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Saturday, February 16, 2008

All Star Dunk Contest

It wasn't that what I saw was amazing. It was that the dunks were unbelievable. Not unbelievable in the sense that we normally use it. I mean in it was unbelievable in the sense that I literally couldn't have thought of some of the dunks that were pulled off.

All totalled Dwight Howard, the eventual winner, puled off four dunks. Every one of them would have been a winning final dunk in most years of the contest. Though it is good he brought them this year, because he needed all of them. Gerald Green had a final dunk type of performance on all but one dunk.

Dwight Howard Round 1 Dunk 1

  • Howard came from behind the glass bouncing the ball of the backside and coming under to dunk the ball.

Gerald Green Round 1 Dunk 1

  • Green had teammate Rashad McCants place a cupcake with a lit candle on the back of the Rim. Green than ran up, catching the ball in mid air from McCants, blew out the candle and thendunked the ball without disturbing the cupcake.

Dwight Howard Round 1 Dunk 2

  • Dwight Howard stripped off his Magic uniform to reveal a superman undershirt. He then put on a red cape. He took off without the ball from mid court and flew from just inside the freethrow to catch the ball in mid-air. He may have made it to the basket to dunk, but he decided not to risk it by throwing the ball down from about 4 feet away

Gerald Green Round 1 Dunk 2

  • McCants climbed to the top of a ladder and held the ball out. Green elevated to take the ball from him and throw it down windmill style.

At thie point the first round ended and I knew already this was the best dunk contest I have seen. Magic also made a funny comment regarding the scores the 5 judges were handing out. "3 of us have never dunked." 2 of 3 has to be himself and Karl Malone. I am guessing he meant dunked with style because Darryl Dawkins was the 3rd that he was referring to and the only dunk he knows is the backboard breaker.

Gerald Green Round 2 Dunk 1

  • Gerald Green pulled off the Vince Carter style alley-oop between the legs and windmill in dunk. It was good but a re-do of a past duk wasn't gonna get it done, today.

Dwight Howard Round 2 Dunk 1

  • Howard left from midcourt lobbing the ball off the bounce to himself in the middle of the key caught the ball with his left hand then threw it back of the glass and dunked with his right. It seems like I left out the part where he went down and jumped back up. That is because he pulled off all of that while still in the air.

Gerald Green Round 2 Dunk 2

  • Green pulled off the same dunk he had for the first one this round. The big difference was he took his shoes off and signed them for the judges, then performed the dunk barefoot. Darryl Dawkins didn't think much of it though, he knocked the shoes off the judges table.

Dwight Howard Round 2 Dunk 2

  • Howard took a nerf type Orlando Magic mini rim and stuck it to the backboard. He then placed the ball on top of it. He came from the side grabbed the ball from it's mini hoop and slammed it through the real hoop. Though it did take a few tries.

Howard ended up winning not only the 5 judges over, he won the text in fan vote 70/30.

Bibby To The Hawks: Good? Bad?... Pointless.

According to ESPN Mike Bibby is heading to the Atlanta Hawks. The point guard that led them through most of the recent success the franchise has enjoyed will be leading a new group of young players in Atlanta. Though I am not convinced he will be their primary leader.

Atlanta will be sending Anthony Johnson(G), Tyronn Lue(G), Lorenzen Wright(C), Shelden Williams(F/C), and Atlanta's 2nd round pick in the next draft.

It isn't that this is to much for Bibby, which could be argued. It's not even that Atlanta is giving a big enough name for Bibby, which is the other side of that argument. The real issue is I don't see how this helps either team.

From the King's perspective you are basically getting the 2nd round pick, Shelden Williams and a bunch of expiring contracts. While those expiring contracts will certainly make them players in the upcoming free agency market. They are acknowledging a serious rebuilding effort by removing the veteran leader of the team. You have to wonder how long until Artest is dealt he certainly can't be part of a any major rebuilding plan as he will be much to old by the time any serious rebuilding could be completed.

On the Hawks side of things I can definitely see the benefit of bringing in a guy like Mike Bibby. He is a veteran leader with playoff experience. It may be just what a young team like Atlanta needs. Then again a big part of the success there has been the camaraderie you can see spilling over from their play on the court. How will having the leader of that pack, Joe Johnson, benched in favor of Bibby effect those young players morale. Also how will it effect Joe Johnson specifically, he left money and a much more likely shot at a ring in Phoenix, in order to be the man in Atlanta. He is not likely to be a happy presence in the locker room, when he has to come off of the bench again.

Interesting side note on this trade. You have to wonder what Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich, thinks about all this. He just let Beno Udrih go prior to this season. There is no way Sacramento is making this move without Udrih being such a capable distributor while Bibby was hurt. While Popovich will probably say all the right things, if he says anything at all. I bet if he is honest with himself he'd love to have Udrih instead of Damon Stoudemire right about now.

Showing Off My USC Bias

I am guest posting over on Gridiron Goddess again. Since she has a USC bias, I got to show mine off while breaking down the NCAA proposed rule changes.

NFL Teams Begin Offseason Shakeups

As the NFL Offseason gets into full swing several teams attempt to superman the MO-mentum.

It is nice to see teams that had such disappointing performances last season not settling. I mean as a Vikings fan I have watched several offseasons come and go wondering why nothing was done to improve, when I assume they were as unhappy with the previous season as I was.

This Offseason the long suffering Dolphins and Falcons fans can at least take solace in the fact that their teams seem commited to getting better. The Panthers fans while not nearly as bad off as those two camps, can at least see small signs of improvement.

The Dolphins began their offseason remodel under Bill Parcells. They kicked things off first by dumping Marty Booker(WR), Trent Green(QB), L.J. Shelton(OT), Keith Traylor(DT),Anthony Alabi(OT), Anthony Bryant(DT), Marion Dukes(OT), Marquay Love(DT), Joe Toledo(OT). Then they commited the de-aging process by telling Zach Thomes(LB) he would no longer be needed. Honestly, it would seem lik a scary proposition to dump almost 20 percent of your teams roster, especially a face of the franchise guylike Thomas. Then again when you're 1-and-15 you probably ought to look to dump even more. Bottom line while I may not be sure move to move about the Dolphins decision. I am sure I would have confidence in Parcells.


The Panthers came to the get younger, and cut salary party just a little later than the Dolphins. The cut Dan Morgan(LB) as well as Mike Wahle(OG). While Wahle is a little better right now, and will probable alnd a gig sooner. Morgan is still a great prospect, he won't draw the kind of interest(or money for that matter) that he did a few years ago as a free agent. But there are teams that will take a shot on him recovering his health. Especially teams that could use the kind of leadership he has shown, for their defense.

The Falcons are rounding out this trend for now. They announced to day that they are releasing Alge Crumpler(TE), Byron Leftwich(QB), Wayne Gandy(OT), Lewis Sanders(CB), Jamin Elliott(WR), Marcus Wilkins(LB), Rod Coleman(DT). Ok some of this was clearly the other shoe dropping. I mean even Leftwich had to figure he was gone. I am surprised to see Gandy and Coleman on this list. They will be on new teams by the time, it really matters. But those could be the result of financial concerns so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.


Where I can't seem to keep from flapping my arms(Read: Dirty Bird) in disgust, is Alge Crumpler. You have got to be kidding me. Hey new gm, (who's name I am not even taking the time to look up, because with moves like this he'll be gone before I can research it) don't make a big move to make a big move. No matter who your quarterback is next season I am sure it wont be anyone established. With that as a given, you might want to consider hanging onto that security blanket of a tight end. Every new quarterback loves a safe dump off guy, and hates new gm Thomas Dimitroff(Did you really think I wasn't even gonna look it up. :-). It really is a blessing to Alge Crumpler though. He is definitely moving up no matter where he goes. He will have a new jersey by the time I hit publish on this post.


Like I said the expected portion of this Leftwich. If he was on thin ice as the season ended. He had to hear that ice cracking when head coach Mike Smith was brought over from the team he was just released from to start last season.


While all the turnover is interesting. The best part of this is the fact that the league gets better overall. Being a huge football fan every move that makes the whole league more interesting I am a supporter of. Is it pre-season yet??

Linking up with RonDean

I can't imagine why we are getting fatter by the minute(Gizmodo)

Just, stop. With your ease of use descriptions. Everyone knows this is for porn(Gizmodo)

"We're taking a leap that the person it belongs to probably is not alive." - That's some crack detective work Barney Fife(Yahoo)

Firefighters rescue kid looking in the washing machine for Narnia, ruining natural selection(Yahoo)

I can't figure out if I am offended or amused(SWPL)


Another installment of "A million good ideas never get produced but some moron found a market for THIS?"(NSFW - Nerd Approved)


If my girl isn't cool on the bottom, I guess it's time for a new girl(Nerd Approved)


Think Lake Mead going dry isn't important, how 'bout this and this(Wired)