NBA: When All-Star frenzy gripped LA

LOS ANGELES: At a time when our part of the world is warming up to the Cricket World Cup, people were lining up at the Staples Centre in faraway Los Angeles for not quite the same reasons.
Each year, the NBA holds up its regular season games to stage a basketball carnival, taking it to cities across the United States, where the best of players converge for the All-Star Weekend.
And what a weekend it was.
The three-day affair usually has everything a basketball fanatic looks forward to. With games getting front seats filled up by Hollywood stars and musicians frequently, the build-up is just perfect - a celebrity game to kick-start the proceedings along with NBA Rookies up against a more settled looking Sophomores on Day I.
While the media was anxiously awaiting its first interaction with household names in the game, the nearby Los Angeles Convention Centre was buzzing with activity. Hoops were set up almost everywhere in a massive exhibition hall, sponsor stalls decked with gizmos, and life-size cut-outs of LeBron James and Pau Gasol for children to stand against and take pictures.
The celebrity game was a pleasant surprise in contrast to the film stars' cricket/football (read soccer) matches we're accustomed to - a beefed up Bollywood brigade huffing and puffing their way chasing a ball to the boundary.
Having said that, Hollywood celebrities are no different. But the NBA makes sure the group is well mixed up. A standard celebrity line-up has retired men and women professionals, Hollywood stars as well as current players. Sample this team that made up the West: Justin Bieber, Zac Levi (of Chuck fame), R&B star Trey Songz, rapper Romeo Miller and a Kardashian (Rob, not Kim or Khloe).
After Justin Bieber produced a Most Valuable Player winning performance in a losing cause in front of shrieking young girls in tears, the Rookies produced a thrilling victory over the second-year Sophomores.
Blake Griffin is in his first year on the NBA roster and it was evident why he is so highly rated. The LA Clippers forward announced what was in store for the fans - he leapt over a car the next day to win the Slam Dunk Contest.
According to experts around the world, the All-Star Weekend was losing its charm owing to presumed monotony and the NBA revived it in the city that is home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kobe Bryant is to basketball is what Sachin Tendulkar is to cricket, and his 37-point performance in the All-Star game had fans ecstatic, as a successful weekend concluded at the Staples Centre.
Cut to the World Cup being staged in India and fans who had lined up for tickets in Bangalore to see their team play England were sent back beaten and bruised by the police in a near-riot situation.
Are there similarities and differences? Yes. Sportsmen are revered everywhere and it's the fans who make them. The difference is that the NBA acknowledged it.