Links To The Present: Thursday, December 3rd

Before we begin, something that is not a link. Like I said on Tuesday, on Tuesday night I went down to Staples to collect some quotes for SLAM China. (Not a joke.) During the game, one thing made itself obvious: the taco culture in that stadium has gotten out of control. The Lakers absolutely dominated the Hornets, and the fourth quarter looked like it was going to be a garbage time like any other. The crowd was going bananas every time Adam Morrison touched the ball, the entire lineup was trying to get Shannon Brown on YouTube, the defensive intensity was waning a bit. Status Quo.

Then the Hornets really started going all-out offensively and trying to score as fast as possible, the crowd started getting into the game more, and the taco chants were starting. (Laker fans get a coupon for two free tacos if the Lakers win and hold their opponent to less than 100 points.) It slowly started to dawn on everybody in the building: The Hornets are Playing Against the Tacos. The Lakers were taking their time on offense. The crowd was more involved than they’d been the entire game. And the Hornets kept going at a frantic pace and getting closer to that century mark.

The crux came with the Hornets sitting at 99 points with about 10 seconds left to go, when the Hornets gave a foul down by 13 points to try and take away the tacos. You’d have thought the game was tied. Then Collison flies down the court, flies at the rim, and got absolutely hammered as time expired. No call, because the refs were none too fond of Jeff Bower trying to take away people’s tacos. It was surreal.

I’m all for little fanbase quirks, and get that Laker fans need some way to stay engaged with all the blowouts the Lakers get. But this was completely insane. Just an extremely strange phenomena. Onto some links:

–Terry Pluto on Big Z. A great read.

-LeBron is now 50-50 on the dunk contest. I’ve never been all that thrilled about LeBron entering. Partly, that’s because he doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot to gain; his all-star game MVPs probably aren’t going to be the best part of his legacy when it’s all said and done. Secondly, remember when LeBron won the high school dunk contest? He got up, but his dunks were kinda weak sauce. (Also, note who he was up against.) Granted, the rules of that contest punished misses very harshly, but LeBron isn’t really a contest dunker. He’s all about amplitude and power, and a lot of times what makes a dunk look cool is “whip” – how far you can extend the ball out, and how quick you can slam it back through. (This, as much as amplitude, is what makes Vince Carter’s dunks the coolest ever.) It looks like LBJ plans to win the contest this year through no-frills power jams, and with text voting it’ll probably work, but he’ll probably just open himself up to more “controversy.”

If I sound jaded and grouchy, it’s because LeBron “controversies” about nothing have caused me to die inside. And of course, if LeBron backs out now, he’ll have another “controversy,” so he better suck it up and enter that contest. I hope he comes up with something mind-blowing. Although NBA dunk contests will always feel a little hollow to me without James White. If he’s not in it, the competition is for 2nd place. James White is the Fedor of the dunk contest.

-As some of you may know, Brian Spaeth has always had an open invite to post here. He’s only taken me up on that invite once so far, but that’s because he’s been extremely hard at work with his other projects. His latest one is the long-rumored Who Shot Mamba?, a web movie based on the epic and sadly gone Cavs blog YAY!Sports.com. Support Brian and check it out, because you should.

–Finally, here’s a video of the Cavs’ retro jumbotron intro from last night. Z just wins in this. It’s his week.