NBA ALL-STAR FIASCO IN VEGAS

[KenP]

Here's another article from Whitlock that starts out a little different.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlot...l/16751499.htm

NBA treading on dangerous ground with All-Star Weekend culture

By Jason Whitlock
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
LAS VEGAS - For black men and women below the age of 45, NBA All-Star Weekend in Vegas was a calling you felt deep in the pit of your stomach.

You just had to be there, even if you no longer love the NBA the way you did when Magic, Bird, Michael and Isiah ruled the game, even if you had zero interest in the actual game.

All-Star Weekend is the new millennium's "Freaknik," a once-popular, now-canceled annual street party. When Atlanta's Freaknik died of self-inflicted wounds - looting and violence - in 1999, the NBA's midseason exhibition rose in popularity for black people looking for an annual excuse to party on a large scale...