Case of the Mondays: Michael is the Russian judge

February 19th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

Never has such a fantastic example of athleticism received so little due. Usually, it’s the other way around; athletes are oftentimes collectively praised as “bigger, stronger and faster” than their predecessors even when the charge shouldn’t stick. Usually the modern athlete, through the power of hyperbole, gets the benefit of the doubt - and it’s usually warranted.

Dwight Howard’s brilliant sticker-dunk, unfortunately, received none of that treatment.

The best dunk in a somewhat lethargic dunk contest went unrecognized, as Recluse at FreeDarko says: “by some of the sport’s foremost disciples of the leaping arts.” Without the benefit of a replay or at least a camera, that panel didn’t get the chance to see Dwight’s smiling face 12 feet, six inches high, and the big fella got screwed.

Props to Gerald Green for creativity. The Dee Brown throwback dunk had like eight different premeditated elements going for it. Impressive, sure, but no way anyone cares about that dunk in a year. It’ll be all sticker-dunk, all the time.

All Star Roundup:

– The West won a relatively slow-paced All Star game, 153-132, and Kobe Bryant was the MVP. Yes, I just called a game in which 285 combined points were scored “slow-paced.” It’s true - don’t confuse a lack of defense with pace or energy. Only Amare and Kobe, and sometimes LeBron, seemed to care all that much. Still entertaining, though, that’s for sure.

– Jason Kapono. Yawn.

– Dwayne Wade. Yawnnnn.

– Charles Barkley! I love Charles a lot - he’s easily my favorite analyst/talking head/degenerate gambler on TV - and he and Kenny Smith absolutely owned the entire All Star Weekend. Barkley’s race with Dick Bavetta was great, but Barkley’s line afterward - “We raised a ton of money for charity … (looks at $50,000 check) … we raised two blackjack hands for charity!” - was completely brilliant.

Oh, and some sort of race happened yesterday. Not sure what that’s about.