I Love This Game

It's too bad if you missed Sunday night's NBA All-Star game because it was fantastic (and I don't use that word often). Being a big-time basketball fan, of course, I'm biased. Basketball aside, though, there was enough going on to keep everyone entertained.

A few things that stood out: Allen Iverson debuted his new look, sans cornrows. Shaquille O'Neal danced with the Jabbawockeez. NBA reporter Craig Sager wore a pink suit that looked so awful it made me cringe. (No, really, the man looked like a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.)

During half-time, a new NBA Cares commercial aired. NBA Cares is the league's official outreach program.

The commercial is worth mentioning not because of the superstars it featured -- Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, to name a few -- or its noble message, but because it included a cameo from President Barack Obama.

The President appeared at the end of the one-minute commercial, sharing a few words about service.

(In case you've been living under a rock, you know that President Obama's big on service. He's even launched a website, www.usaservice.org, to prove it.)

When I saw the President speaking toward the end of this commercial, I said to myself, Obama better campaign during an All-Star game!

I know he visited Elkhart, IN, and Fort Myers, FL, last week to curry up favor for his stimulus package, which was just recently passed. Even then, when he hit the road to explain himself till he was nearly blue in the face, it was evident he still had the campaign bug in his system. Now that he's also given a short speech at an NBA All-Star game, though -- which I think might be unprecedented -- I'm officially convinced that this man's addicted to campaigning. President Obama, I daresay, may be the P Diddy of politics: "I thought I told you that we won't stop/I thought I told you that we won't stop."


Finally, back to sports, I was proud to see the camaraderie among the athletes. It seems as though all of the league's superstars are cool with each other, even Kobe and Shaq. Throughout the game, there was plenty of healthy trash-talking (pardon the oxymoron) and hearty laughter.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time in Phoenix.

In the end, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant took home MVP awards. The two were named Co-MVPs, as the West breezed past the East. Kobe Bryant had 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. O'Neal scored 17 on 8 for 9 shooting from the field. The final score was 146-119.