Monday, February 19, 2007

NBA All-Star Moments

The game wasn't very exciting, but here are some of the best moments, courtesy of YouTube.

Charles Barkley races a 67 year old ref. Question: How much do I love Charles Barkley? Answer: a lot.

Shaq, LeBron, and Dwight Howard breakdance. I like it when Shaq makes Howard's jersey move like he has an alien in his stomach.

Dunk contest:

Gerald Green's first and best dunk. (I do think the judges were throwing a bone to the lowly Celtics by letting him win.)

Dwight Howard slaps a sticker of himself at the top of the backboard. Impressive. Barkley calls MJ "the Russian judge" for only giving him an 8.

I have a special place in my heart for dunk contests because I once participated in one. In college, there was an annual all-night sports tournament called Late Night Olympics, and between events, they have various activities to keep everyone entertained. One of them was a dunk contest. They lowered the rim from 10 feet to 9 feet for the guys and 8 feet for the girls. It was the perfect height, because it was high enough to be challenging (I am 5'9" and was the shortest participant), but low enough so you could screw around a bit and still pull of the dunk. My friend Lauren and I competed against a few behemoth members of the women's varsity volleyball team. Luckily, before the competition, one of the guys took a shining to us and gave us some tips. "It's all about the flair, ladies! Be creative! Hang on the rim!" We cracked ourselves up practicing some of the typical show-off moves.

When the contest began, there were about 500 people watching, so there was a distinct potential for epic embarrassment. The volleyball mammoths just did straight-up dunks, whereas Lauren and I got fancy...spinning in the air, slapping the backboard, or slamming the ball off the ground to catch it in the air for the dunk. The judges loved our stuff. She came in first and I came in second place, in what was the highlight of my basketball career.

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