Barry Smitherman and his son arrived early at the Detroit-Washington exhibition game on Oct. 11, not to check out the Pistons but to see a movie star.

"We don't care about the Pistons," Smitherman, 42, said. "My son (William, 5) just wanted to see Michael Jordan. William loved him in 'Space Jam.'"

The Smithermans weren't alone. Although many true basketball fans were among the sellout crowd of 22,076 that night at The Palace, a large segment came to see a multimedia megastar ? and it wasn't Pistons rookie Zeljko Rebraca.

"We wanted to see 'MJ,'" said 32-year-old Sahiem Jones, who plopped down $160 so he and his 5-year-old son Nicholas could attend.