Have the All-Star Festivities Gotten Out of Control?
103913
basketball should be reflection of its player.  the argentinan singer doesn't have rap album coming out soon.  basketball has become to bland.  there aren't personalities in the league anymore.  the are a bunch of millionares worrying about their contracts and mistresses.  if you make 10 million dollars a year, what do you care about allstar weekend for.  keep enough fans happy so they will buy your 150 dollar shoes.  david stern is disconnected from his employees.  basketball is nothing how it use to be during the bird and magic era
610448
MLB realizes that they're in a mess with this whole steriod thing, which includes both McGwire and Sosa. They're trying to be hush-hush as much as possible and hope it will go away. But with Bonds now chasing the all-time HR record, that's not gonna happen.
1095407
I am sure that college and pro football is not fixed in any way.  Think about it - there are way too many people in control of the game in order to throw one.  And if a mistake is made the official will have it reviewed by the league office and they will lose their job.  Each week every referee gets a DVD burned with all their calls for the week to review.  Each and every play is reviewed at the league offices in New York.  Much much too difficult to have a conspiracy going in this day and age of the internet.  I have no idea about baseball - that is why I stick with this newsgroup.
790296
The security at potentially clinching games is overwhelming now.  I think the turning point game was the final game of the 1976 ALCS when the Yankee fans totallly trashed the field after Chris Chambliss won the pennant for the Yankees on a 9th inning walk off homer.  It was not a new development for the home town crowd to jump onto the field for a pennant or World Series winning moment.  I have seen films of the Bill Mazeroski walk off home run in 1960 and he had trouble crossing the plate because of the number of fans who had run onto the field in celebration.   In the 2004 ALCS, when A-Rod was called out after limp wristedly slapping at Bronson Arroyo's glove, dozens of mounted New York policeman had to surround the field as a preventative.  They did not just show up, they were obviously at the Stadium and ready to go in case of just such an emergency.
227073
It's very possible that ALL pro sports are "fixed", but highly unlikely.  There is just too much media scrutiny and someone always talks, just look at the steroids thing in baseball.
355258
No they have to wait another 88 years!!!!  2004 was a fluke!  How does the wild card team get home field advantage over the team (Cardinals) with the best record in all of baseball? It's just not right and yes I'm still bitter.  That All-Star game rule is whacked and it needs to be scrapped!
1169895
It was the most physical of this series (Heat vs. Mavs) but I've seen MUCH more physical games, and they usually involve the Detroit Pistons (hate 'em).  They're just plain dirty players.  Tonight it wasn't intentional roughness, not really.  By the way, it's FLAGRANT, not fragrant...lol (that was cute).
591776
Yes & no. They were on Sunday.... Were you the one that 'spiked' their food? \n\nQ.How can they claim to have lost millions in revenue when they didn't have it!  \n\nPoints are accrued over a season not just one game!
675653
I don't think so for the simple reason that the union is too strong, and that management has been turning its head on the issue.  The only reason they are putting on this display right now is because the story got out on the likes of McGuire, Sosa, Palmerio, and Bonds, and management is desprately trying to save face.  \n\nIt boils down to the simple fact that baseball is a business, and, as the ol' saying goes, "Chicks dig the longball."
499487
Wondering that exact same thing.\n\nSupposedly its been happening a lot recently in different yahoo leagues, which isnt a good sign.
1088142
boo hoo refs everything does not go our way.  shut up and play basketball thats how they win not by crying around like you\n\nAll that said, it was a rather surreal meltdown. The Mavs owner, Mark Cuban, appeared to lose his mind in an obscenity-soaked diatribe spewed at anyone near him. And Dallas' seven-foot star Dirk Nowitzki turned into the world's largest 4-year-old, knocking things over in a rage on the way to the locker room and kicking a basketball into the stands that struck a woozy 63-year-old in the head. It was enough to make Nowitzki's musical companion, greasy David Hasselhoff, a man who has been photographed nude while covered in puppies, profoundly ashamed.\n\nThis is an article from the Miami press why would you go for a team who assaults 63 year women.  He at least needs to say hes sorry.  Hes lucky it was not one of my family members that would be the end of his NBA carrer.
1080105
Personally, I think it should be the team with the best record. I don't like the old system of switching leagues like they used to do. Basing on the All Star is silly. The All Star is supposed to be a game for fun and the fans, don't tie it into the "World" Series.
1105485
All-star games are exhibitions - though some have provided some memorable moments - either on the field - or in the pre-game ceremonies (I'm thinking about Ted Williams' appearance at Fenway Park a few years ago, not all that long before he died) - the very nature of an exhibition suggests that the game itself will rarely be all that remarkable or memorable. \n\nSome great plays may stick in the minds of devoted fans (I remember a great catch that Carl Yastrzemski made), but you're quite right - it's not that likely that many fans remember much about the games themselves, and even fewer remember the stadium that hosted them.\n\nThen again, I was fortunate enough to see Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in Atlanta six years ago, so I remember that the game was at Turner Field that year, even though I can't remember where it's been any particular year since then.
706767
Everyone does seem to be getting it all chopped off.  Nash, Nowitzki, Ginobili.  Somebody needs to tell Chris Kaman that it's his turn!
415609
Definitely not.  The closest I could surmise this to mean is that hoops has replaced baseball as the US's 2nd most popular sport... of course that tends to happen when you cancel a season due to a strike/lockout (look how it's hurt hockey), it always takes a while to get people who were huge fans before the season stoppage back.
784370
Super Bowl hangover, it happens to nearly all Super Bowl winners. Key free agent losses and the retirement of "The Bus" cost them a lot of the leadership they enjoyed last season. Injuries havent helped and the soap opera that was Big Ben over the summer certainly didnt help. They need to regroup and re- dedicate themselves to the goals they had last year and they will be fine. There is still plenty of talent wearing Steeler black.
31713
The NBA All-Star game is a showcase of individual talent.  There is no team defense.  As the West has the better individual scoring members, the West will win handily.