CBI Archive
YouTube Can Be Good - 2/19
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 5:00 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 8:48 PM EST
Speaking of Superman, check out Dwight Howard’s popular “Superman” dunk from this year’s NBA dunk contest.
An instant classic.






13 Comments
Apodaca
February 19, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Eh. He didn’t jump very far, and he had to throw the ball into the hoop.
Mister Midnight
February 19, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I thought the REAL Superman wore the # 23 on his chest.
Rohan Williams
February 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Yeah, it looked cool and everything, but it wasn’t even really a dunk. So ‘classic’ is probably a stretch, especially compared to the off-the-back-of-the-backboard and volleyball spike dunks Howard did in the same competition, and the candle dunk.
T.
February 19, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Looked like a pretty high jump to me. And I think throwing it in was part of what made the dunk cool, not a deficiency in the dunk. You have to get pretty far above the rim to be able to throw it downward INTO the basket. I think that’s exactly why he did it that way.
DB
February 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm
The cape and the t-shirt were good for a few laughs. I bet Shaq wishes he’d done something like this before.
Too bad it wasn’t a real dunk.
kwaku
February 19, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I loved it and I don’t care if it wasn’t a “real” dunk. It had more to do with the atmosphere and theater. Everybody, Magic Johnson, Kobe, everybody jumped up when he took off his shirt to reveal the superman shirt underneath. There was a lot of excitement in the arena for that dunk. It’s a classic for all those reasons and he has made the Dunk Contest fun again.
Pzilla
February 19, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I’d like to see any of you even get close to that, dunk or not.
You will believe a man can fly.
Brian Cronin
February 19, 2008 at 9:11 pm
He jumped high rather than long, as he was going for the “flying” effect.
Rohan Williams
February 19, 2008 at 9:12 pm
T. said…
“Looked like a pretty high jump to me. And I think throwing it in was part of what made the dunk cool, not a deficiency in the dunk. You have to get pretty far above the rim to be able to throw it downward INTO the basket. I think that’s exactly why he did it that way.”
Yeah, I totally get that, and I flipped out when I saw it, too. But it is called the Slam Dunk competition, and that wasn’t a dunk, was it? It was very exciting and dramatic, though.
Brian Cronin
February 19, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Don’t get me wrong, Green totally got ripped off by the judges, too.
His cupcake dunk, while not as “classic” of an image as the Superman dunk, was definitely a cooler dunk.
And he didn’t get ANY respect for the dunk he did without his sneakers.
Green’s problem was that his dunks were too intelligent - the judges (and most people) are not that smart, so he needed to make his dunks clearer and easier to understand, like Howard’s Superman dunk.
Rohan Williams
February 19, 2008 at 10:03 pm
That’s a good point, Brian. Howard’s dunk contest experience seemed to help him out there- his sticker dunk last year had much the same problem as Green’s cupcake dunk this year, in that the judges couldn’t really tell what he’d done that was so impressive.
So yeah, he definitely went out of his way to create a moment none of the judges could miss this year!
T.
February 19, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Exactly.
Apodaca
February 20, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Fair enough. I’ll admit that I know jack squat about Basketball.