whilst catching little to none of the spectator’s imaginations. Again more rule changes were applied showing that the AFL is not the only sport that gets bored with its product every year. The dunkers were split into ‘teams’ which seems to be the NBA mantra at the moment much like the formation of the NWO & Degeneration X that has come before it. The new ‘freestyle’ round was awkward. What was in mind was, 3 players running around the court making outrageous dunk after outrageous dunk as if both players had the NBA Jam Super Dunk cheat on (Left, Right, A,B,B,A if I recall correctly). What actually appeared, where 3 guys paranoid to get in each other’s way and seemed to have an unwritten rule that everyone must touch the ball before they could throw it down.
Alas, the East team won this round. Then came the solo dunks. Each player was allowed to get down to basics and throw down the best they could. Which is what the fans came to see and it actually wasn’t overly disappointing. Ben McLemore got higher than (whoever you want) whilst Harrison Barnes wore a contraption that mimicked his exact dunk on the big screen in a mock NBA2K14 graphic. John Wall was his usual nasty self whilst Terrence Ross played up to the crowd by bringing out the future Prime Minister of Canada, rap-star Drake who incidentally was a High-School basketball superstar himself, well, at least in Degrassi Junior High anyway. Again, the East won this round. What’s next I hear you yelling? Well listen closely and you can still hear the collective sigh of the world ringing around as the winning ‘team’ was announced and the NBA Dunk Contest had come to an end without an official individual winner for the first time. In what would be close to the worst dunk contest in recent memory, it left myself and many fans questioning if any of this hoopla is worth it anymore. All-Star nominations come down to how many Twitter followers you have instead of how much talent you possess. The Skills Challenge fails to test any skills learnt post Under 16’s. The Dunk Contest is one big friendly team competition in which they are encouraged to hold hands and praise each other’s selflessness. Every year I say I will not watch another NBA All-Star Weekend but every year I find myself back for more. No longer. I am finally at peace with my decision to not give the All-Star Weekend a second look and when you think about it, it is hard to find an All-Star concept around the world that you can truly enjoy. If world class players are elected to appear at these events but in turn only give 50% of their efforts, is it really that special to watch anyway? With the introduction of the team’s format I think it might finally be time to withdraw the big names and let the young fella’s and the D-League stars battle it out for shine, contracts, highlights and new Twitter followers. Players with something to prove who are willing to compete and scrap to entertain the fans, now that is something I would watch. From now on if I want to know if East or West is better, I will throw on a Biggie or Tupac album.
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