It's no longer Charles Barkley's All-Star game. Or David Robinson's, John Stockton's, Reggie Miller's, Patrick Ewing's or Karl Malone's. Their days, I'm glad to report, are numbered, for it's a young man's game. Of the 10 voted starters by fans, only Miami's Alonzo Mourning had turned 30, and that was within the last week. There's no doubt that without them the game is not what it is today.
Word is one generation paves the way for the next.
That's why Sunday's game belonged, for the very first time, to Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson and Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan and Michael Finley and Jason Kidd and Rasheed Wallace. It was the coming-out party for superstars of the aught decade. And that's not such a bad thing. Jordan captivated the sporting world, but he also turned the game into a one-sided affair, always in his favor. Today's game has no Jordan but several dynamic players, which suits the league just fine.