- It's amazing how All-Star Weekend can overwhelm your news judgment. There are so many interesting things to blog about, but it's all lost in the shuffle. For instance, this Scottie Pippen comeback is fascinating. The Tim Hardaway story has legs. Sam Smith is going after bloggers. (Sam, you say you don't read them. Why should anyone value your opinion on them?) The Jason and Joumana Kidd disaster. But when you get out there with all the microphones so much of the conversation is about "what does it feel like to have this All-Star Game in Vegas? Is it extra special to have this game in Vegas?" and other similar stuff.
- For the record, on the Scottie Pippen thing, lots of people are offering opinions on whether or not the man can still play. This is amazing to me. How could anyone possibly know? Whether or not he can still play has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone's opinion. It has to do with... whether nor not he can still play, which is best assessed by watching him play.
- I went to Niketown in Caesar's Palace yesterday to see the unveiling of a new Kobe Bryant shoe. It was loud in there (and the MC was Scoop Jackson, who is incredibly hoarse with some kind of cold--poor guy is barely audible) but I think I heard correctly that Kobe's shoe actually has some Latin on it. It apparently says "carpe diem" somewhere. Must be a first of some kind. To my inexpert eye the shoe looks like this: it's black. With some yellow. The assembled fans seemed to love it. But they also seemed to love Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat. There was a lot of mocking when Kobe said he wanted to get back to the championship. People were yelling he couldn't do it without Shaq. Kobe looked at the noisiest section and said "no, no, no, no, no, no, no." (I counted--there were seven.) Wonder if he gets that everywhere he goes. The biggest cheer of the night was saved for the unveiling of
that new Apple phonea PSP loaded up with Kobe's video game, which somebody won as a door prize. - About 7:30 this morning I walked through the casino to the gym. Packed. The casino was packed with people who clearly had not slept. Even people who work here think that's odd and amazing. There's a hard core party ethic here this weekend that just seems a little out of hand. Yesterday, outside one entrance to my hotel, about eight Vegas cops who were already wearing guns on their hips were hurriedly strapping more guns onto their thighs, and throwing on all kinds of other gear that you usually only see in action movies. There was a police helicopter circling overhead with searchlights. Party!
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