What's hard about all these childhood saga posts is that I always want to put more into them because these posts are mere portholes into the universe that each refers to. The dream of dunking goes far beyond just my childhood as this is one of the few things I'm almost certain every single kid had tucked away somewhere in their dreams. I mean we grew up with Michael Jordan. Let's get serious. There was nothing greater than him dunking. There was nothing greater than a dunk. The move is so damn simple, and yet it works so well every time.
I was one of the many children who played on a lowered hoop, enabling myself to perform such an awesome move. And we got into it, I mean really into it. Entire summers consisted of nothing but dunking on lowered hoops at Edward's, Greg's, Aubrey's, Matt's, and even my lowered hoop, as well as various public ones like around Hamilton randomly and in the Purcellville community center; basically any lowered hoop we could find. We even dunked at the pool as referenced in Edward's pool entry. Dunking was everything and anything that was fun, exhilirating, and empowering as kids. God bless Woody Harrelson for wanting it so bad in White Man Can't Jump.
As a quick reference to this religion of dunking on lowered hoops, here is a not-so-quick video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X5nmA_lZko
Hopefully more will be said on this subject through the days and millenia ahead.
Fuck you, blog
ReplyDeleteDunking is a highly personal issue for me. I've done a lot of actual practice and training, both with lowered rims and 10 foot goals, and even more thinking about the topic. I may need to catalog it all in a blog post.
ReplyDeletePreview: I spent an entire year in gym class (we had a deadbeat teacher) perfecting my dunking ability on a 10 foot rim.
This is an important development. Do you know where are good hoops are (lowered or not, and preferably free access)?
ReplyDeleteLowered hoops FTW!
ReplyDeleteI'm still chasing the elusive 10 ft dunk, I was really close at one point. It's definitely something I need to do before I die
ReplyDeleteUsed to be a dream/goal of mine, too. Sadly I gave up on it. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI remember myself at the age of 12, being sure I will make the first dunk even earlier than MJ did (he dunked the first time, when he was 14, I suppose).
ReplyDeleteI did a few 10 ft dunks ( I remember each of them), but only after a rebound, with enormous power. I was unable to do it being alone with the basket. This theoretically easy move, unfortunatelly for me remained too hard.
So you say rebound dunks are easier? I can see that...would require less palming of the ball. That's a hard part about dunking, and hence why it's easier to dunk with a small ball.
ReplyDeleteI've only been able to dunk a volleyball on a 10 foot goal using a one-foot take off. I'm 5'10" (in shoes), though that isn't as much of a problem as not being able to palm a basketball. If you can't palm, you need a few extra inches on your vertical to make up for it. I started with tennis ball, then softball, then volleyball.
ReplyDeletePeople who think one can jump higher off two feet are either absolutely crazy or have no experience. If this were true, don't they think Olympic high jumpers would be doing it?
ReplyDelete0:43 is one of my favorites - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GszNJ1NCWo
ReplyDeleteKadour Ziani is clearly one of the greatest "show dunkers" alive. Just like one- and two-foot take off is an important designation (Ziani is clearly a one-foot guy), so is designating between show dunking and "in-game" dunking. I'm talking about the act of posterization (see this vid and the previous three parts for a tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch9lbb2Jv1A). There are a handful of notable standouts, particularly from the NBA--excluding And1 stars like Air Up There--who can do both amazing show dunking and in-game dunking: Jordan, Wilkins, Vince Carter, and some others. Lately, I've been shifting my preference to the in-game dunkers. Particularly, I'm looking at Shannon Brown to take the torch over the next few years. His reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjKsyQGFMPo (pardon the music).
ReplyDelete