DALY: Fans botch All-Star voting

Congratulations to the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas (635,540) and Brendan Haywood (291,490). In the recently completed NBA All-Star balloting, they were the top two vote-getters among players who haven’t stepped on the court yet this season.

You’ve gotta love All-Star voting. Arenas actually outpolled Hawks star Joe Johnson (420,210) - even though he’s scored the exact same number of points as Dolph Schayes (0), who’s closing in on his 81st birthday.

As for Haywood, he was listed on more ballots this year than he was last (less than 100,000), and last year he posted career highs in just about every statistical category.

Then there’s Allen Iverson, whose Pistons - a 59-win club last season - are 20-18 since he joined them in early November. I’m trying to decide which is worse, AI starting in the NBA All-Star Game or Alex Ovechkin not starting in the NHL All-Star Game.

Speaking of these All-Star extravaganzas, if the NFL had the same rule the NHL did - one that results in a suspension for any player who backs out of the game without a note from his doctor - the Pro Bowl might almost be watchable.

Did you see Rocco Baldelli, who just signed as a free agent with the Red Sox, took out a half-page ad in the St. Petersburg Times to thank Tampa Bay Rays fans for their support during his five years with the team?

“Over the past two years,” the ad said, “I have made many mistakes that have affected my family, my team and most importantly our fans. … I recognize that I have lost the right to ask for your patience and understanding; however, I will do everything in my power to regain your trust and respect.”

Whoops, my bad. That’s an excerpt from the newspaper ad Pacman Jones took out when the NFL suspended him for a season in ‘07. It’s hard to keep these newspaper ads straight sometimes.

It’s been another rough month for Mark McGwire. Baseball Hall of Fame voters shunned him again, and now his bodybuilder brother Jay is writing a tell-all book detailing Mark’s use of performance enhancing drugs, according to the Web site Deadspin.com.

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