What Super Bowl?
The Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk contest is just around the corner. But who cares? LeBron James sure doesn’t. This week, when he decided to decline the NBA’s invitation to participate in the contest he insulted the deities of dunk and disappointed basketball fans everywhere.
So why not, LeBron?
Some say he’s hurt. If that’s the case then the NBA should never have invited him. But, when the man can effortlessly whirl the ball around from above his head down to his shins, turn 180 degrees and slam Spalding’s sphere with enough power to send a shockwave rippling through 20,000 basketball fans, he’s not hurt.
Any fan who thinks that LeBron and his teammates aren’t having dunk contests of their own after every Cavs’ practice should maybe get used to the idea of being bunkmates with Ron Artest at Any Asylum USA.
And why shouldn’t LeBron be dunking to his heart’s desire? He’s a 21-year-old kid just having fun, all I’m asking is that he let us watch.
LeBron’s in-game jams leave basketball’s most avid fans looking as though they had just witnessed Mr. Artest sound sane or Kobe Bryant make a pass. It’s jaw-dropping.
The self-proclaimed Chosen One can trick us into thinking that invisible bungee chords are strapped to his body and launching him through the air. So, if he can do this after playing 40 minutes of defense and carrying his team’s offensive load, there’s no telling what he might do with fresh legs and a running start from half court.
What’s keeping this guy from being the first to front-flip and dunk? Or the first to grab quarters off the top of the back board and slam it on his way down? Last year Josh Smith helped clinch his first Slam Dunk crown by dunking over a seated buddy Kenyon Martin. Who wouldn’t want to see The King soar over Scott Van Pelt sitting in an over-sized throne? It’s safe to say, LeBron has made us feel like the possibilities are as limitless as his athleticism.
There was a time when the game’s greatest players entered themselves into the contest to show their slamma-jamma swagger. MJ’s tongue, Dr. J’s fro and Dominique’s windmill all became icons of what used to be one of sport’s most exciting events.
Now we’re subject to watching players like Hakim Warrick and Fred Jones, guys on the C-list as far as NBA talent, do their thing and try to make a name for themselves.
Writers and fans everywhere have blacklisted the yearly forum for scintillating slams, saying that the air has been let out of the experience, when in fact, it’s simply the big names and the talent that have escaped the show.
Is it even conceivable that not every single basketball fan in the country would be watching a dunk-off between LeBron, Vince, Jason Richardson and T-Mac? Please. That would be the definition of must-see TV.
The fact is that when any athlete is given the opportunity to turn his sport’s world on its head, he should take it. No athlete is above giving his fans one more reason to love him.
James could finally give the game a face, and make ours cringe in fear for the rim. He could make the dunk contest relevant again and add to his legend. He could entertain us when he’s never done it on the NBA’s other biggest stage: the playoffs.
But most of all, he could save us from the horribly awkward feeling we will get when the next Chris “Bird Man” Anderson comes around and misses his first seven dunk attempts in a row. Please LeBron. We’re begging you.
