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Times Staff Writer

So what’s a tougher ticket, the Super Bowl or NBA All-Star game?

Eric Baker, president of an online ticket service, StubHub.com, says it’s no contest.

“You could get an excellent Super Bowl seat for $4,000,” Baker said. “For the All-Star game, a seat between the hoops and less than 10 rows up is going for $10,000 to $12,000.

“It’s amazing when you think about it. The Super Bowl is a championship game. The All-Star game is an exhibition. It’s because it is played in a small arena, very few tickets are available and it is in L.A.

“It’s the ultimate party with a very exclusive guest list.”

Trivia time: Marvin Gaye sang the national anthem for the 1983 All-Star game at the Forum. Who sang the national anthem for the 1972 game at the Forum?

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Full-time job: Shaunie O’Neal, wife of Shaquille O’Neal, is working as a special correspondent for “Access Hollywood” this weekend. Asked whether she would like do more television work, she said, “Maybe on occasion. I don’t have a lot of spare time. I’m raising four kids.”

Plus one self-proclaimed juvenile delinquent.

Cookin’ up big plans: Shaunie O’Neal wasn’t sure what her husband had planned for Valentine’s night. “He likes to keep it a secret,” she said, “but it’s always something special. Last year, he rented a restaurant and cooked for me.”

Handsome family: Before heading off to his party at the Playboy Mansion on Friday night, Shaq and his family attended the Rookie Challenge game at Staples Center.

When TNT showed the family at halftime, Charles Barkley said, “Thank God his kids look like his wife.”

No “hottie”: During Barkley’s appearance with Jay Leno on Thursday, Leno pointed out one of the guys on Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” had called Barkley a “hottie.”

“I don’t like being called a hottie,” Barkley said. “I want to be called a big, strong, sexy man. Now Rick Fox, he’s pretty.”

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No fan of this show: Barkley told Leno he was headed over to the Magic Johnson tribute that night, where he would introduce Jessica Simpson.

Said Leno: “Do you watch her show?”

Barkley: “Jay, I’ve got a life.”

A wall lot of fun: It was announced at a news conference Saturday that the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings will play exhibition games in China on Oct. 14 and 17. The first game will be played in Yao Ming’s hometown of Shanghai, the second in Beijing.

The Rockets’ Steve Francis, looking forward to seeing the Great Wall of China, quipped, “Maybe Yao and I can run up and down the Great Wall.”

Trivia answer: Jim Nabors.

And finally: Can you imagine the demand for tickets in Shanghai? Yao said through an interpreter he would need the whole stadium just to take care of his requests.

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.

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