Overrated Feats in Sports: Slam Dunk

The concept of dunking is old hat. If you know how to elevate, make sure you know how to score when you get your hands anywhere near the basket. Seems simple enough. But even monstars like Shaquelle "man of 1001 nicknames" O'Neal have missed a handful of dunks in his lifetime. Even with that 0.000009% failure rate(notably higher for mere mortals) involved with all dunks, They are still pretty much one of the most overrated feats in all of sports.

Before you disagree with the truth, allow me to explain. Great dunks like the Honey Dip, 720, and 360 tamahawk are swe inspiring. Must dunks, however, are awe enducing. Meaning, they make you wanna yawn and take a nap for a few minutes. Blake Griffin jumping over a car is nothing new. ESPN had a show called City Slam, where a street baller calling himself Skywalker(Government name is Chris Lowery, iirc) jumped car a few years ago. Difference is, Skywalker went over the top of it, and it was actually something to get excited about when he did it.

Main difference between their dunks: The stage where it happened. We are supposed to believe that since Blake is a pro player, his version of that dunk automatically trumps the City Slam Skywalker dunk. That's a big load of house radish! Black is a pro because he is an overall better player than most people in the world. Dunking isn't an important attribute unless your playing NBA Jam: Tournament Edition. in which case, you should know that Bill Clinton had some sweet dunking ability, but would wouldn't even make a D-League team in real life.

Also, Blake had Kenny The Jet as a hypeman, plus a Choir. That's not just one prop, that's almost an armada when counted Jesus and all the angels who may have been chilling out and watching the contest Saturday night. All Skywalker had for back up was a bunch of Star Wars nerds, and Buzz Aldrin. Seems pretty lop sided to me. The only way people would own up to the lameness of Blakes dunk, would be is Scientists genetically engineered a Tauntaun, for the sole purpose of having Skywalker jump over it, while holding a light saber in his strong hand and dunking with his off-hand.

I'm sure everyone who hates the NBA's dunk contest, in this post Jordan/Nique/Squd incarnation of it, would love it if David Stern allowed non NBA players to take part in it every year. Think about it. Why not let playground legends like Spyda, 747 and the rest of those And1 guys put on a show that the leagues top stars('Bron and Wade amounst others) simply can't because of the risk of injury involved with creativily jumping?

At least then, we wouldn't have to sit through 5 minutes of bench players, from teams most of us don't care about anyway, missing dunks that would have looked "neat" if they succeeded the first couple of tries. The streetball guys tour world, have name a name for themselves, and people actually WANT TO see them. A smart business man would try and back off that. Not saying the NBA commish isn't smart...Or am I?

Lets face it, the NBA dunk contest has fallen off the proverbial cliff. Even when Nate Robinson donned the green Shoes and Knick Uniform, and climbed up the back of a caped Dwight Howard, that semi amazing accomplishment seemed to be lacking somehow. Everyone with eyes knew that Nate had mad hops before that dunk. If you told me the both of them were going to triple jump across the grand canyon together, then I might have a couple of doubts about it happening as planned.

if you told me they were going to try it barefooted, i'd raise an eyebrow. if you said they were going to ware the Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers I'd expect the stunt to go off without a hitch. My point is that guys are so athletic these days, a lot of the dunks that Dominique and MJ did when they were young are pretty standardized now. Don't believe me? You have Allen Iverson judging a dunk contest in china, and one of the contestants took off from the free throw line.

Did he look like he was built like Yao Ming? yeah, but that only strengthens my arument. Guys like Yao could stand at the free throw line, lift his arm up, and dunk my falling forward if he wanted do. Kevin Durant has a nine foot wingspan. He could jump from the freethrow line, rock the cradle, call his mama, do his taxes, and eat a Hot Pocket before throwing it down at the rim.

What's sad is that ten years from now, a lot of people will still look at 360 dunk as being amazing in the NBA. Meanwhile, Shawn White will have a sun who'll master a 1080 degree dunk from a modified skateboard, and everybody will act as if it's significantly less of an achievement because he didn't have the London Philharmonic playing in the background. Give me a break

Skywalker jumps car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OcolAT5kg&feature=related

Skywalker walking the sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f68nb3BRDck&feature=related