All star predictions and more

PARIS (The Monday International Show) - It's great to be back with you for what I hope will be a better 2009 than what 2008 turned out to be in terms of international crises!

Let's begin with some feel-good stories to brighten up the new year.

The first black-but also white- US president will be inaugurated tuesday, the day after Martin Luther King Day(quite excellent timing and symbolism), and along with his new ideas he'll make basketball the White house favorite instead of jogging or golf!

Cool!

Did you notice that a black head coach took Pittsburgh to the Super Bowl and it isn't such a big deal anymore.

A pioneer like gentleman Tony Dungy can retire with serenity; hey, maybe Obama has a rôle for him in his new administration?

It also feels good to have the born again, has- been, 37 year old quarterback Kurt Warner, lead the surprising Cardinals to the Super Bowl.

He's a really generous person with a handicapped son who deserves better than his squeakier than clean image!

I also feel relieved that a few weeks have gone by without an NBA head coach getting fired!

The early season hecatomb was highly unfair, especially in Toronto, Sacramento and Washington, who haven't fared any better since the firings!

There is a great NBA internet product on the market now which should be called the " NBA junkie league pass", that permits broadband consumers anywhere in the world to see most games live or replayed the next day!

Sometimes technological progress can be wonderful and you should know that the Euroleague and some domestic leagues are proposing the same type of package for their games!

It's b-ball orgy time!

Let's move on to a subject that fuels alot of discussions, the selections for the NBA All star game.

I feel pretty confident that I can give you the two teams with 95% accuracy.

The fans' picks for the starting fives are what they are-Iverson ahead of Devin Harris?, T-mac ahead of Chris Paul?-niet, but the real problem for the league is to find a way to lessen the impact of the Chinese vote because Jianlan starting ahead of Garnett would have been ridiculous!

The solution would be to let the fan vote count for a percentage of the final tally mixed with coaches and media votes.

In the east we'll see a starting five of Wade, Lebron, Garnett, Howard and Iverson with Harris, Carter, Bosh, Peirce, Turkoglou, Allen, and Granger coming from the bench.

The odd men out will be Joe Johnson, Jamison and Butler who, despite superior stats are not fan favorites.

I put only one true center in the 12 because the forwards and guards are more deserving In the west the starters will be Yao, Kobe, Duncan, Melo and whoever replaces an injured T-mac(Paul?).

The bench guys will be Parker, Stoudamire, Shaq, Nowitski, Roy, Gasol and Nash (chosen by Stern).

Players like Durant, Al Jefferson and Aldridge will probably have to wait another year depite good stats.

Brandon Roy is seriously under-estimated in the fan vote but the coaches love him!

I'm waiting for your reactions!

George Eddy