With 78% of the international vote, Dwight Howard is the new NBA Slam Dunk Champion. His winning routine included:
(1) Off the back of the backboard, hang-time, dunk
(2) Superman (pictured above) where he put tape down and flew to the basket, threw the ball into the hoop rather than actually dunk
(3) Tap the ball off the backboard with one hand, grab with other hand, dunk
(4) Grab ball from small basketball hoop (the kind with suction cups for NERF balls) and windmill
The dunks were nasty. And I called the "bounce off the backboard with both hands" dunk winning it all. It was in that "preview" video Howard put out, and I told Brittany before the contest started that if Howard did that one, it was all over. Granted, it was pretty much over before that, but that didn't hurt.
I'll post the videos when they go up on YouTube.
SUPERMAN DUNK
PS: I sucked ass on the other predictions. Nash was LAST place in the Three Point Shootout, and Chris Paul, though second place, didn't win the Skills Contest. HOWEVER, San Antonio won the Shooting Stars thing, thanks to WFU's Timmy D and THE ADMIRAL. I love it.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
DWIGHT HOWARD IS THE MAN
Saturday Afternoon TV?
Anyone have any recommendations for TV for a Saturday afternoon? We just waited for 45 minutes for "Pay It Forward" to be over, and stupid Sex In The City came on. There's absolutely NOTHING on. Its choosing between "The Making of Miami Vice" or Ole Miss Basketball. Both stink.
All-Star Weekend, Night 2
Since I've been counting down the days to the All-Star weekend, I figured I might as well handicap the fun stuff going on tonight. I actually like this stuff more than I like the game itself, so I'm stoked for the contests. Here we go:
SKILLS COMPETITION
Jason Kidd
Chris Paul
Dwanye Wade
Deron Willams
Anderson: Paul. Wake Forest in the house!
Brittany: Wade. He's gonna three-peat. I'm probably wrong.
THREE POINT SHOOTOUT
Daniel Gibson
Richard Hamilton
Peja Stojakavic
Dirk Nowitzki
Jason Kopono
Steve Nash
Anderson: Nash. Steven Q is nasty.
Brittany: Dirk. He's my man. He's from the Mavericks so I have to pick him, but he's really slow at getting the balls. I think its because he's so tall...
DUNK CONTEST
Jamario Moon
Gerald Green
Dwight Howard
Rudy Gay
Anderson: Howard. There's no telling what he's coming up with this year.
Brittany: Howard. Period.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Dunk Of The Day -- Thursday
In honor of the Mavs game right now, here's soon-to-not-be-in-Dallas Devin Harris getting owned...
Stuff White People Like
Amazing. And accurate. I do, in fact, like all those things.
There Will Be Me In A Theater Seat
So Oxford finally has decided to bring There Will Be Blood to theaters here. Why did it take so damn long? Its only nominated for a million awards and supposed to be unbelievably good.
Nope. They needed room for Fool's Gold and Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins. And who could blame them?
At least its here now, playing at 4:35 and 8:00 pm on Jackson. Apparently the movie is like 4 hours long. Who's going to see it this weekend? This guy.
Indiana Is Apparently Wild-Man Country
So the University of Indiana is facing 5 major NCAA violations regarding their men's basketball program. This is the same program that hired Kelvin Sampson even though he was facing charges of misconduct from the NCAA because of his previous job at Oklahoma.
Sampson and his staff were restricted from making phone calls past a certain number because of violations of the phone call rules when they were at OU. To clarify, they weren't allowed to do at IU what they got in trouble for at OU. And they did it anyway.
Duuh.
Did that braniac really think he wasn't going to get caught? He did the exact same thing after he got in trouble for it! You'd at least think he'd be original enough to break another NCAA rule, not the same damn one. And while I might think that the phone call rules are dumb, the NCAA is the governing body of the sport, and Kelvin (PS: nice name spelling) has to follow them.
As if life wasn't already good enough for the AD at Indiana, 3 football players got arrested this past weekend. One was apparently passed out in a dorm stairwell and then fought the paramedics who put him in the ambulance. The other two are studs: one had 268 receiving yards and the other had 138 rushing yards. Total. All year. My guess? The school doesn't even remember that they play football and they'll all be manning the local Bloomington Stop-And-Shop before February ends.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Jason Kidd Almost A Maverick Again
Just when you thought the Dallas-NJ deal was dead in the water (since Mark Cuban pretty much said so when he said that there was no deal good enough for Dallas to make it worth it), ESPN.com says that the deal is not just alive, but almost done. Here is the trade as they predict:
DALLAS GETS:
Jason Kidd, PG
Malik Allen, F
NEW JERSEY GETS:
Devin Harris, PG
Jerry Stackhouse, SG
DeSagana Diop, C
Devean George, SG
Maurice Ager, G
To me, this is an unbalanced deal. If you look at the ages involved, the only player here worth a shit who doesn't qualify for AARP is Harris and, while he's not a real PG, deserves a few more years in Dallas to see how good he really can be. On the converse, Jason Kidd is on his last legs. Even he can't argue with that. I don't see how this trade could possibly help the Mavs past this year or next, and giving up Diop, Stackhouse, and Harris really hurts their overall team chemistry. I don't know about this, Mark...
Dunk of the Day: Wednesday
Remember Dwight Howard's "sticker" dunk last year? Remember how they wouldn't let him raise the rim to 11 feet? Here is a video of his practices for the contest last year. Amazing.
Live-blogging the Clemen's Hearing
9:00 - So I'm here, sitting at the TV, ready to hear what Roger has to say for himself. I'm pretty tired of all of this, so I'm pretty happy that this will probably be the last time (if only in front of Congress) that we have to hear about it. I don't expect that anything ground-shaking will come from today, but it'll be interesting to watch Roger Clemens fold in on his wife (what woman takes HGH anyway?) and try to refrain from jumping over the table and beating McNamee with his own show.
9:28 - So after a solid half-hour, we are yet to hear anyone but Waxman talk. The suits have to have their turn first, I suppose. He's pretty much just gone over the case in general, explained both sides stories and Pettitte's affidavit. One important thing from the opening statements: it is clear that Clemens is fighting an uphill battle. Multiple times, Waxman referred to the Mitchell Report as "credible" and he went on and on about how honorable the honest people involved are. So I think Roger is gonna lost, regardless of what he says. Unless, I guess, he stands up and just admits to it. Does anyone really think he didn't do it? Does anyone really care?
9:31 - At least Waxman is done. Now, on to Tom Davis, who is waxing philosophical. More praise for Mitchell, who is definitely getting "props" from his "homies". He is talking about the fairness for Clemens to face his accuser. I bet McNamee never thought it would go this far. Does the right to face witnesses against you apply to non-judicial settings? I know they have that right in court, but in public? I don't know. I guess Congress can subpoena pretty much whoever they want.
9:38 - Good ol' Rog is up first. He's licking his lips like a fucking lizard. First, build up himself as an upstanding guy, talk about how he's worked hard, took McNamee in to his family. He seems pretty pissed. His speech is rehearsed, but he seems pretty fired up. Maybe we will get to see a punching match. God, I'd love that.
9:40 - I'm gonna go pick up the girlfriend from school, and listen to the hearing on Sirius Radio, and report back when I return. I'll give my report back on Clemens testimony when I get back.
10:01 - OK, I'm back. McNamee ended at 9:48 and I'll write about that in a second, but at 9:50, the committee started questioning Clemens. Its fairly obvious that the committee thinks Clemens is lying, because they are HAMMERING him on inconsistencies with Pettitte's testimony. They are bringing in Pettitte's wife's testimony, too. Clemens is SO lying! He's basically saying that both Pettitte and his wife "misunderstood" what he was talking about, or that they were talking about some TV show about HGH and reversing aging, or something. Clemens can't even keep his own stories straight.
As far as McNamee goes, he comes across as a slimeball but as someone who is telling the truth, at least to me. He has a thick NY accent, and he seemed nervous, but he has a pretty strong case that 2 of 3 people he said did steroids admitted to it. Why would he bring in Clemens if he didnt do it? Just to fuck him? It makes no sense.
10:05 - Now its time for McNamee's questions. He's asking him about the phone call that seemed like Clemens called him out for lying. He is getting pushed for why he didn't give the syringes and gauze until after the phone call, but he doesn't really have a good answer. He said in his statement that he was pissed after the phone call and thats why he turned the stuff in.
10:13 - Now they are talking about the Canseco barbecue. McNamee's testimony is completely inconsistent with everyone else's memory about that day. McNamee is trying to say that its really not that important in the scheme of Clemens using steroids, which is true. He described an incident with a baby running towards a pool to prove that he remembers Roger being there. Now they are trying to tell what Clemens tee-time was on the day, since Roger says he was playing golf that day. Its turning into a discussion of details that really don't do anything to prove or disprove steroid use. Its completely devolved into a he said-he said, and frankly its a little tiring. Little boring.
10:19 - Injected B12? Clemens just admitted that he takes B12 in tablet form, so why would he decide to take it in the ass? I mean, besides the fact that he plays for the Yankees! OOH SNAP.
10:26 - Clemens just got bungholed into an inconsistency about his conversations with McNamee about HGH. Clemens said early in his deposition that he had NEVER talked about HGH, and then later remembered talking twice to him about his wife's use. Clemens is trying to say that he thought the question was about HIS use, but the Massachusetts congressman isn't letting him off the hook at all. So in consecutive questions, they have successfully shown that both McNamee and Clemens has serious credibility issues. Awesome.
10:34 - McNamee questioned about the gauze. This Indiana congressman is asking good questions. He says that he kept stuff from Clemens and Knobloch (spelled his name wrong, I know). The congressman keeps on and on about why he would keep it, even saying "my goodness" to one of the answers. My girlfriend commented that "this guy is really going after him", which is true. He basically called McNamee out as a liar, and really hurt his credibility.
10:40 - Dan Burton is tearing McNamee up. "Lie after lie after lie!" I think the problem is that McNamee made a TON of inconsistent statements early on in the investigation to keep from getting Clemens in trouble. So everything he said early on is a lie. Brittany says "This guy must be a pretty big Roger Clemens fan." Yes. I agree. Wow. He said that Clemens should be jailed if he's lying, but there is no evidence of that so far.
10:48 - This boring Massachusetts stooge is going on and on about an MRI that Clemens got taken when he had a "strained glut" (read: hurt ass). The doctors report basically said that the injury he saw was not really consistent with B12 and more consistent with steroids. Clemens lawyer was all worked up about something, and the chairman pretty much shot him down. Apparently lawyers cant talk directly to the congressmen, so they told that little twerp to shut his mouth. Clemens is weaseling around the issue, but it seems like kindof a detail that this congressman jumped on, and I dont think itll be a terribly big issue in the long run.
11:18 - Sorry, folks. I lost track of this crap. It got boring and they're both lying. I got distracted and now I'm lost. Peace out.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND COUNTDOWN
In preparation for the All-Star festivities this weekend (from which I will be partaking completely), here is my "DUNK OF THE DAY", courtesy of Townes.
John Rocker? Nooo! Don't Dash My Hopes For Humanity!
Infamous part-time Braves pitcher and full-time skull cracker John Rocker told an ATL radio station that the MLB and Bud Selig knew he failed a drug test in 2000 and that the league coached him and teammates on how to effectively use the steroids.
ROCKER? ON 'ROIDS? No way.
As if you couldn't tell by the way he ran like a fucking lunatic from the bullpen to the mound. I'm honestly surprised he didn't confess to shooting meth into his eyeballs before closing a game.
