The Corner of Controversy and Criticism: NBA All Star Weekend and the Return of NASCAR

This weekend was a wild weekend in sports with the NBA All Star Game and the return of NASCAR. The festivities started on Friday with the Celebrity All Star Game which was a lot of fun to watch. You had the likes of Nick Cannon, Mark Cuban and Master P. I always enjoy the fun and trash talk among the teams and coaches. Following the Celebrity game I watched Chris Paul’s Celebrity Bowling Invitational. I did not realize that some of these athletes like Terrell Owens, Mookie Betts and even Chris Paul are really great bowlers. It was cool to see Chris Paul being paired with Chris Barnes and Terrell Owens with Pete Weber. Ir was great to see Pete Weber on the TV finals this past weekend. Even though he was eliminated in the first game I never get tired of PDW.

One thing I am tired of is how lackluster that NBA All Star Saturday Night has become. I was not impressed with any of the events. The Three Point Contest and the Dunk Contest use to be such a monumental event and now it’s lackluster. Sure the guys involved are talented but they are not the big name superstars that people want to see. The NBA needs to put some big time incentives on these events in order to lure the big names back into these events. If they keep this pace up of having terrible All Star Weekends then the ratings are going to decline and it’s going to be pointless. The actual All Star Game itself is also becoming pointless. When the score is 192-182 you know it’s ridiculous. There is no defense, no effort and no one cares. The only thing that drew people in to this years game is the tension between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook which I think was very fake. The NBA might consider doing what baseball did and that is putting home-court advantage on the line to actually make this game mean something. Unfortunately it will probably never happen because baseball isn’t doing it anymore. I also think the voting process needs to change because the lineups were so funky and did not represent the stars who have shined so far this year. There wasn’t many highlights this year during NBA All Star weekend and I hope someday that changes.

The highlight of my weekend was the return of NASCAR at Daytona, The Clash was suppose to be on Saturday Night but was forced to move to Sunday due to the rain. Seventeen cars took to the track for 75 laps and some of NASCAR’s best got to get some early momentum for the Daytona 500. Joey Logano ended up winning the race but it wasn’t easy. It took Logano and his teammate Brad Keselowski to break up the four cars of Joe Gibbs Racing. If the four Toyota’s of Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez get together during this race they are going to be hard to beat. A few hours after The Clash NASCAR’s best attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500. At the end of qualifying the front row was determined for NASCAR’s biggest race. Chase Elliott captured the pole for the second year in a row and he will be joined by his teammate Dale Earnhardt. If Hendrick Motorsports can get some of their handling issues figured out then the rest of the field should be worried. There are three teams that have four cars and those teams are Gibbs, Hendrick and Stewart-Haas. It would not surprise me one bit if a car from one of those teams wins the Daytona 500. Speedweeks at Daytona continue with racing Thursday and ending Sunday.

This coming week we have the Daytona 500 and we also have the NBA Trade Deadline. Hopefully the trade deadline will be more exciting then All Star Weekend. There was a trade that took place late Sunday night into Monday morning that was very shocking and lopsided. The Sacramento Kings traded Demarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans for a few role players and a couple of draft picks. I think this is great for the Pelicans because Anthony Davis is a phenomenal player who now has another phenomenal player to work with. If this works out and the Pelicans can get a few more caliber players they could be a team to contend with. Who will be wheeling and dealing this week and who will win the biggest race of the year? Tune in this week to find out. Until next time remember Controversy Doesn’t Come Without Criticism!