Lifetime achievements awards behind this season's All-Star snubs

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02/10/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the most part, the NBA's coaches do an outstanding job picking the reserves for the NBA All-Star Game.

With so few slots available there are always a number of players who are going to feel slighted but you can almost always defend the ones picked. That changed a bit this time around with three big names selected that have no business being in Orlando in late February.

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Boston's Paul Pierce and the Suns' Steve Nash will all be enshrined in Springfield one day but their selection as All-Star reserves this season smacked as more of a lifetime achievement award and was a direct slap in the face to players like Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Josh Smith and Danny Granger.

In the West, the 33-year-old Nowitzki, who has struggled with conditioning and a balky knee in this lockout-shortened season, is arguably having his worst campaign as a professional. Despite his travails, Nowitzki was humbled by the respect he received.

"I am really excited to make the All-Star Team this year," Nowitzki said. "It was a tough road back to full health for me, but I am honored that the coaches thought enough of me to make me an All-Star. It has been a privilege to represent the Mavericks organization over the last decade and I look forward to doing it again in Orlando."

Nash, who turned 38 earlier this week and is as crafty as ever, becomes just the fourth player in NBA history to earn an All-Star selection at 38 or older, joining a Hall of Fame club that includes only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.

He's also got some solid numbers and is currently enjoying the best statistical season for a point guard 38-or-older, averaging 15.1 points and an NBA-best 10.0 assists entering play tonight. However, Nash pilots a team that is just 11-15 and is a major liability at the defensive end.

TNT aired the All-Star reserves selection show and a number of its analysts were up in arms over the picks of Nowitzki and Nash, former teammates in Dallas as well as past NBA MVPs.

"Clearly, we gave Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki a lifetime achievement award," Charles Barkley said. "Kyle Lowry should've been an All-Star. I'm rewarding Kyle Lowry. No disrespect for Steve Nash."

"Rudy Gay is the biggest snub [in the West]," the Hall of Famer added.

Cross over to the East and Pierce, who has come on a bit lately, even admitted surprise to TNT's Craig Sager when he was selected. In fact, most thought if Boston was going to have an All-Star this season, it would be point guard Rajon Rondo, the team's one ascending player.

"I would've liked to see my man Rondo on there" former C's big man Shaquille O'Neal said. "Rondo is still the best point guard in the game. He's the best true point guard in the game."

Barkley concurred: "Paul Pierce is a great player but he did not deserve to be on the team."

Chris Webber took to social media and Twitter to make the case for the Hawks' Smith:

"Josh smith. Call 911.You got robbed. No mask no gloves- its fingerprints- all over the place call first 48-no call Atlanta CSI- Call the FBI," the former All-Star Tweeted.

Kenny Smith was similarly perplexed with who wasn't on the team.

"The contributions from Danny Granger and Josh Smith, when the game is on the line, have been well above some of the other guys," the former point guard said.

What makes the selections of Nowitzki, Nash and Pierce so puzzling is that the coaches didn't rely solely on reputation. There were five first time All-Stars selected in Chicago's Luol Deng, Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala, Indiana's Roy Hibbert, Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and the Grizzlies' Marc Gasol.

"I could not be more proud of Andre Iguodala for being recognized as an All- Star," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "Andre has meant so much to the success of our team this season and he is one of the most talented, unselfish players I have ever had the opportunity to coach."

In the grand scheme of things, the actual NBA All-Star Game, like all the rest in professional sports, is meaningless. The honor, as you can see by Collins' reaction to Iggy's place on the team, remains anything but.

Being named an All-Star is still a major deal for NBA players, whether it's a veteran on the downside of a spectacular career like Nash, or a first-timer like Iguodala and Company.

Missing the cut, meanwhile, is often a tough pill to swallow, especially when All-Star appearances don't dot the resume on a yearly basis.

There's no guarantee players like Lowry or Smith will ever be back at the precipice again, making their neglect by the coaches harder to understand and defend.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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