I’ve talked here before about what a drop-dead great columnist Bill Simmons from ESPN is. Note, I said, “columnist.” Not “sports columnist.”

He’s done it again.

And this time he’s writing about a subject close to home. My home.

“Like everyone else who was there, I had more fun than I thought, and I won’t forget what I saw, and I’ll always remember painting the walls of McDonogh 35 on Friday afternoon and basking in the spirit of the kids who attend school there. They were happy to have us, and we were happy to be there, and that’s what life is really about.

Did the weekend accomplish anything other than painting a few schools, planting a few gardens, raising some much-needed money and making the city feel good for a few days? I say yes. Everyone who travelled here for All-Star Weekend will think about returning some day, not because they feel bad, but because it’s New Orleans, and it’s ready for us again. Skip your next Vegas trip and convince your friends to spend a wild weekend in the French Quarter. Don’t do it for charity, do it because it will be fun. And it will.”

Yes, it was a great weekend here in New Orleans. The city put on one great friggin’ show for the NBA and all the fans who streamed into town to participate in the NBA All-Star festivities.

But, hey, Bill Simmons has already written the consummate column about it all. Here.