Half Man, Nowhere Near Amazin'

Well, the NBA All-Star game starting lineups have been announced and once again, Vince Carter has inexplicably made the starting lineup. Antawn Jamison is the latest in a long line of Eastern Conference players who have been snubbed because of the mystifying popularity of the league's softest player. The fact that Carter won the vote again this year is particularly baffling, since you would think that his massive constituency of Canadian voters would have turned against him (after to his admission that he didn't play hard for the Raptors). The Vinsanity phenomenon should have died four years ago, but due to The Brett Favre Phenomenon, fans cling to the notion that he's still an elite player.

The NBA All-Star results is flawed in the West too, as Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady are the starting guards. Wait a second, isn't Steve Nash being unanimously hailed as the MVP of the first half?! You would think that every NBA fan who is motivated enough to vote would also be the type of person who pays attention to the fact that Nash is more important, more effective and more fun to watch than any other guard in the conference.

It doesn't have to be this way-- baseball fans always do a great job voting in the most deserving players to start in their All-Star game. Previous to this year I always dismissed the trendy idea that the All-Star lineup should be taken out of the fans' hands. But with such obvious oversights (Dwyane Wade ignored?) and such monotonous choices year-after-year (Allen Iverson yet again?) commissioner Stern might just need to save the fans from themselves.