5 Ways to Improve the Dunk Contest

I was reading the article on TSN by Eric Freeman ( http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/55751/dunk-contest-sets-new-record-for-boredom) regarding how boring the dunk contest was this year when my ten year old brother called me. My little brother's favorite professional sport has always been the NBA and so you can imagine my surprise when he called to tell me how bad the dunk contest was this year. We are talking about a kid who could find the good qualities in Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and on a real good day even Barack Obama. He never has anything bad to say about anything. In light of this recent phenomenon, my brother talking bad about his beloved league, I got to thinking about what could be done to make this once huge spectacle a big time event again. Here are a few ideas.

1) The most obvious idea-Get the stars involved again.

2) If you don't win first place you get your hands chopped off right after the contest is over in front of a live television audience. I think this might be the most effective idea, the problem would be getting people to actually enter.

3) No matter where you are at in your contract, you become a free agent next year. Just imagine all the disgruntled stars who would be knocking down the door to figure out a way to get out of their contract. On the other hand, most of the people who participate in the contest these days are guys who play 2 minutes a game and could be without a job the next year. The thing is these guys have 52 inch vertical leaps and I think it would at least inspire them to be creative.

4) All three losers have to go play for the Nets.

5) Last but not least. The winner gets to trade places with any player on any team.