Stunned all-stars help crippled area
NEW ORLEANS -- As the charter bus turned right on to Lizardi Street and descended into this city's crippled Lower Ninth Ward, the lighthearted mood on board turned serious and sobering.
Through the windows on both sides, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and other NBA all-stars viewed unimaginable devastation. Suddenly, those horrific TV images and photographs burst to life.
Quaint, two-story homes once submerged in 25 feet of water still sit abandoned or boarded shut. Other houses bear the spray-painted Xs and numbers signifying rescues that were sometimes too late.
This is where Hurricane Katrina first left her mark in 2005, and where she endures 2½ years later.
"I didn't think it was going to be this bad," Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said moments after stepping outside into a steady rain. "I really had no idea. A lot of work needs to be done."
On Friday, the NBA paused from a weekend of festivities, rolled up its sleeves, threw on some work gloves and did its part to help New Orleans rebound from the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Billed as an "NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service," the world's best hoopsters and 2,500 league employees fanned out all over the city to help in rebuilding efforts.
Greeted by volunteers and folks from the hard-hit Holy Cross Neighborhood who stayed to reclaim their shattered lives, James, Nash, Kidd, Nowitzki, Chris Bosh and Deron Williams painted, scraped windows and attempted to raise awareness for a problem that isn't going away anytime soon.
Standing on a ladder, Nash, the Phoenix Suns' point guard whose wondrous game is devoted to the assist, was struck by the work remaining in New Orleans, 80 percent of which was flooded by the storm and when the levees failed.
"It's a great shame," Nash said. "I can't relate to what these people went through. It's devastating. To come here and see what little has been done is disappointing. It feels like the city has been forgotten in a lot of ways.
"This is not what America's about and we should look at why we failed."