The Out Route

This is a perfect example of why I hate All Star games. They, like any major award show, are all about politicking and not the actual play. This is nothing groundbreaking, I know, but I'm going to say it over and over and over and over again until all of these leagues listen and abolish the games.

ANYWAY, Magic Johnson feels like Eddy Curry was left off of the East's All Star roster because coaches around the league were trying to spite Isiah Thomas for firing Larry Brown last season.

"That's a lot (of the coaches) saying to Isiah (Thomas), 'That's my boy you fired last year,'" Johnson said on TNT, where the selections were announced.

Several coaches in the East do have strong ties to Brown, the former Knicks' coach who was fired after one season. Atlanta's Mike Woodson and Philadelphia's Maurice Cheeks both worked as assistants under Brown, who is currently working for the Sixers' organization. Woodson, who like Thomas attended Indiana University, also has been friends with the Knicks' president/head coach for more than 25 years.

That's not really fair to Eddy Curry, who's averaging 19.4 points and 7 rebounds per game. Both Magic and Charles Barkley agreed Curry should have been selected, but such is the game.

I, unlike most, don't hate Isiah. You know, you can say all you want about the guy, but when he's gone you're going to miss him. It's like having that one friend in the group that everybody hates and makes fun of, begrudgingly accepting him at social functions. But that guy is necessary; he allows everyone in the group to focus all of the anger and bitterness in their lives on a shared point. Without that guy, all hell breaks loose.