All-Star weekend is all around us. The All-Stars are all staying at the Westin downtown, across from my day job. That was cool. I saw Melo, Shaq, LeBron... A whole bunch of the Sophomore team that I didn't recognize. We have an inappropriately acquired room key from the Westin and aren't afraid to use it. At least to get in the lobby of the hotel and have a Starbucks. The same Starbucks that Shaq went to. Maybe I'll also use the same bathroom that some NBA groupie chick will throw up in tonight.

From this whole Westin experience, I now have a new favorite Great White Hope. Of all the players I saw, Chris Anderson, currently of the New Orleans Hornets. I wasn't really paying attention when he played for the Nuggets, but this guy was cool. He actually acted like he liked the crowd in front of the Westin. He actually smiled. Very few of the other players even looked up, heaven forbid acknowledge the crowd. No wonder I didn't recognize them. Always remember the audience.

We also went to the Jam Session thing here today at the Convention Center.

Note to the NBA: lose Build-a-Bear as a freakin' sponsor. There is no connection. None. Not even a tenuous one.

Second note to the NBA: If you're going to have a Celebrity shoot out, have a celebrity or two that people actually know. Now that one guy you had or that other one. And the token local celebrity. Reminds me of a local celebrity golf tournament where they had Jake Jabs as their celebrity. Weak. Very weak.

Third note to the NBA: If you want people to recognize the people that were getting on the bus, have them show up at the Jam Session. Do you understand the brand loyalty you would have created with me and my son if you actually had more than one NBA player signing autographs? Nothing against the WNBA, but who wants a WNBA autograph? Not my son. My daughter would I suppose, but she didn't come today.

Tomorrow, thanks to my good friend Doug, I will be attending the NBA All-Star Game. Watch for me in Row 6. Of section 324.