Sunday Sports

February is usually a pretty stinky month for sports. But Sunday was a fun day for sports on television. I've been a big critic of NASCAR for a long time, writing columns poking fun at it and its fans. On Sunday, however, I did happen to watch a good deal of the Great American Race. Mostly because I was bored, had nothing else to do and nothing else was on in the afternoon. But during the lineups, I heard Sam Hornish, Jr., say he was from Defiance, Ohio. I'd heard of Hornish from his Indy 500 win and success in the IRL but he wasn't someone I knew anything about other than just that. But if you are from Ohio (and don't play football at Michigan) I've got your back. So I pulled for my fellow Ohioan to do well and stayed tuned in just to see if the rookie could win. He finished 15th.

The NBA All Star Game came on at 8:30. I know a lot of people can't stand it, but I've always enjoyed watching the wide open, high scoring style. There's something to be said for watching the 24 best players in the NBA showing off their skills. People really don't appreciate how good these guys are. They dunk with ease, shoot 3-pointers from 28 feet with seemingly no effort. I don't care if there is no defense being played. It's still tough to score 140 points in 40 minutes. It was also special to have Doc Rivers and the Celtics coaches on the bench and see Paul Pierce and Ray Allen playing with Kevin Garnett rooting them on from the bench. Ray made a push for the MVP with a great fourth quarter and even if he was injured and it was an exhibition, you could see Garnett's passion as he pumped his fist and fired up the bench. It's that kind of energy that's made the Celtics the best team in the NBA through 50 games.

I love seeing athletic ability on display, and let me tell you, it was incredible what Gerald Green and Dwight Howard did Saturday in the dunk contest. Despite being a big fan of the competition, it had grown stale with the exception of a few dunkers in recent years. But Green's "Birthday Cake" dunk, in which he lit a candle on a cupcake on top of the rim, then blew out the candle while dunking the ball was insane. He also pulled off a bare-footed jam, which showed great creativity. Dwight Howard, though, took it to an entirely new level. His "Superman" dunk was fun, but his tap off the back board dunk was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. By the way, in any other year, Rudy Gay and Jamario Moon would have been winners.

Many will say that the Michael Jordan vs. Dominique Wilkins duels in the late 80's were the best competitions, but those were always a bit overrated if you ask me. The 2008 contest, though, is without a doubt the best contest ever. If you have seen it yet, go to Youtube and search for 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Competition.

I suppose the one thing that all of my TV watching had in common (other than me being bored) was all the fanfare that was involved with each event. There were musical acts, and pyrotechnics and famous musicians performing the anthems (the all star game anthem was excellent, by the way). Not only is the amount of money spent on pregame activities unfathomable, it's also impressive to think of the planning and coordination that is involved. And from someone that does a lot of game management, I can tell you just how difficult it is.