All Star Monday

By all accounts, yesterday’s NBA All-Star game at the Thomas and Mack Center was a success–as successful as an exhibition game can be, I suppose. But I don’t have to worry about losing my parking spot (TMC is right around the corner from the library and my office), because Stern says we’ve got a better chance of shooting seven naturals in a row than getting another NBA dunk-fest at our ratty old arena. From the LVRJ:

If Las Vegas hopes to have the NBA All-Star Game return in the future, it must have a new facility for the league to showcase its best players.

Commissioner David Stern said Sunday before the playing of the 2007 All-Star Game that the NBA will not return to the Thomas & Mack Center.

“No,” was Stern’s reply when asked whether the league would be willing to return to the UNLV campus for its midseason showcase. “We did a one-time thing at the Thomas & Mack. They’re not equipped to hold major-league events at that building.”

Speaking at a brunch hosted by Turner Network Television President David Levy, Stern declined to say how much the league spent to raise the 23-year-old Thomas & Mack to today’s standards in terms of the NBA’s needs, but it was believed to be considerable.

NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said the building was deficient in a number of areas, including power and lighting capacity.
COMMISSIONER’S VIEW: Stern: Once is enough

Here’s some talk about how great the event was, despite the “deficient” facility.

Another great spin off from the event: CSI buffs can look forward to a few “ripped from the headlines” stories soon based on events that happened in the early morning hours on Monday.

First, there was a “brawl” at Tryst.

For one, there was a shooting at the Minxx gentlemen’s club.

That was followed by a shooting in the MGM Grand parking garage.

And if three shootings wasn’t enough, at least 300 people were arrested at All Star-related events.

And if that’s not bad enough, I happened across this story while looking for more on the Tryst melee:
Toilet tryst ends in machete killing.
Nothing to do with Las Vegas, but that’s a headline that I’m sure no one thought they’d write when they were in journalism school. And I don’t understand why the editor didn’t finish the alliteration: “Toilet tryst ends in machete murder” is how I would have written it. Oh well, everyone’s a critic.

UPDATE: Here’s the rundown on All Star violence from KLAS.

And if you don’t click this link out of mere curiosity, do it because it’s TV’s Edward Lawrence reporting: Locals Complain NBA Fans Behaved Badly.