on the 12 foot hoop ... it was interesting but he did a pedestrian style dunk which lacked the flair and showmanship that everyone expected. Besides the guy is athletic and 7 foot tall … I hope he can dunk on a 12 foot rim.

The All Star game went to the West 146 to 114. All I saw was the end because if you didn't catch the drift of the post I don't care for the All Star game. At the end the West players all cleared out so Labron James could dunk the ball and Chris Paul took a half court shot to end the game. The game is a dunk fest and usually ends up with players trying to show off but throwing the ball out of bounce more that finding a team mate for that spectacular dunk. The joke of a showcase was topped off with the naming of Kobe Bryant and Shaq and the Co-MVP's and the former Lakers acting like they are friends after a very uncomfortable hug. Everyone knows they hate each other and that they both blame each other for the implosion of the Lakers team that should have won 5 titles.

I am interested in seeing the ratings on the All Star game. All Star Saturday night which I blew through on my DVR got huge ratings:

NBA All Star Saturday Night drew a stellar 3.5 U.S. rating and 5.8 million viewers on TNT Saturday night, up 11% in ratings and 12% in viewership from a 3.1 and 5.2 million for the same event last year. The event finishes as the highest rated, most viewed All Star Saturday Night in history.

This shows to me that the recession has forced America to stay home an watch TV and because Saturday night is horrible for TV the nation had little to chose from and settled for a basketball competition rather than watching COPS of Fox. America could have read a book or bonded with the family instead they watched a boring, long worn out display of basketball.

Now with the Mid-season weekend off for the majority of the NBA the league can get back to work with some real basketball. Hopefully it can be more interesting than All Star Weekend.