Even bribery won't help the Jazz stars win

Every time the Utah Jazz have been on TNT or ESPN this season, the commentators talk about the MVP-like season Carlos Boozer is currently producing.

Then they'll speak at length at how talented point guard Deron Williams is and about how he makes his teammates better and on and on and on.

The gushing gets a little over the top sometimes, in fact.

The Jazz — Boozer and Williams particularly — can't complain about a lack of respect from the "experts" in the national media this season. One year after surprisingly getting to the conference finals, Boozer and Williams are seen as rising stars in the NBA to those "in the know."

Fans of the NBA, meanwhile, must have a different opinion. When the first All-Star voting totals were released this week, Boozer was a distant fourth in the voting for Western Conference forwards behind Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan. The top three forwards were all bunched up with between 482,127 votes and 423,608. Boozer had just 175,248.

But Boozer's appeal at the ballot box (or computer screen at nba.com) was huge compared to his point guard's. Williams wasn't even among the top 10 vote getters among Western Conference guards — and they only listed the top 10. That means he has fewer votes than Golden State's Baron Davis in 10th place, who had 100,422. By comparison, the conference's leaders at guard were Kobe Bryant, with 569,302 and Tracy McGrady, with 388959.

Jazz fans may feel this is the biggest voting injustice since Sanjaya made it to the Top 5 in last year's American Idol. It means the Jazz will not have a starter on the All-Star team again this year. Sure there are still 30 days left to vote, but it's safe to say that Ron Paul has a better chance of being the next president of the United States than Williams has of being voted in as an All-Star starter.

Boozer, for certain, and perhaps Williams will be selected by the coaches as alternates. But neither one will get close to being voted in despite the Jazz's blatant attempts to bribe fans into voting for their Jazz favorites at EnergySolutions Arena.

That's right, the Jazz are bribing fans to vote in this silly popularity contest. It's becoming as corrupt as a Cuban election while making as much sense as the electoral college.