Power Outage

I first tried to play the devil's advocate. Possibly, due to the 34 years of the NBA Dunk Contest, maybe contestants are just running out of ideas, and if all has been done, it is unfair to ridicule them. Then I realized, there is absolutely no way to beat around the bush on this one; Saturday Night proved to be the worst Slam Dunk Contest since the tradition started in 1976. While Nate Robinson became the only player to ever reel in 3 Dunk trophies, the NBA has to be tempted to place an asteric next to his name, due to the unworthiness of his three opponents. Shannon Brown ran the whole court only to dunk from a few feet in front of the foul line and merely switch hands in the air. Gerald Wallace threw the ball up to himself, gathered with much tenacity and threw down a reverse dunk, while Demar Derozan, who gave one of the only highlights of the night with his ever so unoriginal "Invincible dunk," didn't back up his "I'm gonna be better than Jordan" smack with his mediocre throw downs. Even Robinson, who tempted the crowd by bringing Cowboys cheerleaders onto the floor, only to not use them, gave us dunks that were less than arousing even to the amateur dunk contest viewer. Charles Barkley, acting as the say as you feel annoucner, proclaimed that some of last night's dunks were average game dunks, and none were worthy of the high scores that the judge's table was dishing out. Chuck and I are both wondering where the dunk contest has gone. Where is the creativity of the Super Man cape? The swagger of jumping over your opponent? The skill of the pass or the art of the set up? Where is the showmanship, like when Gerald Green blew out a candle on a cupcake while dunking, or when Vince Carter hung on the rim by sticking his elbow inside of it. The problem with the dunk contest is not that the players aren't athletic or skilled enough, but that they are not big enough or smart enough. Last night Kobe Bryant walked onto the floor to assist teammate Shannon Brown, and it was the biggest adrenaline rush I got the whole night. It was followed by a traditional alley-oop followed by a two-handed jam; stuff I've seen in the High School gym. The point, is that the Dunk Contest that was once so popular and exciting, is now a sinking ship, and the only way to save it is by adding Star Power. The NBA has to go out of its way to get the biggest stars into to next year's contest, so in the event that all dunks are taken and all that is left is a mere tomahawk from the baseline, at least we will know the name on the back of their shirt. I love the Dunk Contest, it is my favorite event of the All-Star weekend, but something has to happen in the next 364 days to turn the light back on.

JD