This Week in the WFBL Playoffs—Rd 1

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Live-Blogging the Wasatch Conference Round One




















LeBron James, a portrait in moods: Happy (left, before the series), and sad (right, after the series).

TWIN FALLS (AP)—Its been two years and I'm fully healed from the last live-blogging disaster in Maracaibo. Even so, the bigwigs at the AP were wary of sending me back to cover the World Conference Round One, so here I am in snowy Twin Falls! Who needs the tropical warmth of Venezuela when you're just gonna be inside a basketball arena all week long anyways?

3/8/10 Morning Shootaround

There's chatter that the Trojans are thinking of sitting LeBron tonight, as a reward for winning the EBP. I know I'm no WFBL coach, but that seems a bit counter-productive to me. LeBron's here, but he's not out there warming up. He is, however, taking pretend pictures of every...hang on...okay okay..."cheeeeeese!"...alright you too man...hey I want a copy of that one!...

7:30 PM

As expected, no LeBron tonight. The Gators have put the Trojans in a big hole to start the week off. Tonight, Good David West decided to show up, and Timmy had a nice all-around game. One of the x-factors coming in was going to be the rookies—Rigby's Steph Curry and Twin Falls' Tyreke Evans—and so far Curry's having a tough time adjusting to the big stage. Really poor shooting, and he's turned it over as many times as West and Duncan combined. Not how the Trojans wanted to start off.

3/9/10

Looks like Vince "Half-Man, Half-A-Season" Carter decided to show up for the Trojans. If the matchup ended today though, the EBP would go to Deron Williams. It's funny, you hear him compared unfavorably to Chris Paul the past three years, but with CP3 out, D-Will really hasn't taken over the "best PG in the league" role like some thought he would. Tonight, however? 28 points, 17 assists, 1 turnover, 71% FG...not bad.

3/10/10 In Line for Snacks

Dang Idaho basketball teams! All they have are potato-related products. Can't decide between a potato dog or churro fries. Meanwhile, this matchup is seriously getting out of hand for Rigby. The Gators now have a 6-2-1 lead as rookie sensation Tyreke Evans just messed around and got a triple double. I wonder if he's related in any way to Adams' wife, Carolyn Evans-Adams? Let's see, mental note, look into relationship between star shooting guard and coach's wife, if any.

3/11/10

Well that's weird. Only Steph Curry and Vince Carter are out there on the court tonight. But what's more perplexing is that they still have only managed to close the gap to 5-3-1. Looking ahead, it appears both teams have the same amount of games remaining. Not sure where Rigby can make up another category...rebounds perhaps? LeBron should probably show his face tomorrow, and the Trojans need him to bring the pain, big time. Now if you'll excuse me, it's halftime, and the Twin Falls 13th Ward is about to perform a truncated version of their region-winning road show based on the classic Home Evening short "Honesty Leads to Integrity".

3/12/10

LeBron's back! And he shot 7-18! Wait, that's not gonna cut it. Meanwhile the Gators aren't doing anything spectacular, but just like they've been doing all year long, everybody's putting up solid numbers across the board. I think I just saw Adams on the phone with the team's travel agent, booking a bus to Park City.

3/13/10

Wait a minute, there's someone on the other line. It's Steph Curry. What's that young rook? You say you've got 35 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 5 three-pointers and a block that say the Gators' bus to Park City isn't ready? Needs an oil change and new tires? It probably didn't help Twin Falls' cause that Adams decided to rest Duncan in what I overheard him call a "blowout victory". With one day left, the Gators have the 7-2 lead, but FG%, rebounds, steals, blocks, turnovers, and points are all up in the air. If the Gators lose, it would be an unraveling the likes of which I haven't seen since Weber State against Montana.

3/14/10

And there's the final horn. 6-2-1, Gators. In the end, the Trojans put up a fight but it was too much of that patented all-around great play from the Gators. You gotta wonder how this would have ended if the...ahem..."EBP" would have have played one more game. Sure, they would have lost turnovers, but rebounds, and conceivably points and steals could have been the Trojans'. But it's on to Park City for the Gators, back to Rigby for the Trojans, and back to WFBL headquarters for me. I think I see some youths coming down the alley swinging sacks of potatoes in a menacing fashion.


Igs, Jai Rai, Set Record For Most Clichés in a Single Article

MARACAIBO (La Verdad)—With the crowd at their backs, Maracaibo came blazing out of the gates in the World Semfinals like a well-oiled machine firing on all cylinders. Udorn, meanwhile, looked like they left their 'A' game back in Udorn whilst wandering behind a Venezuelan woodshed for 7-2 whooping.

EBP candidate David Lee illuminated Maracaibo's winning strategy, "When the Jai Rai looked a little out of synch early, we smelled blood and went for the jugular. We knew we couldn't afford to get lackadaisical, so we just tried to keep this one in the bag.

"It was all over but the shouting after the first few days," continued Andre Igoudala, "so we decided to put on a clinic, 'How to Seal Victories.' After all, our fans weren't paying hard earned money to watch us taking a cakewalk in the park."

So what went wrong for Udorn? Kobe Bryant broke down Udorn's subpar effort with this nugget of wisdom, "Well, instead of playing to win, I think we were playing not to lose. But give Maracaibo credit. They got us on the ropes and blew the game wide open with a coffin-nailing knock out punch."

Udorn owner Devin Jackson also lamented, "I think it's clear that we've gone to the well once too often. We circled the wagons around Kobe all season, so him only having two games really took the wind out of our sails."

"Plus, they did play 6 more games than us," groused Danny Granger, offering the only tangible, game-related fact of this entire article.

Around the Consolation Ladder

Kings 5, SnowBees 4

Butchers 5, Stratagem 4

Underdogs 5, Tigers 3, The Game

Rd 1 Game of the Week Voting Results:

Rigby Trojans 5 (71%)
Twin Falls Gators 2 (28%)

Los Iguanas de Maracaibo 5 (71%)
Udorn Jai-Rai 2 (28%)

Week 19 EBP:

LeBron James, Rigby—4 votes (57% of vote)

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Fun Facts: Mar 24-30, 2008

First-class stamp: $0.42

Average movie ticket price: $7.18

#1 Song:"Love In This Club"—Usher ft. Young Jeezy
#1 Movie: "21"

Each week, This Week in the WFBL looks back and shines a light on a moment in the WFBL's illustrious history. This week, we look at Round 1 from 2008 (Mar 24-30). LeBron James has now won two EBP trophies. He's also now lost both playoff series immediately following receiving his award. Both times, those losses have come at the hands of the Gators. This was the first.

ROUND ONE, MAR 24-30, 2008

Gators Chomp 'Caibo, Kobe "Makes Statement" All Over LeBron's EBP Trophy

TWIN FALLS (AP)—As the final buzzer sounded, Kobe Bryant,
his Twin Falls Gators having just beaten Maracaibo 5-4—their first-ever playoff series victory—calmly walked over to rival LeBron James of the Iguanas. Was it to exchange pleasantries on a series well-played? Was it to wish him luck in his future endeavors? You don't know Kobe Bryant.

With thousands of Maracaibo fans watching in disbelief, the Mamba, ever the dignitary, grabbed LeBron's EBP trophy, which the Iguana had just received in a pre-series ceremony, and broke the bronze statue with his bare hands. He then threw the bottom half at LeBron's face, and bit off, chewed and swallowed the trophy's head.

"Let 'em go, let 'em go," said Commissioner Barnes, who was on hand for the series, as respective team officials tried to rush onto the court to deter the brawl that was certain to ensue. "They need to settle this themselves."

Only there was no brawl, no retaliation from LeBron. The 2008 Exceedingly Beneficial Participant only stood and cried as Kobe surprisingly had no problem chewing the trophy head, a replica of James' own noggin, which is no small feat considering the size to which it had grown over the past few weeks.

Kobe muttered no words, for words were unnecessary. The chewing said it all.

Bryant stepped up his game for the playoff clash, besting his averages in many categories. LeBron, however, couldn't do the same, and the disappointing Iguanas, not necessarily known for coming through in the clutch, fell in the first round of the playoffs once again.

"Leave to the Igs to the throttling! ARGHHHHHHH!" coach Fran Hopkin was heard to have said. "It is all the pressure of Chavez!"

It was quite a statement the Mamba made, who is obviously upset about not winning his second EBP trophy. One can only imagine what he'll do when faced against the top-seeded and regular season champion St. George Underdogs this week.

"We wanted to come in here and make a statement," said the Gators' Allen Iverson, speaking of statements. "That statement was: We are advancing to the next round. All apologies to Zermatt, but we feel we are the best team right now, and guess what, St. George...it's your turn to receive a statement."

And receive a statement they did, as the Gators would go on to do the unthinkable, defeating the U-Dogs 8-1 and earning their only Concludings trip.

This Week in the WFBL—Week 19

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LeBron, Fellow Trojan Cubs, Honored at Pregame Pack Meeting

























LeBron James, posing here with his mother, is the WFBL's first-ever 2-time regular season EBP winner. Park City's Kevin Durant finished second.

RIGBY, IDAHO, WHICH IS KIND OF KIDDIE-CORNER FROM CALIFORNIA (Jefferson Star)—The audience at the Philo T. Farnsworth Center was being a little rowdy and hyper before the Rigby Trojans' final regular-season game, against the Salt Lake SnowBees. But when the WFBL's Akela, Phil Jackson, stood at midcourt with his arm raised and two fingers extended, a sign that represents the attentive ears of a wolf cub, everyone present knew it was time to start and indicated that they were paying attention by also raising their two fingers. And when the two fingers go up, the mouth goes quiet, so pretty soon all you could hear was Dirk Nowitzki offering Pau Gasol a million dollars if he'll shave all of the hair on his head, including his eyebrows. But eventually Dirk noticed that the whole arena had gone completely silent, that 20,000 people around him were making the attentive wolf cub sign, and that Phil Jackson was glaring at him, so he shut up too.

"I'd like the SnowBee cubs to notice how nicely the Trojan cubs are sitting and paying attention," Jackson said. "Let's all give the Trojan cubs a big hand," which means, as everyone in the arena knew, you're supposed to hold up your right hand, extending the fingers as far as they could possibly go, thus creating a "big hand."

"Before we begin our pack meeting this evening," Jackson said. "We have some announcements," to which Shaquille O'Neal, Rigby's reserve center and the league's Assistant Akela responded by leading the crowd in the following song:
"Announcements, announcements, announcements!"
[To the tune of "Farmer in the Dell"]
"What a horrible way to die,
What a horrible way to die.
Oh, what a horrible
What a horrible way to die."
[To the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down"]
Please keep them short and sweet,
Short and sweet,
Short and sweet.
Please keep them short and sweet.
They are BORING!"

"Just a reminder to everyone that the money you earned selling All-Star Game tickets should have been turned in last Friday," Jackson went on. "It looks like all of the Trojan cubs got their money in, but I'm still missing dues from every single member of the SnowBee den, except Dirk Nowitzki. Thank you, Trojan cubs, for being good examples of promptness to the SnowBee cubs. Let's give them another big hand, but this time with feeling."

Again the audience members extended their right hands as big as they could make them, then tickled their extended right hand with their left, all very enthusiastically, except for some of the SnowBees, who rolled their eyes while performing this cheer and got another stern glare from Jackson.

"Now we'll turn the time over to the den leaders to tell us about what they've done in their den meetings this month and present any awards that their cubs have earned," Jackson continued. "We'll start with the SnowBee den."

SnowBee den leader Ted "Beekeeper" Barnes sheepishly stepped forward to address the crowd. "Um, well ... you see, we kind of didn't really earn any awards this month. The boys just kept forgetting to bring their books, and I couldn't really think of any good activities to do, so we mostly just played basketball in the gym. Pau Gasol was really close to earning his Cooking belt loop, but he's sort of lost interest and we can't get him to complete the last few requirements. Other than that ... um, I think Rasheed was working on his Tattoo Art belt loop. Did you ever finish that, Sheed? No? Well, that's all. We're gonna work really hard this month, though, and next pack meeting I'm sure we'll have lots of awards."

Jackson, visibly disappointed, motioned for the Beekeeper to return to his seat and invited Nathan Wallace, the Trojan den leader, to come forward.

"Before we present our awards and show you what we've been working on this month," Wallace said, "we have a little skit we've prepared for you."

The skit began with Trojan cub Stephen Curry standing at midcourt yelling "Brains for sale! Brains for sale!" Chris Kaman walked by and asked, "What kinds of brains do you have?"

"Well, this one is the brain of a doctor. I'll give it to you for $100."

"What about that one?"

"That's the brain of Albert Einstein. It costs $500."

"And that little one?"

"That one costs $1 million."

"A million dollars?!! Why so expensive?"

"It's the brain of a SnowBee. It's never been used!"

Fifteen minutes later, after the riotous laughter from the crowd subsided, Wallace explained that this month his den has been working very hard on their Ecology and Biological Engineering belt loops. "Each cub has created his own clean-burning alternative fuel. We also built combustible engines and attached them to our Pinewood Derby cars to demonstrate how our fuels work." Lebron James then stepped forward to show off his car, which runs on fingernail clippings. Vince Carter explained how his car runs on used socks. And Chris Kaman amazed the crowd with his car, which runs on positive thoughts.

Next Wallace announced, "Besides earning the Ecology and Biological Engineering belt loops as a den, each of our cubs has worked very hard on to earn belt loops on their own. So when I announce their names, I'll have them come up and get their awards. You may want to hold your applause until the end, because this may take a while. Carlos Boozer has earned his Alcohol Awareness, World Diplomacy, and Time Traveling belt loops. Stephen Curry has earned his Nuclear Physics, Rain Gutter Cleaning, and Pokemon belt loops. Shaquille O'Neal has earned. ..."

Two hours later, when Wallace finally finished, the crowd erupted into their favorite cheer, the Seal of Approval, which consists of clapping one's elbows together and shouting "Arp, Arp, Arp!"

Akela Jackson then returned to the court and announced that there was one more very special award to give and invited Lebron James and his mother to come forward. "This is the highest award bestowed by the WFBL pack, the Exceeding Beneficial Player Award! This award includes an attractive statue and a pin for you to pin on your mother, Lebron."

After the obligatory comment that they should really be giving the statue to the mom and the pin to Lebron, Jackson said, "Now, there's one more requirement before you can have this award: you have to give your mother a big kiss." Lebron, somewhat self-consciously, kissed his mother lightly on the cheek and then held the trophy high over his head, while the crowd stood and did the Watermelon cheer by pretending to eat a big watermelon and spit out the seeds. (Afterwards, the Philo T. Farnsworth Center custodial crew called Jackson and asked that this cheer be banned, pointing out how disgusting it is to clean up 20,000 mouths full of imaginary watermelon seeds.)

As Lebron and his mom returned to their seats, Jackson explained, "There actually is one more requirement Lebron must fulfill to earn that EBP award. He must lead his team to the WFBL playoffs. But as a Scout Committee we saw that he only needed to win one more game to fulfill that requirement, and when it was pointed out that his last game was against the SnowBees tonight, we felt safe giving him the award before the game." The crowd nodded in agreement, including several of the SnowBees.

Turns out it was a safe assumption, because the Trojans defeated the SnowBees handily, earning Rigby their first trip to the playoffs in three years and validating Lebron's EBP. Next month, the Trojan den will be working on their World Domination belt loops, the first requirement being to defeat the Twin Falls Gators in Round One of the WFBL Playoffs.

Around the WFBL

Stratagem 4, Underdogs 3, Unclaimed 2

Sundancers 6, Gators 3

Kings 6, Butchers 3

Iguanas 5, Abominables 3, Both 1

Jai-Rai 6, Tigers 3

Week 19 Game of the Week Voting Results:

Salt Lake SnowBees 3 (37%)

Rigby Trojans 5 (63%)

Week 18 EBP:

Andrew Bogut, Salt Lake—6 votes (66% of vote)

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Fun Facts: Mar 5-11, 2007

First-class stamp: $0.39

Average movie ticket price: $6.88

#1 Song:"This Is Why I'm Hot"—Mims
#1 Movie: "300"

Each week, This Week in the WFBL looks back and shines a light on a moment in the WFBL's illustrious history. This week, we look at Week 19 from 2007 (Mar 5-11). Hard to believe there was a time when two-time EBP LeBron James was a SnowBee. He must have been the driving force behind numerous championship runs for Salt Lake, right? Wrong, as this excerpt proves.

WEEK NINETEEN, MAR 5-11, 2007

SnowBee Cut-outs Fail to Slow Down Zermatt

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)—Coming into the rubber match against the Zermatt Abominables, Salt Lake SnowBees owner Ted "Beekeeper" Barnes predicted that if his team could "show up and play our game," they might be able to steal one from the A-boms. Well, it didn't quite work out that way, but thanks to the UPS and their same-day delivery, they did manage to mail in an effort that at least avoided the team's second-ever 0-9 shutout.

Just before tipoff, one of those big brown trucks pulled up to the SnowHive at Mr. Mac Arena, and a trim, muscular UPS man clad in brown shorts strode up to halfcourt with a brown paper package, tied up with strings. Zermatt forward Kevin Garnett, noting that this was one of his favorite things, eagerly tore open the package and found life-size cutouts of the five SnowBee regular starters posed in various defensive positions: Jermaine "SnowPlow" O'Neal fouling someone, Jason Kidd running to catch up with his man, LeBron "The Pollinator" James complaining to an official, and David West trotting leisurely upcourt. Tracy McGrady was shown shooting a three-pointer, since he doesn't really have a defensive position, per se.

Officials set up the cutouts in various positions on the court, and the game began. Zermatt, of course, had little trouble winning most categories, but the SnowBees did manage fewer turnovers than the A-boms, a fact that may convince the Beekeeper to mail it in for future matchups, such as next week's series with Twin Falls.

The Abominables now have their sights set on the regular season title, as Zermatt meets los Iguanas de Maracaibo in a winner-probably-takes-all-unless-they-don't matchup for the ages.

This Week in the WFBL—All-Star 2010

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End of the World: LeBron Leads Wasatch to First-Ever All-Star Victory
















LeBron soared through the jungle on his way to EBP honors.

LA GRAN SABANA (La Verdad)—Led by All-Star EBP LeBron James, the Wasatch Conference broke a 5-year curse, humiliating the World Conference by a final score of 7-2.

The combination of James, Durant, Nowitzki, Lopez and Deron Williams proved too much for the World, who were without superstar Kobe Bryant. LeBron's return to the country he called home the last two years was, as the EBP-frontrunner called it, "bittersweet".

"Bitter because I'm bitter towards the Iguanas for never surrounding me with the players I needed to win a title," the Trojan small forward explained. "Sweet because we kicked the World's trash, and I got another All-Star EBP trophy."

For the World, it was the end of a dominant era in the mid-season classic. In the two previous meetings that pitted the Wasatch against the World, the World had won handily.

"I think there's a lot of things to which we can attribute this loss," said Commissioner Barnes, head coach of the World All-Stars. "For starters, LeBron's natural jumping ability combined with the high altitude—remember, we played the game on top of Earth's highest waterfall—made it near impossible for anyone on our team to guard him. Plus we put Melo on him. That was probably a mistake.

"Secondly, Chris Bosh kept complaining about the ball being too wet, what with all the humidity and moisture up here," he continued. When pressed to answer why the ball moisture didn't seem to affect the Wasatch All-Stars, Barnes concluded that it had something to do with Wasatch assistant coach Pau Gasol, who handed out exfoliating lotion before the game. "You know, the kind that has little bits of sand or whatever in it. It's grippy."

Despite all of the "disadvantages" the World had, many believe it was the mangoes that kept falling on the court that did them in, especially when point guard Steve Nash slipped on a smashed mango and fell off the edge of the mountain, tumbling down the waterfall.

"Yeah that probably hurt us a little," said Barnes. "I bet Chris Paul wouldn't have fallen off the edge of the cliff, though."

_________

Wasatch Replacements:
Steph Curry replaced Mo Williams at PG
Deron Williams started in place of Mo Williams
OJ Mayo replaced Brandon Roy at SG

World Replacements:
Baron Davis replaced Chris Paul at PG
Andre Iguodala started in place of Kobe Bryant
Joe Johnson moved to backup SG
Josh Smith replaced Kobe Bryant at SF

All-Star Game Voting Results:

Wasatch 4 (50%)
World 4 (50%)

Week 15 EBP:

LeBron James, Rigby—4 votes (66% of vote)

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Fun Facts: Feb 12-18, 2007

First-class stamp: $0.39

Average movie ticket price: $6.58

#1 Song: "Irreplaceable"—Beyoncé
#1 Movie: "Ghost Rider"

Each week, This Week in the WFBL looks back and shines a light on a moment in the WFBL's illustrious history. This week, we look at All-Star Week from 2007 (Feb 12-18). Before the WFBL was even split into conferences, the 2nd Annual All-Star Game pitted players geographically from the World and the Wasatch. New Orleans was the host city, and since the festivities happened to take place during Mardi Gras, Indiana Team Mom Regan Barnes forbid her team to participate. Turns out the World didn't need her team's help, anyway.

ALL-STAR WEEK, FEB 12-18, 2007

The World Is Enough: Bayside's Marion Leads World to 5-3-1 Victory

NEW ORLEANS (AP)—On paper, a collection of the top players from the four most dominant teams in the WFBL (and Indiana) should be able to defeat a similar collection from the so-called "lower tier" teams in said league.

Luckily for the World squad, WFBL games are almost exclusively played on paper.

And so it is fitting that Bayside's Shawn Marion, the top-rated player in the league all-season, statistically, led the World to a 5-3-1 victory over the Wasatch and the game's EBP trophy.

The game was close throughout, but when it came down to it, the rebounding of the World, along with the Wasatch's propensity for turning the ball over, led to the close victory.

"We knew we had a good team coming in," said Marion. "We had a good time, it was a pretty good weekend, and hopefully we put on a good show."

It appeared at the outset that the World would dominate, and with a formidable lineup – no player was ranked lower than 18 – it is easy to see why that would be expected. But the Wasatch, led by Twin Falls' Kobe Bryant and St. George's Gilbert Arenas, would not back down and made it interesting throughout the game, despite their lower player ranking (two players ranked in the mid-twenties).

"I may have been a little out of line when I made that 'shock the World' comment last week," said a contrite Arenas on his blog. "I was gonna try to go out there and get that EBP award, but once I realized that I was missing a lot of shots and we were losing, I figured I'd just play."

In all, New Orleans was a great host city for the annual showcase of WFBL talent. Most importantly, there were no arrests and no public embarrassments as of press time. Pundits believe that this can be owed to the fact that the hooligan Indiana Sand Dunes and their troublemaking fans didn't make the trip.

Could the game return to the Big Easy again next year?

"Who knows," said Commissioner Barnes, festooned in Mardi Gras regalia. "There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to anything we do in this league. But that's what makes it so interesting, I think."

The league takes Monday off before getting back into action Tuesday for the final five weeks of the regular season.

2010 All-Stars Announced

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LeBron, Nash Head List of All-Star Voting; Lopez, Melo Two of Nine First-Timers

LeBron James hopes to lead the Wasatch Conference for their first-ever victory over the World Conference in the 2010 All-Star Game, which will be held on top of Angel Falls in Venezuela during Week 16's bye week.

MARACAIBO (La Verdad)—The 2010 All-Star starters and reserves were named this morning, to much fanfare and gusto during a break in the Rigby-Maracaibo Week 13 matchup. While the big story may be the return of Iguanas favorite son LeBron James, this time as a Trojan bent on leading the Wasatch to their first ever All-Star victory, there are plenty of interesting story lines for this year's Mid-Winter Classic. Below are the voting results, with comments.









Position, Name, Team (All-Star Appearances)

Mo Williams, St. George Underdogs (1)
Deron Williams, Twin Falls Gators (2)
Rajon Rondo, Nephi Stratagem (1)



Kevin Durant, Park City Sundancers (2)
Dwyane Wade, Park City Sundancers (5)
Brandon Roy, Nephi Stratagem (1)



LeBron James, Rigby Trojans (5) * 2006 EBP
Gerald Wallace, Park City Sundancers (3)
Danilo Gallinari, Nephi Stratagem (1)

Dirk Nowitzki, Salt Lake SnowBees (5)
Carlos Boozer, Rigby Trojans (2)
Andrea Bargnani, Park City Sundancers (1)

Brook Lopez, Park City Sundancers (1)
Tim Duncan, Twin Falls Gators (4)
Amar'e Stoudemire, Nephi Stratagem (4)



Wasatch Comments: Rajon Rondo is the lowest-rated player to make the All-Star team; Nephi (that's right, Nephi) was tied with Park City for most All-Stars (4), but the recent trade with Rigby that brought Brook Lopez to the Sundancers gives the defending runners-up five All-Stars; Lopez gets the start at center in only his second season in the league; Mo Williams, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Roy, Danilo Galinari, and Andrea Bargnani are other first-timers for the Wasatch; it's a bitter-sweet victory for Mo Williams, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. Deron Williams would take his place—his first-ever All-Star start, and Steph Curry will be an injury addition, representing Rigby; LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are appearing in their record fifth All-Star games, while the King is the only player in league history to start in every Mid-Winter Classic; Pau Gasol needn't worry about his complexion problems in the thin air of Angel Falls. The SnowBees center was nowhere to be found on this year's selection.


















New York's recent play isn't the only thing turning heads lately. Steve Nash gets the starting nod over Chris Paul in this year's All-Star game, marking Nash's fourth appearance.








Position, Name, Team (All-Star Appearances)

Steve Nash, New York Kings (4)
Chris Paul, Zermatt Abominables (3) * 2009 EBP
Jason Kidd, Richmond Butchers (3)




Kobe Bryant, Udorn Jai-Rai (5)
Andre Iguodala, Los Iguanas de Maracaibo (3)
Monta Ellis, Zermatt Abominables (1)




Carmelo Anthony, Richmond Butchers (1)
Joe Johnson, Bayside Tigers (3)
Paul Pierce, New York Kings (4)

Chris Bosh, Bayside Tigers (4)
Al Horford, Udorn Jai-Rai (1)
Nene, Udorn Jai-Rai (2)

Marcus Camby, Richmond Butchers (4)
David Lee, Los Iguanas de Maracaibo (2)
Zach Randolph, Udorn Jai-Rai (1)



World Comments: Kobe Bryant is gets the starting nod at shooting guard, after relinquishing the spot to Dwyane Wade a year ago for the Wasatch squad; Richmond leads the World with four All-Stars, while Udorn, with their three All-Stars, is the only other World team to nab more than two spots; this is Chris Paul's third selection, but the reigning All-Star EBP's first non-start; Carmelo Anthony headlines a group of four first-timers (Monta Ellis, Al Horford, and Zach Randolph) for the World Conference, getting the start at small forward; Three of the four PF/C backups are members of the Udorn Jai-Rai.


So what do you think? That look about right? Did your precious player get snubbed? Upset that stupid Steve Nash barely beat out America's favorite point guard for the World's starting spot? Vent in the comments!

Rigby Trojans

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TEAM: Rigby Trojans
CONFERENCE AFFILIATION: Wasatch Conference
OWNER: Nathan Wallace
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Rigby Trojans: 06-07 3rd Place, 07-08 12th Place, 08-09 10th Place
LOCATION: Rigby, Idaho
ARENA: Philo T. Farnsworth Center
MOTTO: "We Will Be Brave! We Will Be Strong! We Will Keep the Name of Rigby Feared and Respected!"
MOST-HATED RIVAL(s): Abominables

SEASON OUTLOOK

As far as the "direction that things have been looking" for the Rigby Trojans goes, "up" hasn't really been the bearing of choice. More often than not, "down" (and occasionally "sideways") has been the norm. But all that changed one fateful Labor Day morning, when Nathan Wallace's franchise was awarded their first ever #1 spot in the WFBL Draft.

A fine spot to find oneself, to be sure, but whom to pick? For Wallace and the Trojans, it was a no-brainer. "It was LeBron all the way," said Wallace. "He's on TV way more than anyone else, he does this thing where he throws chalk in the air—which is awesome—and he has a movie coming out about how he's not only a fantastic player, but is also a great teammate. These are all tell-tale signs of a sure-fire #1 draft pick."

Aside from LeBron—the consummate teammate—Rigby has loaded their lineup with returning starters Vince Carter and Brook Lopez, as well as newcomers Carlos Boozer and Tony Parker. With a lineup like that, the Trojans will surely be considered preseason favorites to win the Wasatch crown.

But one wonders: will Wallace regret passing on Paul, leaving the reigning league EBP to wreak havoc in Zermatt as the A-Boms try to three-peat? The Rigby coach seems unruffled. "I never quite understood what the big deal is with Chris Paul, anyway. We had him in 06-07, and we didn't win no stinkin' Concludings."

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