The following is an instant message conversation between sports writers Tessa Benavides and Frank Cantu:

Tessa:  So, Frank, what was the highlight of the NBA All-Star weekend for you?

Frank:  Let me see…I didn’t see ALL of the dunk contest and I saw the All-Star game, which is usually the highlight for me…but it wasn’t all that GREAT.  I always look forward to the All-Star game.  I like to see competitive yet very entertaining basketball.  I don’t believe that players took the game this year as competitively as fans thought they should have.  Everyone wants to see the amazing dunk, the extravagant alley oop, but no one wants to see sloppy play and careless players.

Tessa:  I agree with you there. The game did get rather sloppy and the lack of intensity from all of the players on the court led to it being rather boring at times.

Frank:  The players played very loosely.  I understand that the game is less tense than a regular game, but the lack of competitive edge shouldn’t have been so apparent.

Tessa:  The All-Star game has always seemed to me, well, wait….within recent years that I have begun watching …the game has always seemed to lack a competitive edge, which is surprising since both teams are composed of the top players in the league.

Frank:  Yeah, it’s been this way in recent years.  The game seems to have lost its fire and entertainment.  I still like watching it, in hopes it will improve, but I’m not up to watching a 20-point loss.  It almost takes the fun out of it. 

Tessa:  I am with you there.  No one cares to watch a 20-point loss, even when the team you are rooting for is winning.  A game like that just loses its appeal; it becomes boring.
Frank:  The game had its nice plays, but all those nice plays got overshadowed by a game that lacked competition.

Tessa:  I agree that the game did lack its competitiveness, but don’t you think some of that has to do with the players’ mindsets?  I mean why should they all put out 100 percent in a game full of all-stars?  One players lax playing can definitely be covered up by other players’ efforts, especially when they are surrounded by a team composed of players just as good, if not better, than themselves.  So with this attitude naturally the game would lack competitiveness. 

Frank:  I’m not saying to play so hard you hurt yourself and ruin your “all-star” season,  but I’m saying, where is the natural competitiveness in each of these players?

Tessa:  But don’t you think injury is exactly what they fear?  And because of that they don’t play as hard or as competitive.  It would be a waste for one of them to get injured during the All-Star game, when they each are so valuable to the teams they play for during the regular season.

Frank:  Well, obviously that wasn’t the case for Kobe Bryant.  Granted, he took a lot of shots, whether they were good or bad shots, he took them.  He’s the L.A. Lakers’ star player and yet he managed to put up 30-plus points, six assists, and six steals.  Don’t you think that kind of thing would pick up Eastern Conference players to the point of playing with a little more effort?

Tessa:  Maybe his performance says more about himself than it does about the Eastern Conference players’ intensity and effort, or lack thereof.  Maybe it is Kobe’s ego that kicks in and that is what separated him from the rest of the players during the All-Star game.  He always wants to be the star and for everyone else it doesn’t really matter, at least not as much as it mattered to him to be named MVP and such.

Frank:  That’s a good point.  I have no problem believing that.

Tessa:  (lol)

Frank:  I just think people want a show.  These are supposedly the best professional basketball players in the world, so why was it such a lopsided affair?  I just think it could’ve been a tighter game.  I’m not saying down to the wire, but maybe a five or six point differential.

Tessa:  Yeah, I agree, the game really wasn’t all that entertaining, at least not the whole game.  It had its high points, but overall, it wasn’t all that spectacular. I guess we can just hope for better next year.

Frank:  Well, let’s hope so, if not I think fans are going to start losing interest in the All-Star game itself.