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The dunk contest was a great friend. The type of friend you could count on to bring beers to a party when the keg was on its last stand. A one night only show guaranteed to dazzle and amaze. A complete exhibition of athleticism and creativity by the greatest athletes in professional sports, Chris Anderson and Chase Budinger, err Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.Tough to imagine kids today will never know what the dunk contest once was. YouTube clips of the greats won’t make many of their Facebook pages. Instead, they are left to wonder why? Why doesn’t (insert NBA All Star here) sign up for the dunk contest?
Once upon a time, this contest showed us what superstars can do when pride is the only thing on the table. The epic battle between Mike Jordan and the “Human Highlight Reel” was one that anyone who saw it will never forget. Awe inspiring dunk after eye popping slam, each one looked more impossible than the last. Never has there been a case where there was truly no loser.
When the dunk contest began to succumb to its age, it was resuscitated by Dr. Vince Carter who brought it back to life with perhaps the most dynamic athletic performance ever displayed on the NBA hardwood. Carter showed the kind if innovation that would have made Steve Jobs jealous. Not to mention, there wasn’t a time limit. You could either do the dunk, or you couldn’t. There wasn’t a 40 second clock to allowing mediocre talent to suck for that duration.
When we look back at the life of the NBA dunk contest, let us not remember the names Harold Miner, Fred Jones, and Jeremy Evans, but rather Spud Webb, Dominique Wilkins, and Michael Jordan. Let us focus on what the NBA dunk contest represented… unadulterated, in your face athleticism. The dunk contest was the college roommate who could do the 120 second keg stand. It was Katherine Johnston asking if you had protection. It was the unthinkably wonderful happening right before your eyes.
As if going through a mid-life crisis, in 2002 the NBA decided to manufacture its own creativity by introducing a giant wheel. Dunkers spun the wheel and landed on a dunk they were required to attempt. Like a 45 year old man with graying hair in convertible, it just wasn’t authentic. How could any father who lived through the Kenny “Sky” Walker years legitimize this gimmick to their kids?
Towards the tail end of its life, (or so we hope at this point) the NBA dunk contest still managed to give us a few moments to smile. Dwight Howard donning a superman cape while Nate Robinson leapt in a single bound over Howard to victory was a fun thing to watch. It was a victory for the little man in all of us. But I think it proved to us that its best days were behind it.
With its failing health the last few years, Chase Budinger proved to be more than it could handle. The NBA dunk contest had grown too weak by then to survive this type of parasite (nothing personal, Chase. It’s not your fault). But needless to say, there was no treatment available to save what once was one of the most celebrated nights on the sports calendar.
To men of a certain age, the NBA dunk contest will always be remembered for the free throw line catapults and windmills that would make the Amish jealous. It’s now up to the modern day MJ’s to check their egos at the door and pay homage to the foundation of athletes that made this league great once upon a time. This contest has been in intensive care for far too long a stretch, and this fan is ready to pull the plug if signs of improvements are not seen soon. What was the dunk contest died long ago, what’s left is the most unwatchable Sprite commercial in history.
Source: http://nysportsnut.com/rest-in-peace-n-b-a-dunk-contest/
5/3/2012 5:52 PM