BY DAN MATHEWS
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – I don’t know about you, but I enjoyed last night’s NBA All-Star Game. 

Was it the most polished game of basketball? No. It never is. 

But I think more importantly, it showed us that normalcy in sports and life are even closer. Sure, we had some players and others who voiced their displeasure with holding the event. However, I think we showed that any event can be pulled off in the middle of a pandemic, when it is well planned out and given time to succeed. The All-Star Game had both luxuries and executed the plan to near perfection. 

The NBA All-Star Game isn’t as popular as it used to be. The stars don’t take part in the Slam Dunk contest. We’re not really impressed by someone shooting three pointers. Plus, the Skills Challenge involves the boring part of the game… Fundamentals. 

I think another thing that the All-Star Game represented last night, is that we’re finding ways to play games, instead of finding reasons to call them off. Think about where we were a year ago. Sports had shut down and we didn’t know when we could get it back. Soon enough, we found a way and other leagues copied what the NBA and Major League Baseball did. 

Little by little, we’re getting more encouraging news in our fight to beat COVID-19. The Braves already have plans to allow fans inside Truist Park for games. Plus, there’s plans to have full capacity allowed inside the stadium for this summer’s MLB All-Star Game. 

If we can get to a full stadium at some point this Braves season, that will show that normalcy is upon us again. I don’t know about you, but I like sports. I like loud capacity crowds in stadiums and arenas. Stop telling us what we cannot do in sports during this pandemic and let’s focus on what we can do. 

Thank you NBA for giving us a show last night. Thank you Atlanta for showing the country what we in this great city already know… It’s a special place. Let’s show it off even more in July.