It's been a busy week, a little too busy, as you've noticed by the lack of blog posts. The Preakness, the NBA playoffs, the first Orioles-Nationals series, Barry tying Babe Ruth, the unfathomable fact that Michael Barrett punched out A.J. Pierzynski on Saturday in front of several million eyeballs and hasn't been suspended yet - all gone in a blur.

Too late to go into detail about all of that (although some of it will be revisited, particularly the playoffs, which features the last two of three Game 7s tonight, running against the "24'' season finale, of all things).

Time, though, to acknowledge this: The 2008 NBA All-Star Game is going to New Orleans.

Now, I've written before - back in the weeks immediately following the deadly hurricane last fall - that hosting a big-time sporting event is the last thing New Orleans needs. Studies have shown time and time again that cities struggle to break even most of the time when they bring a Super Bowl or Final Four or such an event, and that the boasts of economic impact by the league or sport involved and by the city politicians, tend to be a load of you-know-what. New Orleans, in fact, is proof of that, since the city was revealed to have been wracked with poverty even though big sports events roll through there every other year - and cultural events come in every year.

So take with a grain of salt David Stern's pronouncement that the All-Star Game gives a "vote of confidence'' to the city, and that it will "demonstrate ... that New Orleans is very much open for business. Don't dismiss the fact that the Hornets' sleazy owner, George Shinn, is trying to leverage the city for a new arena, and the possibility that this is Stern's ploy to apply league pressure. The NBA really likes new arenas, and probably likes New Orleans more than it likes Oklahoma City.

(It should like Baltimore more than both cities, but Baltimore hasn't figured out how to build a better arena than that relic on Howard Street, so the NBA has no reason to care).

Besides all that, though, there is this: The '08 All-Star Weekend is going to do wonders for the city's psyche.

That's never a small part of big blowouts like this. It would be nice, in fact, if leagues and cities would just put it that way instead of pulling the wool over our eyes about how they're going to pump gajillions of dollars into the economy. Tell us, It's going to make everybody around here feel a lot better, and get people who are hurting badly to have some serious fun.

That's what All-Star Weekend will do. It's also what the Saints will do. No, it's highly unlikely the city can honestly afford the Saints, but if Reggie Bush has the psychological impact on New Orleans that everyone believes he will, that will be a great trade-off. Great cities have great diversions, and even if those diversions don't make the cities as fiscally rich as some would insist, making them socially, culturally and emotionally rich is just as valuable.

Once upon a time, New Orleans and All-Star Weekend seemed made for each other. In fact, it's what everybody in and around the league has been waiting for since the Hornets got there. Just the fact that the Hornets moved there lifted the spirits of long-time NBA followers who only needed a half-decent reason to make a trip there. Why the Hornets never had the best home record in the NBA pre-Katrina is a mystery. Teams should show up at tipoff worn out from the partying. What a waste.

New Orleans might not be that kind of city anymore - but then again, it might be at some point, and maybe bringing All-Star Weekend there will help it get back to it. Without draining the city coffers dry, preferably. If the city has to lose a dime off of this, then they shouldn't host it. Let the NBA do the heavy lifting.

Either way, I can't wait. Actually, this may have been just a long-winded admittance of a selfish wish: to do the All-Star Game in Nawlins. Can't promise you that it wasn't.

This much must be recognized, though: no matter what happens, it'll have to go a long way to beat out the '07 weekend in Vegas. And that game is still nine months away.