The results are in. After 5.3 million ballots were cast worldwide, the fans have selected the starters for the 53rd annual NBA All-Star Game.

Many of the usual suspects are back, including the NBA’s top scorers, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady, and the league’s top rebounders, Kevin Garnett and Ben Wallace.

So we’ve got the top two scorers, but what about No. 3? Where’s Peja? I know his name is hard to pronounce, but is it that hard to bubble in?

Why was Peja Stojakovic, who ranks third in the league with an average of 25.2 points per game and leads the league in three-pointers with 128, once again overlooked by the fans? Sure, he doesn’t dunk like Vince Carter, who led the voting for the fourth time despite averaging 3.9 points less than Peja, but Stojakovic deserves some recognition from the fans. The man has led the Kings to the best record in the NBA, and he has done it with Chris Webber on the injured list.

All right, so the fans didn’t give Peja the start, but it must have been close, right? Just a few votes behind Duncan and KG?

Actually the Sacramento star finished sixth in the voting for Western conference forwards, just one spot ahead of Webber, who has been on the injured list for the entire season. In fact, Peja received just 72,398 more votes than Webber. Out of 5.3 million ballots, only 72,398 votes separated an MVP candidate from a player who has not seen the court all year. Doesn’t that bother anyone?

Apparently, 383,971 fans believe that Webber deserves a spot on the All-Star team even though he has not played in a single game this season. I know he averaged 23 points and 10.5 boards last season, but he’s averaged 0.0 points and 0.0 rebounds this year. C-Webb may be a household name, but he hasn’t quite put up All-Star numbers this year, or any numbers for that matter.

Then again, Webber is not the only player to receive a substantial amount of fan votes despite spending the majority of the season on the injured list. Believe it or not, Alonzo Mourning was the No. 2 vote-getter among Eastern conference centers. 413, 356 fans thought that Mourning, who did not start a game this year and saw action in just 12 contests, should be on the All-Star team. While he has averaged eight points and 2.3 rebounds more than Webber this season, Mourning’s 2003-04 campaign has hardly warranted All-Star consideration.

Perhaps under the impression that it is still 1993, a remarkable total of 358,035 fans voted for Scottie Pippen, making Pippen the fifth-leading vote-getter for Eastern conference forwards. It was an honest mistake. He’s back in that Bulls uniform, his name was on the ballot. What basketball fan wouldn’t think three-peat?

Well, maybe one who has actually watched the games this season and realizes that Pippen has started just six of them and averages only 5.9 points and 2.2 assists.

That is the problem with fan voting for the All-Star game. Too many basketball “fans” don’t watch the games, or read the papers, or follow the stats and standings. Too many basketball fans don’t know anything at all about the game and its players.

Yet for some reason, these “fans”, who haven’t paid enough attention to realize that Webber hasn’t played all year, Mourning retired in November, Pippen hasn’t quite been the same since Jordan retired (the first time) and Peja Stojakovic is one of the league’s premier players, for some reason these fans feel the need to vote for the All-Star starters.

Thankfully, the coaches select the All-Star reserves (and yes, they voted for Peja), but with only seven spots remaining on each All-Star roster the coaching panel struggles to squeeze in deserving players after the fans have squandered the first five selections.

Perhaps, instead of continuing to allow the fans to select the starters based on such criteria as “I’ve heard of him”, “He’s supposed to be good, right?”, and “I saw him play once, or was that Kobe?” the NBA should let the coaches select the entire All-Star team. I think you would see significantly fewer votes for players who spend the entire first half of the year on the injured list.

Now I understand that the All-Star game is supposed to be for the fans, but All-Star selection should be a legitimate honor bestowed upon deserving players by a selection committee that actually knows something about basketball.

There are plenty of other All-Star events that could be placed in the hands of the fans without damaging the integrity of the game. Let the fans select the participants for the dunking contest or the three-point shootout or the rookie game.

If they cast a few thousands ballots for Dr. J or Michael Jordan to compete in the dunking contest, or for Bird to take on Steve Kerr in the three-point shootout, the rest of us can just smile and shake our heads without having to worry about the legitimacy of the All-Star selections.

The NBA is for the for the fans so let the fans have their fun, but lets make the All-Star game actually mean something, even if we have to sacrifice a certain measure of Vinsanity next year.