AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 17
Saturday, February 17, 2007
You say you want a revolution? Not here!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LAS VEGAS - Having been around long enough to know that my non-drinking, non-smoking, non-gambling stance doesn’t play big here in Sin City, I was fully expecting to be miserable on my first couple of nights here for All-Star Weekend.
But I’m glad to report that once again, I was wrong (yeah, it’s happened a time or two the past 30 years).
The truth is, there’s plenty to do here if you don’t want to indulge in those aforementioned activities. Mainly, you can people watch and laugh your tail off about all the hilarious people that make their way to events like these.
Take my flight from LA for example. As a frequent flyer, I can tell you that it’s rare to be on a plane where the people of color outnumber the non-people of color. But America West Flight 109 on Thursday from LAX to Vegas looked like Soul Plane. I’m joking, of course, but I’m serious. I fully expected Snoop Dogg to come walking out of the cockpit as we deplaned in Vegas. And I’m told that nearly every flight that made it to town the past 48 hours contained large portions of folks who look like me.
I decided that there are only two places a plane like this could have been headed, the city that’s hosting the NBA All-Star Weekend or a city on the African continent. Serious business. And since we all know that the flight wasn’t headed for Lagos … I would argue that for this weekend at least, Las Vegas has the largest black population of any major city in the country. Half of black Los Angeles is here (the rumor is that the freeway from LA had traffic backups 11 miles long on Friday as the driving traffic headed this way).
Barack Obama are you listening? If you want to rally the base, you should show up here and stage a voter registration rally.
Seriously, though, I can’t imagine that this is what Martin Luther King Jr. had in mind. The Million Man March this is not. It’s just hard to feel empowered or even energized when you realize that the majority of the people here are in town to show their backsides (some much more literally than others) in the name of nonsense. I guess if I were here on a similar mission, my outlook would be much better (what fool doesn’t like a good party?). But this is a working trip for me and the other media morons like myself who couldn’t find a way to out of this mess.
And now, let us move on to the (somewhat) sanctimonious-free portion of this address. The crowds here really are bananas. I mean, the taxi lines at the hotels remind me of rush hour traffic in Atlanta.
If the NBA is shooting for the pandemonium and circus-like vibe of the Super Bowl, mission accomplished. I walked down to the lobby of the MGM at 6:46 a.m. and it might as well have been 6:46 p.m. People were swarming the place, on the casino floor, drinks in hand and making as much noise as a gazillion human beings can in a confined space.
The highlights on TNT and ESPN that will make Vegas look like some pristine paradise will be figments of your imagination. Because like Mike Tyson used to say, this whole scene is just “ludicriss.”
Speaking of, how about Scottie Pippen crashing the media session Friday? Shameless. And then he had the stones to make what I believe is the most preposterous statement of all time.
Someone asked him if he still felt underappreciated and Pippen said, “If you ask people who understand the game, the GMs and the coaches, they’d rather have a Scottie than a Michael.”
Huh?
I thought the weekend was lost when the young lady sitting behind me on my flight was making babysitting arrangements after we touched ground in Vegas (I actually got that sinking feeling twice more 1) riding an elevator at the Palms Thursday with Suge Knight and his two lady friends, Mr. Knight turned out to be a most pleasant gentlemen despite stories that would indicate otherwise. And 2) when walking to the elevator from my room on the 15th floor of the MGM Friday night and seeing large drops of blood leading all the way down the hallway to one of the elevators. Talk about spoiling your night.
But Pippen topped everything by arguing for himself over Jordan, claiming that he is “an all-around player. I make the people around me better.” I couldn’t answer the mandatory eight-count after that one.
And last time I checked, Jordan made those Bulls teammates of his more than better. He made them champions.
At least we know the partygoers aren’t the only folks sipping the All-Star Weekend Kool-Aid.
