Why not just take the 10 most popular teams and have them travel the world doing scrimages and dunk contests? Apparently that's all the public wants to see, right? Participation in the All-Star game can be based on marketing surveys and total ad revenue a player can bring in. Who cares about the hicks in the flyover states? East Coast, West Coast - that's where it's at.

As I write this, the Celtics are one game away from sending His Highness Kobe home for the summer. Also, the league is looking into allegations that referees helped the Lakers win some games a couple of years ago. Does Kobe need Shaq and a helping had from the refs to be a champion?

After game 2, the refs "got the message" and awarded game 3 and 3/4ths of game 4 to the "newly aggressive" Lakers. Based not on play on the court, but because The Finals Must Go On.

I feel bad for the "new" fan base retuning to watch such sorry hoop. But they needed a tv fix post-American Idol, and there was something with LA in the name, so sure, why not tune in?

The question will be how many jerseys are they moving. The data point from China shows they seem more loyal to the LA Kobes than their own Yao Ming Rockets. *That* will be Stern's legacy, trying to beat the NFL on a world battlefield, since he's been thourghly trounced on the homefront by American Football, and sees NASCAR looming large in his side view mirror, where objects are larger than they appear.

Stern is lucky to have the rich history of the US's hatred of soccer, otherwise Bryant's Lakers would be playing second fiddle to Beck's Galaxy by this time next year.

"Stern is lucky to have the rich history of the US's hatred of soccer, otherwise Bryant's Lakers would be playing second fiddle to Beck's Galaxy by this time next year."

That might be the craziest thing I've ever read. Do sports fans honestly care about the travails of the washed-up narcissist David Beckham? At least Bryant is a still-talented narcissist.

The author of this article misses the point. Without honest (or perceivably honest) competition, professional sports has no value. People don't just want their teams and favorite players to win championships, they want them to earn them. The league is enjoying a renaissance precisely because so many teams were in the money this year.