NBA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2781381


"....On Monday, Hunter told Newsday that he'll take the NBA to court to try and move the game if New Orleans, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, can't prove it's ready to handle the event....."

What are your thoughts on N.O. hosting the event? I mean N.O. is known for big events. The Sugar Bowl ran great. Mardi Gras ran great (with the exception of that late night stabbing). Hell, Mardi Gras had about 800,000 people. ASW won't attract over 800,000. Am I missing something here?

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

Most of those guys haven't even been to New Orleans since Katrina.

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

Bingo.

This very issue was discussed in an excellent column by Jason Whitlock last week:

http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/mayhem-main-event-at-nba-all-star/20070220103009990001

The gist of it is that even Vegas couldn't handle the thug factor, that N.O. will probably fare even worse due to recovery efforts, lack of staff, etc.

In fact, Whitlock thinks that it is so far out of control that the game needs to be moved out of the country.

What the hell does THAT say about thug/gang culture and it's ability to take control of a city?

There were many supposed incidents that were not reported as well, due to the NBA /Vegas wanting to keep a good face on the event/city.

After reading that article, I think I would vacate any city hosting an NBA All-Star game.

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

keep pac-man jones away and you'll only need half of NOPD anyway....

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

If there is one thing New Orleans can do right it is host a party. If there is one thing NOPD is good at it is crowd control.

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

exactly Vegas is great at managing crowds, but most of their crowds are sober law abiding citizens who are there on vacations to gamble or at a convention.

Every year New Orleans accepts a crowd of tourists that is almost equal in size to it's normal population and gets it blitzed out of its mind and manages to keep the city from burning to the ground.

If NFL player and his hip hop all stars want to come to NO great. Just remember that down south we shoot back.

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

From alot of the article I've read about ASW in Vegas, it seems that the only police force present was inside casinos. People never saw police patroling on the streets and that's where most of the incidents happened.

From Bill Simmons:
" To Al Harrington, who pooh-poohed Vegas' future as an NBA team by warning everyone before last weekend, "The biggest thing about Vegas is that there's no police. ... I lived out there for two months this summer and I probably saw one cop car, so it's a free-for-all. ... If people want to come in and start trouble, they've got a free pass because the only security or police is in the casinos. Anything outside, do whatever you want."

I read that quote and thought to myself, "Wait, he's right, when do you ever see cops outside the casinos in Vegas?" Then I made a mental note to keep track during the weekend. Shockingly, Harrington was a prophet. There were barely any cops along the Strip, even though tens of thousands of people were walking around at all hours, even though there were tons of legitimately sketchy people cruising around who seemed to be sizing everyone up and didn't seem to be heading in any specific direction (reminiscent of the shady guys who walk around during Mardi Gras looking everyone over), even though cab lines and gridlock were forcing everyone to walk more than they expected to walk. Again, this was a free-for-all: Walk around at your own risk.

After initial reports that the weekend was relatively quiet, more and more information about shootings, arrests and brawls keeps trickling out. (Check out this story on Channel 8's Web site that carries the headline, "Violence Erupts During All-Star Weekend," or another story on the same Web site about the poor behavior of some of the NBA "fans"). I know for a fact that the Strip was closed twice on Friday night because of shooting incidents (saw it myself), that there was a 20-person brawl outside the Mirage's cab line at 5 a.m. that same night (my friend Marty saw it), that paramedics were covering up something that looked to be a corpse in front of the MGM Grand on Saturday morning (Sully saw it), and that I threw myself into the spirit of the weekend and shot somebody outside of Treasure Island because they were wearing a Yankees cap (fortunately, no witnesses). Who knows what else happened? Was it in Vegas' best interest to report every unflattering crime or brawl that happened? Probably not.

Here's the lingering question: Since Vegas' ultimate goal was to win everyone over and prove its worth as an NBA city, and since All-Star Weekend has previously proven itself as a destination spot for every gangbanger and troublemaker within a 750-mile radius, why not import extra policemen and National Guardsmen like New Orleans did before Super Bowl XXXVI, just to make sure everyone felt totally safe? Why would they want visitors saying stuff like "I don't care how long this cab line is, there's no way I'm walking the Strip" and "I wonder if we'll have the biggest riot in the history of sports this weekend?" In my opinion, Vegas dodged a major bullet this weekend. No pun intended."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070220

 

Re: NA Player's Union doubts Big Easy ready for NBA All-Star Game

Old news now... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2781984

 

That's actually a really good point. However, there concerns are certainly valid, and the situation should be evaluated further.

Especially since if there's one thing that NOLA does NOT do well, it's develop plans.