All-Star Saturday

All-Star Saturday could not be any more fun or interesting that All-Star Friday could it? Yes it could and yes it was. The day began with discussions of the previous night’s activities with friends, and everyone wanted to know about the Playboy party, I told them that it was an experience and they should have been there to see. Next my phone started to buzz with request for pictures, and details of the Playboy party. With all the commotion, I just decided to tell everyone the same thing; you had to be there to see it. I was next informed that I was scheduled to attend and cover the Hennessy day party after lunch at the PHX club in Phoenix.


For lunch I attend a local hot spot named the Tilted Kilt in Tempe. This place was full of Irish flavor, as it was designed to resemble an Irish Pub (public house). The public house is traditionally a place where friends come together to fellowship. This was a welcome calm in the sea of electricity known as Phoenix All-Star weekend. While at the Tilted Kilt I met a few people who lived in Phoenix who explained how drastically different this weekend was than the normal Phoenix weekends which they were use to. There were many more parties and people in town than normal, and the parties were priced significantly higher than a normal weekend’s party would cost. I responded welcome to the NBA All-Star weekend. They did not seem enthused with my response, and acted as if the could not wait for all the hoopla to end.

After lunch it was time to head to the Hennessy Party, which was invitation only. This party was geared toward the celebrity crowd. There was everything from hair cutting and massages to $3000 bottles of Hennessy aged 200 years at this party. Some of the celebrities in attendance were Dominique Wilkins, Jadakiss, Akon and Styles P. There was a red carpet full of video and still photographers. The host of the party was one of the Hennessy grandsons who graciously signed bottles of

Hennessy and took pictures with anyone who requested them. The general audience of the party ate a (general) fare of salad meatballs and rice, while sipping drinks made of you guessed it Hennessy. People talked as the D.J. spun the latest tracks from the featured artists Jadakiss and Fabulous. After being at this party for about two hours it was time to go get ready for the basketball exhibition of the night. As I exited the club I realized just how exclusive this party was as some of the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinal football players straddled the barrier which prevented those not on the “LIST” from entering the club. Outside of the Cardinals players which were denied access to the party, there were approximately 250 other people waiting for a glimpse of a celebrity or hoping for entrance into the club, it was crazy to hear people gasp as you walked out of the party.

Now it was time to get down to the business of the NBA, which was All-star Saturday night highlighted by 3 main events, the shooting stars, the 3 point shoot out and the dunk contest. In the shooting stars the team from Detroit won, their teams victory was not a major upset. Next up was the 3 point shoot out in which Jason Kapono of Toronto was favored to win for the third straight time. I personally did not think that he would win, my odds on favorite was Mike Bibby of the Atlanta Hawks. A funny thing happened as the shoot out began, little known Daequan Cook of the Miami Heat began to shoot well. He shot so well that he ended up winning the competition, and when asked afterwards about the significance of his win, he stated that it would now allow him to be recognized as one of the best 3 point shooters in the league.

After the shootout wrapped up we were on to the main event of the night, the Dunk Contest. I think that the Dunk contest is so popular because so few people can do what these athletes do, which is at times defying gravity. The contest featured two former winners tinny five foot nine inch tall Nate Robinson and the defending champ six foot eleven inch tall Dwight “Superman” Howard. Also in the contest were fan elected Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trail Blazers, and J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets. Smith and Fernandez had their moments but the night belonged to Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. During one dunk Howard disappeared into a phone booth and reappeared as Superman with his cape on, this revved the crowd into a frenzy, but what stole the show for the night was the dunking display of tinny Nate Robinson who during his last series of dunks was dressed in green with a green ball in hand signifying that he was Howard’s kryptonite. Howard was a good sport during the contest allowing Robinson to use him as a prop in his final dunk. During the dunk the diminutive Robinson not only dunked over Howard, but he jumped completely over his head. During this dunk Robinson displayed an amazing amount of athletic ability, while Howard showed a great deal of sportsmanship by assisting Robinson. With this dunk, kryptonite had defeated Superman for the first time that I could remember.




Later on in the evening it was time to head to the Snoop Doggy Dog party, which was being held at the Barcelona night club. This was the same club that the Playboy party had been held at the previous night. The Snoop party began with a lingerie show which lasted for approximately 20 minutes. The models modeled everything from bra and panties to sleep ware. The show added an interesting dynamic to the party, and created a buzz instantly. After the lingerie show a local rap artist named Cashman who was billed as the artist who was going to “put Phoenix on the map” performed. This artist truly proved that there are no good rap acts in Phoenix. The best way to describe his sound is that of cats fighting. His hype man AKA the Phoenix version of Puffy, was even worse than the real Puffy, when he stepped foot on the stage he demanded a microphone but never once said anything into it. The entire performance made me want to throw up; the best word to describe it was disturbing. Cashman had one song in which he repeatedly proclaimed he wanted people to get out of his ear, and believe me, I and other patrons of the club felt the same


way about his lyrics. After Cashman’s horrible performance was over, the crowd was turned over to a D.J. which was fine until his hype man got on the stage and started to sing the lyrics to every song that was played; he also danced like Carlton off the Fresh Prince of Bellaire. This went on for about 40 minutes and then the hype man invited the ladies in the crowd onto the stage. This is when the mayhem started. Many middle aged women began to relive their youth by dancing provocatively on top of the speakers. One of the women was attempting to pull her dress down and in the process took her underwear off. Women, many of which had no business on the stage rotated on and off of the stage for two to three hours as if it was there jobs, guys threw money into the air to “make it rain”, and then it happened. A crowd of approximately 10 to 15 men were rushed through the club into the V.I.P. area. The crowd was buzzing Snoop was in the building, and many of the patrons wondered aloud if he would perform. As Snoop sat in the V.I. P. area people rushed to get a glimpse, and snap a photo, there were so many flashes going off it looked like the 4th of July, the crowd around V.I.P. was 5 deep at the time, and people pushed and shoved to see him. As all this was going on Snoop calmly sipped on what seemed to be a cranberry juice and Belvedere Vodka as he stared back at the crowd. People waited for him to perform but they were disappointed, at some point Snoop snuck out of the club and the party continued, it was packed as many people enjoyed their last experience of Phoenix’s All-star weekend. All in all the party was not as good as the one the club hosted the night before, I even heard some people saying that it was a boring party. I would have to disagree with this point and rate the part an 8 out of 10 because it had star power, energy and a sense of direction.

All in all All-Star weekend was fun and interesting. I think that it is an experience that everyone should have once in their lives, and I hope that I have provided you an insiders view into this weekend, so let’s do it again next year. See you in Dallas where Lebron James says that he will compete in the Slam Dunk contest.

Johnson is editor and contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at johnsonthesportsguy@gmail.com