My goodness, was that bad. When your own commentators, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, are trashing the thing as it goes on, you know it stinks. And it did.

I don’t think that will be the end of the thing, because the league probably isn’t willing to give up on it. There are problems, of course. The big-name stars in the league refuse to participate these days, which takes so much gloss off the thing. In light of that, I think I’d be tempted to open it up to people all over the country, have regional tryouts in NBA cities and just let the whole world try it. At least you’d have a shot at some originality and/or craziness.

But as it stands, it’s so totally flat. And really, after all this time, how many different ways can you dunk a basketball? Without introducing props, which also gets very tiresome, what else can somebody do? Sure, they can go higher, dunk a little prettier, I guess. But there’s a porno-like sameness that’s incredibly boring.

Tweet This Post

Rudy Fernandez apparently will be announced today as the final participant in the NBA’s dunk contest during All-Star Weekend. I’ve got an idea for you, Rudy — a prop you can use on your first dunk.

Get one of the other participants in the contest, oh, maybe a guy by the name of Dwight Howard, to go stand under the rim while you slam it down in his grill, OK? (By the way, this famous dunk came off a defensive switch by the USA team in the Olympics, with poor Howard, the USA center, trying to keep up with Rudy on the way to the basket. What kind of pick-and-roll defense is that? What was Howard doing trying to chase Rudy down? Hmm, guess who the defensive coach for the U.S. team was?)

Tweet This Post