Suzie just told us that The Blood and Gold Ball will be held at the REPUBLIC in New Orleans!!! More later...but for now here's a link!

http://www.republicnola.com/about-repub ... space.html

Last year, the league bounced from a controversy-filled All-Star game of celebrity excess in Las Vegas to a tepid San Antonio-Cleveland championship round to a summer filled with a disgraced NBA referee's guilty plea in a gambling scandal. Fast-forward to the NBA's recent run, a remarkable turnaround that began when Commissioner David Stern celebrated the league's humanitarian efforts during an All-Star weekend in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. It was followed by exciting playoff runs featuring, among others, the resurgent Hornets and capped by a Celtics-Lakers that continues with Game 3 Tuesday night in Los Angeles. Boston leads the series 2-0.

"I just think it's great for the league," former Celtics great Larry Bird said during a recent NBA teleconference with former Lakers rival Magic Johnson to promote the renewed battle. "It's great for basketball."

So far, so good. TV ratings for Game 1 on Thursday were up 38 percent compared with the opener of the 2007 finals ?C the highest since 2004 ?C although viewership fell in Game 2.

Analysts say the encore edition of Celtics-Lakers is enough to intrigue casual viewers ?C and bring back old-school NBA fans who may have lost interest in the league once Jordan and the Bulls won their sixth and final title in 1998. Since then, with a brief run by Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O'Neal, the finals have been marked by plodding play, dull matchups, and a fleet of uninspiring teams from Detroit, Cleveland, and New Jersey, among others.
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