NBA All Star Slam Dunk Contest Fail

I was excited about the NBA All Star Slam Dunk Contest. It's usually the best part of All Star Weekend. In previous years, the dunks were inventive, innovative, creative, and awe inspiring. I still remember the year when Spud Webb standing at just 5' 6" tall won the contest. It was pretty awesome. I remember when Michael Jordon did his flying act and leaped from the free throw line, glided through the air, and slammed it down. Pretty freakin' awesome! I even remember when Nate Robinson (5' 9") won his second slam dunk contest by jumping over 6' 11" Dwight Howard. Or when Dwight Howard wore the Superman cape to perform his dunk. Memorable moments. Typically, each year the participants in the slam dunk contest raise the bar a little higher. So, I was amped up for last nights contest. To make things even more exciting, the Lakers high flying Shannon Brown was selected to compete primarily due to letshannondunk.com, a publicity effort by Joel Myers (the Lakers commentator) to get Brown into the dunk contest. Shannon has an amazing athletic ability and a huge vertical leap. So, I was excited.

Unfortunately, I was so disappointed. The first round was less then inspiring. Shannon came out with an awesome 360 degree spin dunk, but missed and in his second attempt just switched hand mid-flight and didn't bother with the 360. He got mediocre points for it and didn't make it past the first round. In the second round, the rookie DeMar DeRozen and Nate Robinson went on to compete for the title. Both of their dunk attempts were unexciting, uncreative, and boring. Even the commentators of the night thought that no one should win. When they were opening to envelope to see who the winner was, Charles Barkley said "Maybe no one was the winner." I think he summed up what everyone was thinking. I was highly disappointed. Robinson went on to win his third consecutive Slam Dunk Title. Yawn! I'm hoping that next year the players try a little harder.