Slam dunk contest- a plea for change

I can't take this anymore. Hi everyone, I'm Michael, and I'm a slam dunk addict. Every year, one of my favorite parts of the season is the slam dunk contest during all star weekend. Now two years in a row, I wanna choke judges.

Last year was a real heartbreaker for me. Nate Robinson may have won the trophy, but there are about 5 people in the world who think he deserved it. Yeah, he's small. I get it. He jumped over another small guy. Yes, it was cool. But it was nothing compared to the creativity and athleticism of Andre Iguodala (who dang near took his own head off trying to wow us).

Recap for those who missed it: Teammate Allen Iverson throws the ball at the back of the backboard and as it bounces off, Andre Iguodala runs from out of the crowd, grabs it in mid air, pulls his neck far back (so as not to decapitate himself) and then dunks the ball (in reverse) on the front side of the hoop.

Check out the sequence below (click twice).



Thass just stoopid brilliant. Iggy sat out this year's contest- and who can really blame him?

This year, it happened again (kinda). Dwight Howard got one of the lowest scores of the night, doing one of the coolest dunks seen in NBA history. Why Why Why.

I'll tell you why. It was so innovative, that the judges scored it before they actually realized what the kid did. While the scorecards went up immediately, it even took the announcers a minute to figure out what happened. It looked like a decent dunk, he went high, he slammed it hard. The judges scores go up- 8s and 9s.

Then Dwight pointed.

12 feet 6 inches above the ground, (twice my height and I'm a big dude) Dwight Howard stuck a sticker with his non dunking hand on the backboard. 12 feet 6 inches. The sticker had Dwight's face, his number, and a simple note that said "through Christ all things are possible".

Here's the pics.



Judges missed it. Scored it like it was so-so, like we'd seen it before.

Want more heartbreak? I found out today that the NBA denied Howard's first request. He wanted to bring in a TWLEVE FOOT HOOP and dunk on it. Two feet higher than NBA regulation.

Sigh.

Then I hear that if he had gone onto the final, Howard was planning a slam where he kisses the rim with his lips while dunking.

Sigh. Sigh,

So here's my plea, and may it make it to the ears of commissioner David Stern. Please, please let the judges watch a replay before scoring. A dunk happens in a split second. You cannot catch the nuance, the little bits of creativity that these guys are going for. Let the judges watch a replay and let's get an accurate idea of who did what.

Oh well. I can only hope. As for Dwight, I'm sure I'm not the only person in America who just became a huge Dwight Howard fan last night. Anyone wants to pick me up a Howard jersey for my next bday, you've got the green light.

Ah well, even through the heartache...only 364 days until the next dunk contest. Waiting with anticipation.