2009 NLL All-Star festivities

National Lacrosse League All-Stars party with the public

It’s not very often you get to hang out with your favorite professional athletes, much less your favorite all-stars. But, that is exactly what went down on March 6 at the Pepsi Center. The NLL All-Stars kicked off their “All-Star weekend” with a press conference open to the public and a chance for anyone to ask questions, a meet-and-greet complete with mini games against the all-stars, a skills competition between the East and West rivals, and an after party that gave fans and players a chance to mingle. The press conference revealed new reversible jerseys that will be worn by both teams. They will switch colors at halftime, in the first time anything like that has been done in any All-Star game in any sport.

The West took away the skills title in a 3-2 victory in what the heavily biased fans hoped was a hint of things to come in Saturday nights' game. While the night was full of fun and games, fans expect a different kind of attitude in the real deal.

“The coolest thing about the NLL All-Star game is that they don’t play it like an exhibition game, like most all-star games are played in other sports,” Mammoth fan, Steve Bickel, told Metromix. “They are not afraid to play this like a real game. They hit hard.”–Alex Jimenez, Special to Metromix