God, it's been how many years since Space Jam, and some people are still under the assumption that sports stars are good actors? It's not just Lorne Michaels and his poor casting choices for season premieres: during NBA games, players will screech and holler every time someone so much as touches them, hoping to get a foul call.

"It's just a part of the game to try and get the call," he said. "You are trying to sell what you're doing. When you go to the hole and you think you're getting hit, the first thing you do is flail or yell. And sometimes they get the call and sometimes they don't."

And while it doesn't seem to dangerous to let grown men scream like a banshee every time they get near the basket, it is certainly hurting our Hollywood standards.

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Was the hiring of Yi Jianlian, a 7-ft tall starter from China, a covert move by the New Jersey Nets to attract all the kids from Chinatown? That seems to be the assertion: some sort of national pride will attract the inhabitants of BeBo (below Bowery) to come see a fellow statesman in an NBA game.

It's not technically a bad idea, as the Beijing Olympics renewed China's interest in the American-dominated sport.

But according to the demographics, the majority of basketball fans in the country are Caucasian, while a large portion of players are African-American. So the New Jersey Nets logic of race-baiting to attract new fans seems like a backward tactic to encourage a new audience.

Still, Jianlian is an admirable power forward, and his draft may have had nothing to do with race until The New York Times got a hold of the story and went around interviewing everyone in Chinatown.

According to a study performed by AdAge, "In a survey of 907 people, 37% said they believe it is somewhat or very likely [the National Basketball Associated] rigs its games, and the number jumps to 41% among fans who describe themselves as "casual" or "avid" followers of professional basketball." And that's before the FBI investigation of referee Timothy Donaghy, who was accused of passing along inside information to gamblers. [NYS]