Dunk Hype
Have you ever noticed how over hyped the dunk is in the sport of basketball?
If you watch Sportscenter (good sports fans do!) this time of year you’ll be entertained by last nights’ dunking highlight reel. All TV media outlets emphasize the dunks. Or I should say overemphasize them.
Of course they always show the daily home run derby in MLB, the goals and fights in the NHL playoffs, and, of course, all of the dunks from the previous evenings NBA playoff games.
The Golden State Warriors were routing the Utah Jazz in the third game of their playoff series with Utah up 2 games to non in the best of 7 series when Baron Davis of Golden State jumped over some guy to score a an athletic dunk over a Jazz player that arrived a bit late to try and block it. The place went wild, the announcers went wild, and the Golden State players went wild and demonstrative complete with chest thumping and a “I’m a bad ass” stare down by Davis.
After the game a heavy dose of sports media reporting emphasized how Davis fired everybody up with his forceful jam. I remember not so long ago that a young, collegiate women (can’t remember where she was from) dunked in a game for the first time ever. The media missed the game but “a woman dunked!”
In all my years in sports I’ve never been able to figure out why so many people get so worked up watching an oversized, athletic man stuff a ball through a hoop. It only counts for two points, right?
Now if a dunk counted for more than 2 points I would certainly get more excited about it. Make it worth 3 points if it is such an important part of the game, which ESPN tells us it is. And if someone is fouled in the act of dunking then give him 3 for the dunk “and two.” Now maybe they have a reason to scream at the top of your lungs while tearing the rim off, stare down and talk smack to the opponent who attempted to block it and was called for a foul, strut, beat your chest, and get beat back down the court on defense.
Now I know there are some people out there thinking,” This is a guy who never dunked in his life.” You would be correct. Back in the day I was lucky to even touch the net. But I grow weary of Sportscenter and other sports shows glamorizing and overemphasizing such a simple and high percentage shot for most of the players they promote. And they do promote players who have a flair for the dunk and these players know how to self-promote. It’s disappointing in a sense because it hurts the overall quality of basketball played in this country.
Kids emulate who and what they watch on TV. So they see all of these NBA guys slamming and jamming on Sportscenter so you can bet they are going to work at dunking the ball. And it will probably be a priority over other critical skills and fundamentals of the game.
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Basketball is a game of numerous fundamentals and athletic skills. Yes, dunking is one of them if you are blessed with the hops to do it. But, more importantly, it’s a game of passing, catching, dribbling, seeing the floor, DEFENSE, and numerous other components of the game too numerous to list here. Maybe if we focused more on these fundamentals the next contingent of NBA players will have a better chance of beating Greece in the next world basketball championships.
And by the way, Utah finished off Golden State 4 games to 1. Baron Davis should have gotten a few more dunks!
Make a kid smile today! It’s a Win, Win!
Ike
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