All-Star games and other unwatched stuff

I didn't watch the NBA All-Star game last night, keeping alive my string of several decades of not having watched the NBA All-Star game.

I didn't watch the Slam Dunk contest, either, having quit on that the year Blake Griffin jumped over the car. 

Know what else I didn't watch?

The Harry/Meghan/Oprah interview.

Apparently everyone else in America watched it, judging by social media. I didn't because I enjoy being an oddball. Also, I've watched "The Crown" and am familiar with Banastre Tarleton, Sir Bernard Law Montgomery and the Amritsar massacre, so I already knew the Brits could be racist sociopaths and arrogant twits.

As the old line goes, there are but two things I don't do about the royals, and both of 'em are care.

So I was out of touch with a whole lot of America last night, as our household's Superior Human (i.e., my wife) and I settled in to watch "Nomadland" on Hulu.

(Which is terrific, by the way. You should check it out.)

The NBA All-Star game?

Not even the players wanted to be there, from what I heard. They thought the pandemic had rendered it pointless, since only a handful of fans were allowed to attend, and All-Star games are generally fan-driven made-for-TV events. The only good thing about this one is the proceeds went to benefit Historically Black Colleges and Universities and COVID-19 relief.

Also, the final score was 170-150, no doubt triggering at least a few shaking-their-fist-at-clouds types who say the NBA All-Star game is a joke because No One Plays Defense. This is always hilarious, because it's an All-Star game. No one's supposed to play defense, or take it seriously.

Besides, it's not even East-vs.-West anymore, but a glorified pickup game pitting Team LeBron vs. Team Durant. Which is OK, I guess. But if they're going with that concept, they should go all the way with it.

Play make-it, take-it. Shirts-vs.-skins. And the last guy picked is in charge of the water bottles, and only gets to play if he promises never to touch the rock.

"Go stand in the corner and stay out of my way," Giannis Antetokounmpo might have said, as he made all 16 of his presumably uncontested shots on the way to the MVP trophy.

That last actually happened, by the way. Now you know.

And so do I.