Marquee injuries plague NBA All-Star game

 

Don't miss a thing! That's the official tagline of the 2025/26 NBA All-Star game. Too bad the All-Stars didn't get the memo, no Steph, no Giannis, no Shai. Cooper Flagg and Alex Sarr are going to miss the Rising Stars game also due to injuries. I do like watching Cooper Flagg play and watching his development in the game is fun but my boy Alex Sarr has been incredible. 

Lets face it, dude plays for the Washington Wizards who are garbage...I'm sorry but it took the team nearly two months to get five wins and now that Trae Young and Anthony Davis are there? Still garbage until those two show me they can stay off the injured or questionable list. Alex Sarr is the one bright spot on that team, dude plays his heart out and his stats prove it. I love that he's ignoring instructions doesn't he know the Wizards are trying to tank the season...allegedly!

Speaking of tanking I would almost understand it if it wasn't so obvious that teams are throwing in the towel on the season to try to get a top draft pick. The Utah Jazz just got fined $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers just got fined $100,000, yes your defending Eastern Conference Champions got fined for tanking games smh...how are you in rebuild mode when you almost won it all last season?

I'm old enough to remember the Allen Iverson and the East vs Kobe Bryant and the West in what was probably the most exciting and definitely the best All-Star game in history. If you have a chance go on YouTube and check it out it's an instant classic.

Back to this year and the continuing problem the NBA is having with putting the best product on the court on a night after night basis. As much as I want to bring my family to All-Star weekend, I'm not spending money on a bunch of replacements, bench players, and alternates. At last check the NBA is still charging premium prices but why? Because they can...for now. The NBA has lost a ton of its audience and die hard fans will always show up and support but that fan base is dwindling too as you can see in the stands and ratings. 

On paper team USA Stripes vs Team World looks like a fascinating match but when half of the guys are on crutches it loses the prestige and importance the NBA wants to purport. Also, Lebron James failed to make the All-Star team for the first time in two decades so is he still King James? I mean he does have a lot of records...I think he stopped being King James the first time he left Cleveland, I know he was a free agent but it was the way he left, he basically gave Cleveland the finger, you know like how the NBA has been giving the fans the finger pretty much this whole season.

Hey NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, if you're going to allow coaches to sit starters then stop charging fans full price, charge like $10 per ticket then I'd have nothing to say but as it stands the games are a rip off. It's like the WWE charging outrageous prices, don't get me started on them...they shouldn't charge more than the price of a movie ticket...why should I pay your actors more than the Hollywood ones? 

Uptick in prostitution and human trafficking feared at Superbowl LX

Last week, my family took a little pre-winter escape and stayed at a nice Hilton hotel. My wife and kids we're in the pool everyday, they loved it and didn't want to leave. I finally jumped in the pool the last day of our stay and it was nice, I'm a little harder to impress. The best hotel I ever stayed at wasn't where you would expect. I've stayed in Las Vegas and my first visit I stayed at the Tropicana and it was nice but believe it or not, Detroit had the nicest hotel by far. This is before I met my wife and I was there for the WWE Royal Rumble I forget which year, but I stayed at the MGM Grand and was upgraded to an executive suite which had a fire place and Jacuzzi spa. 

The reason I bring up my recent hotel stay is because no matter how nice the hotel may seem, inevitably I notice the dark reminder of the underworld dangers that are often in plain sight. Human trafficking signs aren't everywhere but they're noticeable. The 'if you see something say something' and call this 1-800 number on soap packages are the new reality. It's a positive in the fact that society is finally calling attention to something that's been going on since humanity existed but I don't remember even hearing or knowing about trafficking until a few years ago. No one wants to think about the horrors of what the young victims are going through but major events like the Superbowl maybe law enforcement's best shot at rescuing them.

When a major event comes to your city it can be a very profitable endeavor for the city and the event organizers. The bigger and more popular the event the more profit both sides make. It's also a win for the small business owners located near wherever the event is taking place as they'll benefit from visiting tourist. As positive as all of this sounds unfortunately there's a negative side to a large influx of visitors. The shady scumbag side of the city is also looking to make a profit from these events.

Human trafficking and prostitution arrest explode usually and this year the Santa Clara police aren't having any of it. Josh Singleton who is the commander of the Santa Clara County Human Trafficking Task Force said that they expect nearly 1.3 million visitors to the area for Superbowl 60. The majority of the tourist are coming to watch the game in bars and to score some merchandise and selfies. Levi's Stadium only holds about 68,000 people so Superbowl week is an event on its own. 

Some of the visitors are going to be looking for other kinds of 'entertainment' and that's who Singleton and the police want to stop. Singleton said, "Come have a good time at the Superbowl. Don't engage in commercial sex because we're out in force and we're enforcing the laws!" So far the task force has arrested a high number of sex workers and pimps...also a major uptick in Johns, the people who patronize the services. It is through these arrest that the trafficked are often rescued. It's crazy to think that during all of the festivities and celebrations and Superbowl parties, something sinister is going on...the game is tonight and tonight I'm rooting for law enforcement.