This has to be the worst "article" i've ever read in my life. It's bad enough where i'm going to have to insert comments, line by line. Here we go:

Well, I'm not going back to the link, so you'll have to trust me on this one. The title of the article from the link said something about lebron missing the cut for the allstar game, but the title once you clicked on the article said Kidd and O'neal lead reserves. So, already we have confusion, and we haven't even started the article yet.

NEW YORK -- LeBron James missed the cut Tuesday in voting for All-Star reserves, finishing behind Eastern Conference guards Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Baron Davis and Jason Kidd.

In the first paragraph, we are given a list of Eastern conference guards that made it and one guard who didn't. So far, not TERRIBLE, per se, but a little unorganized.

"Being selected to the All-Star team, it wouldn't be nothing new to me," James said Tuesday before the 14 reserves were announced. "I've been on All-Star teams my whole life. That's just how I play the game of basketball."

Ok, so maybe this article IS about lebron not making the allstar game. I wont pass judgment on Lebron's use of grammar, but it will be tough to ignore the arrogance of the statement. I made the allstar team as a little leaguer once, does that mean being an NBA allstar would be "nothing new to me"? Big fish, little pond, lebron.

The league's 29 coaches selected the reserves.

Thanks for this little tidbit. But, in an article about all star reserves, shouldn't this be the lead in (if the article is going to cast doubt on the selections)? I mean, i ASSUME this article is about the snub that lebron got, so, shouldn't we establish who snubbed him? I realize this isn't the most earth shattering revelation, but announcing that the coaches make the picks should still be within the first 3 sentences. Not a seperate paragraph in the middle of the column.

Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers was among the Western Conference reserves for the league's showcase event Feb. 15 in Los Angeles.

What? Why are we talking about the west? We've only gone through the guards for the east. And again, even though it's a boring fact, the date of the game should be in the intro. If your goal is to hook the reader, then i can see how all the "facts" could come at the end of the article. "Starters for the allstar game are picked by the fans. Reserves are selected by the 29 coaches. This year's game will be played on Feb. 15th in Los angeles." That's how someone NOT eligible for the special olympics would write the "notes" section of the article at the end.

Other All-Star reserves for the West are: Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller of Sacramento, Sam Cassell of Minnesota, Andrei Kirilenko of Utah and Ray Allen of Seattle.

Well, at least we've talked about the same conference for two paragraphs in a row. First we had o'neal, and now we have the rest of the reserves. That's almost the whole team. That-a-boy, writer. Now, if only we knew who the starters were going to be...


The other East reserves are: Jamaal Magliore of New Orleans, Ron Artest of Indiana and Kenyon Martin of New Jersey.

Are you serious? We now get the rest of the EAST reserves? Three reserves from the east. If i was stephen hawkins, maybe i could then add these players to the rest of the east reserves that were mentioned IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH! And what was this article supposed to be about again? Lebron who?

Redd is averaging 22.1 points for the surprising Milwaukee Bucks, Pierce is the league's sixth-leading scorer (22.9) for Boston, Davis of New Orleans had the league's fifth-highest average (23.2), and Kidd has led New Jersey to first place in the Atlantic Division.

Ok ,a seperate pagraph on the stats of the allstars. That's interesting, i guess. But you know, call me crazy, but i think a better time to talk about these allstars stats were when you were actually talking them to begin with. Redd? who is redd. oh he's the guy you mentioned in the first paragraph. This guy is a real piece of work. He lists 3 reserves for the east, and then talks about the other reserves' stats. I'm getting a headache.

Starters for the league's 53rd All-Star Game, selected in fan balloting, are: Vince Carter of Toronto, Tracy McGrady of Orlando, Ben Wallace of Detroit, Jermaine O'Neal of Indiana, Allen Iverson of Philadelphia for the East; Yao Ming of Houston, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, Kevin Garnett of Minnesota, Steve Francis of Houston and Tim Duncan of San Antonio for the West.

This is the paragraph that enraged me enough to write this rant. It instantly triggered a memory of a book report that i had written in the 4th grade. I found it several years ago and was stunned at my ignorance. The last sentence of the report was "The characters in this book were matt and jeff hardy, x, y, z, etc." (btw, are those the hardy boys names or am i just thinking of wrestling?). A normal person might just skim over the above paragraph, but I'm going to go through it line by line.

first, the "fan balloting" info is a fact that again should be in it's own introduction paragraph. The way i see it, you have two choices: either ignore all the obvious facts of the allstar game, or include them all in one shot. Now's not the time to be telling us how starters are picked. For that matter, wouldn't logic dictate that you talk about the starters BEFORE the reserves? I understand that the starters were announced last week so it's "old news" but a quick "btw, in case you forgot, the starters are..." wouldn't hurt.

Ok, here's a hypo. If you were going to make a list for others to read (and, in theory, comprehend), would you list the items and then define the list, or vice versa. I can tell that i'm not being clear....When you make a list, where do you put the "subject", at the top or the bottom? Now, go back and look at this guy's list. When does he mention that he's talking about the East? AFTER he's done listing them. That's bordering on criminal. And of course, the only time he's consistent in the entire article is now when he mentions "the west" at the end of the list. Go back for a second and look at the list of 5 vs 5 for the starters. They aren't even in order in terms of position!! Center-foward-foward-guard-guard. Is that so hard? At least then i could compare the teams and get a general idea as to who is better. I don't know whether vince or mcgrady is considered the guard of the east, but the west goes: Center-Guard-Foward-Guard-Foward. Uh, ok.

Minnesota's Flip Saunders will coach the West, and Rick Carlisle of the Pacers will coach the East.

At some point, i was going to argue for a table, and i guess now's as good a time as any. This entire "article" should have never existed. It's just a glorified representation of info that SHOULD be in table format. You can list the west vs the east with coach at the top, then starters, then reserves. You could list where each player comes from (i.e. Vince Carter - Guard - Toronto Rapters) instead of adding that in a run on sentence. You could also have a column for the vital stats of the players (instead of just throwing in a paragraph that says "hey remember that redd guy? he scores a lot"). Then, after the table, you could write an analysis. Maybe even have a mini column of "allstar snubs" That's when you talk about lebron and anything else your heart desires. This random sentence about the allstar coaches makes absolutely no sense in terms of flow.

James is averaging 20.8 points, 5.9 assists and 5.9 rebounds for the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose surge of six victories in eight games has moved them into contention for a playoff spot in the East.

Ok, i tip my cap. Obviously, this is some kind of practical joke and i'm a FOOL for writing about the flaws of this article. This is too absurd to be real. Nobody would ever just throw in lebron stats at this point. Well played, AP, well played.

James is 13th in the NBA in scoring and 12th in assists, averaging 24.1 points since Cleveland traded Ricky Davis to Boston in mid-December. James, Pierce, Allen and McGrady are the only players averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Well this paragraph is interesting. Some more lebron stats, but qualified by only measuring the stats after a trade. why do i care? the trade has nothing to do about the allstar game. Did lebron and Davis clash? Was there no "team chemistry" (tm MD#)? Or is it just that lebron has to score more b/c Davis isn't there to carry some of the burden? Who cares, this has nothing to do with anything.

And why are pierce allen and mcgrady's stats mentioned? is it supposed to show that lebron was snubbed? Oh wait, that's what this article is supposed to be about, right?

Coaches had to choose a center, two forwards, two guards and two others regardless of position. They could not vote for their own players.

If you've made it this far in my rant, i'm sure you can figure out my complaints with this paragraph. It's like shooting fish in a barrel at this point.

"I'd be very excited about it, but if it [doesn't] happen it's not the end of the world," James said after the Cavs' morning shootaround in Auburn Hills, Mich.

I get it, someone wrote a good article and then cut it up and threw it on the floor and then just randomly put it back together.

Cleveland coach Paul Silas said he had expected James to make the Eastern team.

"He's put up the kind of numbers that warrants that. We're beginning to win and that's also a major factor," Silas said.

Other players having strong seasons who did not make the All-Stars include: Mike Bibby of Sacramento, Latrell Sprewell of Minnesota, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton of Detroit, Michael Finley of Dallas and Zach Randolph of Portland.

What a great way to conclude the article. [sarcasm]. I'm disgusted.