Halftime Hype

"I love the daunks"

For the past few years, it seems like the Dunk Contest is the main attraction of All-Star Weekend -aside from the All-Star Game itself, of course. This year happens to more exciting than the rest, though. In the past, Dwight Howard managed to earn high scores simply because he was a big name. Exhibit A: Superman doesn't even dunk, but throws the ball in a massive leap. Impressive, but not a dunk. Exhibit B: By far one of the stupidest and least creative dunks I've ever seen, Dwight puts a higher hoop and just jumps. This year, with Nate Robinson being a possible exception, none of the contestants have achieved superstar status.

Furthermore, there has been a new addition to the festivities. A dunk-in between Clippers guard Eric Gordon and Raptors forward Demar DeRozan will determine the fourth contestant. At the surface, it sounds like an amusing idea. Although after some thought, I realized it can only hurt Gordon and Dear; it would give the other three contestants - Gerald Wallace, Shannon Brown, and Nate Robinson - an advantage. Dear and Gordon will have already demonstrated some of their creative dunks, which will require either Demar or Gordan to practice more creative dunks with just one day to prepare.

Regardless, this year's contestant's are very amusing and the dunk-in method may prove to work out better than last year's fan voting. Honestly, I believe everyone knew Russel Westbrook deserved a spot more than anyone else, but Rudy Fernandez was just too funny in the commercials. With his thick Spanish accent, you couldn't help yourself; you just had to laugh.

This year was somewhat unprecedented in the way fans showed their support - at least, for Shannon Brown. It's not a secret that he has hops. The only question was if he'd be able to show them playing alongside Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom. Fortunately, he did. But throughout the season, fans showed their support for the Michigan State alum at letshannondunk.com. Quite interesting.

Overall, it seems like there's a little more buzz for this year's contest in small part because of the Lebron James debacle. He declared that he would participate if selected, then backed out. To add more hype to the frenzy, Shaq decided to become LBJ's manager and announce his client would only play if Kobe, Vince Carter, and other stars also participated - to which Kobe Bryant chuckled. For those that are disappointed that Lebron backed out, don't be. He would've automatically won and it would have been just another accolade for him. Let other rising stock receive popularity and get a ticket to All-Star Weekend. After all, Lebron is already participating in the All-Star Game itself.

With such diverse players, this year's Dunk Contest seems like it'll meet the hype, if not surpass it.