All-Star Weekend Wrap Up: Superman That Ball

I had an All-Star weekend post all ready to go and then my blackberry reset, and I lost the post. Unfortunately I don't remember anything I said, but I will do my best to replicate . . .

I was thoroughly impressed with the All-Star weekend's events, both on-court and off (from what we know so far). The slam dunk contest was fantastic, the game itself started out like a show boating outing as usual, but then it got intense as the game progress. I guess that's usually what happens because at the end of the day, these guys are in this game because they hate losing. The East pulled it out, and while I know LeBron James had a pretty good game, and I have to admit a few really nasty moves, I thought Ray Allen really came through in the clutch for them - which is what MVP means to me. Who won the game for you? Now most fans don't put too much stock in the all-star accolades, but the league keeps track of that stuff. Every January in the weeks leading up to All-Star weekend we are inundated with all-star history facts, and a lot of times money incentives are tied into that in their contracts for winning these events.

The slam dunk contest was highly entertaining. I have to say I was impressed mostly because a little creativity combined with high-flying feats (a tad gimmicky in my book) breathed some life back into what has been a fairly dull affair for a number of years. I went to the slam dunk contest last year and I can honestly say I forgot that Gerald Green won and I couldn't tell you what one single dunk looked like. It certainly helps matters that this year's contest featured an on the rise, semi-marquee player in Dwight Howard, and a returning dunk champion with some serious hops. Although some of their dunks were quite gimmicky, they did some pretty high degree of difficulty stunts. Never underestimate the ability of likable personalities to reel in the dough.

Green's cupcake dunk could only be truly appreciated in the replays. I watched it in a restaurant and I had to laugh at the collective "ooooooh!" I heard when they replayed Green blowing out the candle on the cupcake. I saw flashbacks of Dave Chappelle's "And 1 mixtape" skit. Dwight Howard said he thought he was going to take a bite out of the cupcake, and then the contest would have been over for Howard if Green had done that. Now that would have been funny.

Green's shoeless dunk seems like something whose full effect could only be appreciated by those who have dunked before, which is why he received such high scores for what seemed mediocre, and perhaps why the fans voted for Howard to win. Springing off of one's feet alone with no support is no joke, but the dunk itself was rather mediocre. The marketer in me couldn't help but think that some shoe exec somewhere whose shoe was left on the scorer's table was pissed when the shoes came off. The shoes, the shoes, it's gotta be the shoes. I guess that's not true.

But Howard's dunks were just sick and wrong. Sick. The first one, off the backboard, I'm proud to say I had a similar dunk (for which he did not win in a previous all-star contest) posted on this very blog just a few weeks ago. That dunk he did first pretty much ended the contest. The angles he had to hit to do that - incredible. The other dunks, including the tap with one hand dunk, with the other, the Superman - just very athletic dunks. When he put the small basket up I thought for sure he was going to dunk a Nerf ball and a basketball. While the resulting dunk was just OK to me, I was glad that he didn't go with the total gimmick. I probably would have ended with Superman or that back of the glass dunk. Sick. He's supposed to be too tall for this stuff.

I missed the three point, the skills contest, and that 3-on-3 competition they have with an NBA, WNBA, and retired player, but the dunk contest is always the premier event of the night, and it did not disappoint. Last year's skills contest was pretty entertaining since it featured big names - I think I recall Kobe and LeBron competing but I don't recall who won.

AND last but not least, there were no crazy stories coming out of New Orleans. That's mildly surprising, but also great news. After last year's debacle in Las Vegas, the NBA really needed to bring it down a notch, but no one was expecting New Orleans to be an improvement. I will wait a few days to see if someone like Jason Whitlock has something to say about what went on behind the scenes, but I'm confident that if the story hasn't gotten out yet, it just might not.

This definitely helps the NBA's image to put on a successful, entertaining weekend of events. Maybe I'll go back again one day . . .

Running by Presidents Day

Presidents' Day came and went without much fanfare from me, except a stop in the hometown of one presidential hopeful. Now that I'm finally home, I barely have enough time to run it down. But I will, quickly:

1. How many more times does this have to happen? Seriously.

2. I will do an in-depth analysis tomorrow of the weekend's All-Star events (the televised ones), which I found surprisingly entertaining. Never underestimate the value of likable players to the success of the league. Until tomorrow, chew on this video of All-Star game bloopers. #9 and #5 courtesy of Mr. Shaquille O'Neal trying to play well outside of his comfort zone are of particular interest.

3. Thanks to No WorseNorthwest Airlines, which I will aim to avoid flying ever again in life (never say never because you just never know, but they may well be going out of business soon anyway), I got to see the entire All-Star game from start to finish during my 5-hour delay. Because I can report on my firsthand viewing of the events right here for all of you, that makes the delay worthwhile. Ok, not really, but I'm just trying to talk myself down from kicking NWA's CEO in the shins really hard.*

4. Continuing with the NBA theme, Jason Kidd said last night that he is on his way to Dallas. While I believe this has a million times better chance of going through than Kobe-watch, I will hold off on commentary until I see who all is involved in the trade. The fact that they're talking about bringing Keith Van Horn out of retirement after Mavs owner Mark Cuban said that wasn't going to happen let's you know that he wants this thing to get done yesterday.

5. Danica Patrick in the SI swimsuit edition:

Talent at your "sport" is OK but if you really want to make the big bucks as a female athlete, you have to take at least a few pics in your drawers. I'm not coming down on her because I think she looks great. Just an observation . . .

Happy Tuesday!

* Note to Kelly Tilghman: This is just one example of how you could have made a more acceptable joke about Tiger Woods.

As Simple As 1 +1

Out of town tomorrow. Late night tonight. Can only mean one thing . . .

1. I caught the end of the Chicago Bulls/Miami Heat game, in which the Heat racked up its 24th loss out of the last 25 games. I didn't see Shawn Marion playing at all. But I did see Dwyane Wade taking ill-advised shots and turning the ball over on numerous occasions. Is he still injured? They looked terrible.

2. Monica Seles officially retired from tennis today. I had no idea that she hadn't actually retired, and she hasn't played a match in five years, but apparently she was trying for a comeback. Nine Grand Slam titles is nothing to sneeze at, and she was really nearing her peak when she got stabbed by the crazed Steffi Graf fan. Everything happens for a reason, though. Enjoy life after tennis, Monica. You are certainly one of the greats of the game.

3. Going back to basketball for a moment. The All-Star game rolls into New Orleans this weekend. I went to the one last year in Las Vegas but somehow missed most of the "action" people were talking about when I got back. I also missed the mile-long line to check in at the airport. Literally. People are predicting that New Orleans will be . . . interesting, but let's hope it's not quite as interesting as last year. I just read earlier today about how the NBA has engaged all of its major sponsors in doing community service projects for the city. I'm happy to see that they aren't just coming in, tearing up the town, and leaving because I don't know how much more NOLA can take. Hopefully Mardi Gras got it all out of people's systems.

4. Super Bowl winner (not a Patriot) and New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has been charged with neglecting his pitbulls in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Two pits escaped from his property, and one dog was found to be underweight and suffering from a respiratory illness, which prompted the charges. The charges would bring a fine, not jail time like his fellow league member, Michael Vick. I am hopeful that this was just a mistake and that maybe (just maybe) they were all too quick to pin another pitbull case on an NFL player. That, or Pierce should really check into doggy day care when he's going to be gone for long periods of time.

5. Am I the only one who forgot that at least part of the reason Congress cares about Roger Clemens is because it's illegal to use steroids without a prescription? Now it makes more sense why the Repubs were so adamant about calling Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, being a drug dealer . . . he really was. But he didn't give any to Clemens. I have to work on not misremembering so much.

Now I know I didn't mention anything pertaining to the above pic of Manu Ginobili doing . . . I have no idea what he's doing, or if that move is even legal, but he looks funny. Something else that's funny is that he gave LeBron James and company the business on Wednesday night, scoring 46 points against the Cavs. I am a witness.