A slam dunk of a disappointment

The NBA celebrated it's All-Star weekend last night with its traditional contests. The "shooting stars" challenge, the skills contest, the three-point shootout, and the slam dunk contest. All-Star Saturday is not only a big night for the players, but it brings out celebrities from all over the entertainment world as well. Last night was no different, except for the fact that what is usually the thrilling climax of the night, the slam dunk contest, was a huge letdown, and I was really disappointed with it, and I know for a fact that I am not the only one who felt that way.

The All-Star celebrations in each of our four major pro sports leagues are supposed to be based upon fun for the players, and entertainment for the fans. For the most part, that is what we get. In Major League Baseball, we have the home run derby, which I always like to watch. It isn't just to see the biggest power hitters in the game swing for the fences, but just watching all of the best players in the game enjoying the camaraderie and friendly competition really humanizes these athletes that we sometimes look at in an immortal, inhuman way. The game is fun to watch as well, and I do like the rule that states that at least one player from each team must be included on the rosters, so that way fans around the country have someone to cheer for. The result of the game determining the league with home field advantage in the World Series is something I absolutely despise, but that is a discussion for another day. Overall, the MLB All-Star game and its festivities are fun to watch.

The NHL also does a good job with their All-Star festivities, and the competitions have been becoming more fun and exciting to watch in recent years. The hardest shot competition and the fastest skater competition are always fun to watch, and the league recently added a shooting challenge that is somewhat like the NHL's equivalent of a slam dunk contest. Players go one-on-one with goaltenders in a shootout style competition that focuses more on creativity than precision. Patrick Kane has starred in this competition multiple times in recent years, dressed in a Superman cape with Clark Kent glasses on, and has scored some really spectacular goals laying on his stomach and demonstrating unbelievable stickhandling.
The NHL All-Star game is always enjoyable as well. With both teams scoring plenty of goals and players providing a lot of entertainment, the NHL All-Star festivities are definitely fun to watch for hockey fans.

The one outlier here is the NFL, as its Pro Bowl is often times unwatchable because of the lack of passion and emotion that the players exhibit. There are multiple factors that play a part in this. The game being at the end of the season, the players on Super Bowl teams not being involved, the fear of injury, and many other things like those make the game extremely disappointing more often than not, but I think that if the NFL were to follow the other sports and conduct some sort of skills challenges in addition to the game, it would make the event as a whole more enjoyable for the fans.

However, putting all of these other sports aside, the All-Star weekend that I look forward to the most year after year is the one put on by the NBA. I watched the celebrity game and the rising stars game on Friday and enjoyed both for a multitude of reasons. The actual All-Star Game is tonight, and I will definitely be watching as the best athletes in the world will all be putting on a show full of highlight reel passes, dunks, shooting, and alley-oops (although defense will probably be non-existent, but this isn't the 1994 playoffs, we want to see a 150-149 game, not a 75-74 game!).

Even more than the game though, I always look forward to the Saturday night festivities. We have seen epic and legendary performances in the three-point competition from the likes of Larry Bird, Mark Price, and Jason Kapono (remember him?). I also like the shooting stars challenge that they recently implemented, where a current NBA player, a current WNBA player, and a former NBA player all team up in a shooting competition. I also really like the somewhat new "skills challenge," which is basically like an obstacle course. Players have to show off their ball handling skills, shooting skills, passing skills, and speed all in one event, and it always provides us with a glimpse at players who may be skilled but not exactly known throughout the league very well. All of it is high quality entertainment.

Then, as is always the case, there is the slam dunk contest. It is not an overstatement to say that legends can literally be made in the slam dunk contest. Isaiah Rider put the ball through his legs in mid-air before dunking and provided us with a move that most could never have dreamt of before. Spud Webb proved that little men can actually dunk, and can do it very well, when he won the contest. Dwight Howard flew through the air as Superman. Blake Griffin dunked while jumping over a car. Michael Jordan literally launched a multi-million dollar clothing line with an iconic performance, and Vince Carter (in my opinion) provided us with the most awe-inspiring and unbelievable dunk contest show ever in 2000. With a lineup of impressive names like John Wall, Paul George, Damian Lillard, and Terrence Ross, I was hoping 2014 would be a dunk contest to remember. However, what we got was an absolutely putrid idea that was an unmitigated failure.

This year, the NBA tried to focus more on East vs. West, and for most of the night it seemed like a nice change. The format was fine for the three-point shootout, and I actually really liked how the skills challenge this year was in a team format, which made it somewhat of a relay race. However, the people in the league offices who dreamt up the new scenario for the slam dunk contest did an atrocious job of changing what is one of the most anticipated events in the league each year. The three-man Eastern Conference team against the three-man Western Conference team began with something like a preliminary exhibition or "warm-up" of sorts, where all three members of the team put on a show together. In reality, this wasn't a bad idea, but it should not have been a way to judge the contest. If they used it as a literal "warm-up" with the sole purpose of providing some teamwork and entertainment for the fans, I would have been fine with it. However, that wasn't the case.

Following this first round, it was East vs. West again, but this time in individual vs. individual format. The first team to win three individual matchups would win that round. Maybe this seemed like a good idea prior to the event, but what we got in reality was horrible. We saw each participant complete one dunk, in a one-on-one matchup with a member of the opposing team, and the Eastern Conference was judged to have won all three of the first dunks. Paul George did a 360 "Isaiah Rider" dunk, Ben McLemore jumped over Shaquille O'Neal, who was seated in a "Sacramento" King's throne, and John Wall jumped over the Washington Wizards mascot and did a double-clutch reverse dunk. Some impressive dunks, and a nice start, right?

No. That was it. Six players, one dunk each, and the contest was over. The Eastern Conference had won the three individual matchups, and that meant that there would be no more dunking necessary, and the Eastern Conference had won the contest. When it was announced over, I was confused, and it seemed like everyone in the stands, and even the players, were confused as well. Twitter was bombarded with numerous players and columnists both perplexed and upset with the competition, and what we got was a huge letdown. We were accustomed to seeing multiple rounds of individual competition, with a chance for each participant to attempt multiple dunks. This year, we got nothing close to that. We got a promising lineup of dunkers and then an enormous disappointment of a contest, and it was through no fault of the players.

The East vs. West format worked in many ways this year, but it failed miserably in the slam dunk contest. What was a very entertaining 75% of the night was overshadowed by a disappointing final 25% of the night. Did John Wall win the dunk contest since he was the third Eastern Conference player to win his matchup? Did the Eastern Conference win the contest? Do we even know if this was an individual contest or a team contest? These are questions that should not be the first things that come to mind after an All-Star Saturday night. When it comes to the slam dunk contest, we want to see individual glory, not some type of artificial, team-manufactured glory. So, as the NBA is just welcoming Adam Silver into its commissioner position to replace the retiring David Stern, can one of the first orders of business for him to please be a return to normalcy for the dunk contest? If that doesn't happen, NBA All-Star Weekend will forever be far less attractive for players and fans alike.

Daily Rangers / Team USA Update: After a thrilling shootout win against Russia, the U.S. defeated Slovenia 5-1 today to secure a bye into the quarterfinals. Phil Kessel netted a hat trick, and Rangers Ryan McDonagh and Ryan Callahan both factored into the scoring, with a goal and assist, respectively. Ryan Miller was in goal and held a shutout until under a minute remained in the game, when Slovenia was able to get on the board with a goal. Certainly disappointing individually for Miller, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't going to hurt the United States.
The U.S. has looked good for the most part thus far, and they seem poised to make a deep run into the tournament. Canada will obviously provide a huge obstacle, as well as teams like Sweden and Finland. It seemed like Russia would be very formidable as well, but they needed a shootout today to slip past Slovakia, and have thus far played far below expectations. The United States will be able to watch as the lower standing teams in the preliminary teams begin knocking each other out before the team has to again take the ice. We still don't know who the U.S. will play in their next game, but so far, the team looks like a definite medal contender.

Daily Nets Update: Joe Johnson was the only Net involved in any of the competitions last night, and he didn't fare too well in the three-point shootout. No matter though, as the main focus is still on the remainder of the season. Brooklyn will be back in action on Wednesday against a struggling Utah Jazz team, and they are 3.5 games behind the Raptors in the Atlantic Division. With 31 games left to play, we are obviously still far from the finish line, but the Nets need to start getting hot if they are going to be able to have any type of chance to advance in the playoffs.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: We are ten days away from the first official spring training game, which means expectations are high around the league. New names to camp like Bronson Arroyo, Mark Trumbo, and Archie Bradley have all supposedly made good first impressions, and I can't wait for the season to begin!