Any basketball fan can remember his favorite dunk of all-time.
For some, it's Michael Jordan taking off from the free-throw line. Others prefer the old-school Doctor J one-handed thunder slam.
For me, the dunk that has always stood out in my mind was Vince Carter's 'It's Over' dunk in the 2000 slam dunk contest, when he bounced the ball off the ground, brought it through his legs in midair and slammed it.
It was my favorite dunk ' that is, until Wednesday night.
When I heard that Hitchcock native T.J. Fontenette, a.k.a The Air Up There, and the rest of the AND 1 Mix Tape Tour were coming to town, I knew I had to be in attendance.
Streetball is a type of basketball with more concentration on dribbling skills and high-flying dunks as opposed to zone defenses and mid-range jumpshots.
The AND 1 Tour is basically a traveling streetball team, taking on teams of local streetballers from around the world. They are said to be the best basketball players in the country that don't play for the NBA.
I've been a fan of the Mix Tape Tour since Season 4, which was broadcast on ESPN2. That was the first season the team played in indoor arenas and featured the open-run, a contest to allow one streetballer to earn a permanent spot on the AND 1 bus next season.
Anyone familiar with the show remembers Season 4 as the year Grayson "The Professor" Boucher, a 19-year-old white kid from Portland, Ore., won the contest and became one of the most recognizable names in streetball.
Needless to say, I was extremely excited to see the show Wednesday night.
The show was about what I expected. There were plenty of crowd-thrilling dunks, some sharp dribbling moves by Silk and AO and so-entertaining commentary from Tango, the emcee on the court.
But there were also a lot of turnovers and missed shots from the local streetballers, as they tried a lot of crazy moves to get noticed by the AND 1 squad.
What I didn't realize about the Mix Tape Tour is how physical the games were. The local players weren't in the mood to get dunked on every time down the court, so they'd push the AND 1 players while in the air, or hold them to prevent any fancy crossovers. You don't see that part of the game on the TV show.
Since there are no foul shots in streetball, the AND 1 players just had to shake the heavy fouls off. Their patience impressed me.
One thing was obvious throughout the entire game ' Fontenette came to entertain. All 24 of his points came on slam dunks, many of the jaw-dropping variety.
The best, however, came with time winding down at the end of the game.
After grabbing a rebound, "The Main Event" fired a long pass down to a wide-open Fontenette. After taking a few stutter steps, Fontenette jumped into the air, did two complete 360-degree turns and slammed the ball.
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Air Up There's 720 Dunk
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