MLB: MORE ABOUT THE ALL-STAR GAME // NBA: HOW ABOUT THOSE SUPERSTARS?

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . //. . .MLB: More About The All-Star Game // NBA---How ‘bout those Superstars? . . // . . MLB---FOR MLB’s All Star game watchers, there’s much to see where the corners of Remembrance Boulevard and Statistics Avenue intersect, for instance, there’s a huge sign that says that the All Star event is eighty-one years old and has been held back only once, in 1945, due to WW2 issues. Another big sign points out that the first of the 81 All Star games held since 1933 was held at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, won by the American League. Enter a café called “the Babe’s,” and anyone there will tell you that the AL won the next two All Star games and five more of the 12 held between 1933 and 1945. When in their “suds,” patrons will poke fingers at your chest and repeat that, to date, the AL has won 37 All Star games since 1933. And never mind that the National League has won 44 All Star games. “Heck,” an AL fan will shout, “the AL has had more streaks than the NL, eleven versus the NL’s eight.” But down the street from “the Babe’s,” at “Pete Rose’s Café,” Pete himself will remind that the NL has had the longest All Star win streak, 11 games from 1971 through 1982. Was there ever a tie? Yes, just once, 2001, at Boston’s Fenway Park. Now, travel further and enter the AL Library and you can learn that the AL had the most runs in any single All Star game, 13-3, 1983, at Comiskey Park, and 13-6, 1992, at Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, now Petco Park, and 13-8, 1998, won by the AL, at Coors Field, Denver, Colorado. Of the four All Star games that closed at 2-1, the AL won two, the NL two, but of the eight All Star events that have been shutouts, the NL was at the losing end in seven. Was there ever a 1-0 All Star game shutout? Yes, 1968, won by the NL at Houston’s Astrodome. And, the highest score differential among the shutouts? That was 8-0, won by the NL in 2012, at Kaufman Stadium, Kansas City. Also of note is that at every All Star game, the MVP is almost always of the league that has won, and though there have been multiple winning streaks, not once has the MVP been the same individual that won the award in the previous year. But there have been multiple All Star game MVP’s, among them, Willy Mays, Steve Garvey, Cal Ripken Jr. Another rare occurrence is the All Star game MVP also being the regular season MVP, both leagues. Another odd fact is that not since the All Star concept kicked in during 1933, has there been a game during which both the AL and NL accrued double-digit runs. Last year’s winner? The AL, 3-0, game held at Citi Field, New York Last year’s All Star game MVP? The great NYY closer, Mariano Rivera. . . NBA---The choices have been made: Le Bron James will back in Cleveland, Carmelo Anthony will be staying in New York, Dywane Wade will re-sign with Miami. Could this mean that “the ride of the Superstars” is over, that the gathering of top guns, the way that the Magnificent Seven of movie fame came together to defeat a ruthless gang, isn’t how to always win an NBA championship title? Is the concept of NBA pseudo-Gods versus the rest of the competition no longer the team development strategy that NBA owners should bank everything on to win? Has the concept gone from sure thing to a “well, maybe.” Or is it that today’s superstar prefers being solo, that he likes the challenge of going to a team where he alone can make the difference, you know, Wyatt Earp coming to town by himself, whipping Dodge into shape. No doubt, this year the San Antonio Spurs showed that the “teamwork team” can outperform the superstar team, and no matter the thoughts that James, Anthony and Wade might have about this it’s free agency that dominated their thought processes for lining up choices for where to be. Surely the three have seen free agency as advantageous to what is personal, linked to that pressing question, “What is it that I should be doing with the rest of my days in the NBA?” Certainly not to prove the worth of any strategy. Instead, the three deserve credit for going with what they’ve believed is best for themselves in the long run, and so their considerations have surely been about more than the game itself, e.g., family, preferred town to be living in, money, and for James what to be after basketball, possibly a go at community leadership. And great for the NBA is that the decisions made by James, Anthony and Wade will help to guarantee the existence of a league somewhat closer to a level playing field than if each chose only to be partnered with another superstar. END/ml