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Super-Dunk Clinches 2008 Contest
By Jeff | February 17, 2008
Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic NBA franchise won the 2008 All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest. There was little doubt as to the outcome of this contest as soon as Dwight Howard removed his jersey to reveal a superman costume, donned the red cape, and received a pass from behind the backboard to slam dunk a high flying attempt. (Pictured above.) I use the term ‘dunk’ loosely because if you saw it or if you watch the video below you will see that he actually threw the ball in the hoop. Nonetheless, he gets a pass on that as his showmanship and creativity was fun to watch. Dwight Howard is fast becoming an NBA superstar and in many circles he already is. He is basically a 7-footer with the athleticism of a guard.
Superman is one of the great icons of American history and is no doubt one of the most popular super-heroes of all time. So when he showed his superman costume underneath his jersey and put on the red cape, he clinched my vote at that moment regardless of whatever dunk he was going to do. I loved it! I’m a huge Superman fan.
I’m not a huge fan of All-Star Weekend (of any sport really) and it was a mere fluke that I even watched part of the NBA version this year. There was really nothing else on tv and a cold-front came through so we didn’t want to get out in it. Nonetheless, I enjoyed most of it - and mostly because of Dwight Howard. His first dunk was ridiculous as he threw the ball off the back of the backboard, caught in the air still behind the backboard, and dunked it with his left hand. I think his head and most of his body were still behind the backboard when he did it. And that was his FIRST dunk!
Sprite sponsored fan voting this year via text messaging. I don’t know if they’ve ever done that before because this is the first slam dunk contest that I’ve watched in probably 10 years, but with the seeming unorganized manner in which it was conducted, I have to believe this was the first. It was a novel idea to get fans at home involved and the loser could not accuse anyone of being biased. However, improvements will need to made in the future. I sent three messages (all for Howard) within the first minute. I received two back after 10 minutes saying that the voting was closed - meaning that there was enough participation that some votes cast within the first minute arrived too late to be counted because of the backup. Well, at least I got one vote in.
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Topics: 2008 nba all-star game, NBA, basketball, dwight howard, nba slam dunk contest, superman |
February 19th, 2008 at 7:23 am
The Superman dunk was pretty cool even though, like you said, he really kinda threw the ball. Still pretty sweet.
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February 19th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Throwing that ball into the hoop was the sickest thing ever….
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February 19th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
reminds me of my younger days - well, dreaming days anyways