Posted by Kevin Jacobs, Sun Staff

It seemed too good to be true.

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have a few days off and attend NBA All-Star weekend with my father, purely as a fan. No interviews, no deadlines, and to my chagrin, no press pass.

Before this weekend I’d never had the opportunity to attend any All-Star festivities, but it just so happened that the NBA superstars were in Arizona, where my parents now spend a majority of their winters.

I have to admit that while I was looking forward to watching all the great players like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, there are other All-Star games I would rather attend given any opportunity. Nothing against the league or its players, it is simply not one of my favorite sports to watch live.

No matter what sport, All-Star weekends have always contained more glitz, glam, and marketing than any other “game” on athletic calendars…it’s all about the show, and this year’s results could have won some Oscars.

Kobe and Shaq sharing an MVP trophy and Dwight “Superman” Howard emerging from a phone booth, to face off against an emerald-clad “Kryptonate” Robinson in the finals of the dunk contest. These storylines couldn’t get any juicer, even if A-Rod was there.

I was expecting to be mildly entertained by both Saturday and Sunday night, but also somewhat bored and disappointed. To my surprise, I found myself yelling, gasping, and jumping up with the rest of the fans. The place was rocking, especially on Sunday. It all seemed to work out perfectly for the NBA. Maybe too perfectly.

The dunk contest in particular, seemed to be totally scripted, and oddly rehearsed. I felt bad for Rudy Fernandez and J.R. Smith, both of whom probably could have dunked from half court, blindfolded and still received lower marks than either Howard or Robinson.

Howard received two sets of perfect 50’s from the panel of Suns “greats,” for dunks that were no better than Fernandez’s first two. Granted it took Rudy a while to get his second, albeit spectacular, dunk to flush, but he received the lowest scores of the night on both his attempts.

The way that Howard and Robinson waltzed into the final was simply ludicrous, a fact that Ludacris, who was ironically in attendance, would undoubtedly agree with. There was something too convenient about it all. Howard’s custom rim, Robinson’s green uni, shoes, and ball. They all screamed, “Media Stunt!”

As far as the MVP goes, I’m not sure why Kobe had to share the honor. Was it Shaq’s entrance dance with the “Jabbawockeez” that put him over the hump? (Check out the video, here, on YouTube, it's worth a laugh). While it was fun to watch the “Big Shaqtus” break it down, he only played 11 minutes, and Kobe had a much greater impact.

However, this type of problem hasn’t been limited to the NBA this season. Did anyone watch the NHL shootout contest? Maybe not, but I was one of the few who did and was appalled by Alexander Ovechkin’s “winning” goal. It was terrible, he didn’t even score on his first whack at the puck. He won only because he has the biggest name in the sport.

Bryant, O’Neal, Howard, and Robinson had success this past weekend for the very same reason…to make the perfect headline. All-Star games are a popularity contest, similar to high school proms, we’ve known that for a long time. But isn’t the competition, despite a lack of defense, supposed to be real?

When it was all said and done however, I had fun. More fun than I had expected, and the same was true for my Dad. To be honest, does it really matters all that much anyway? After all it’s just the All-Star game.

What did you think about the NBA Dunk Contest and All-Star game? Was it all too good to be true?