Sunday, I was asked to judge a dunk contest for Ball Up, a tour featuring some of the nation's best streetballers going around the country. (You can check it out in future weeks in Birmingham and Los Angeles.) I had never been a dunk contest judge before, and as a dunk contest aficionado, I was excited, although somewhat nervous, about my first opportunity to rate people's fire dunks.
I feel like I did a good job. (My criteria for this is that no dunkers threatened to fight me over my scoring system.) I probably looked at what my fellow judges were scoring more than I might have liked, but it was in the name of scoring integrity.
Here is what I learned my first time judging a dunk contest:
If you have to ask, it is not a 10
Most of the time, when somebody dunks, you don't think of a specific number, but rather a range of numbers. That dunk was pretty trash -- 6 or 7? That dunk was okay -- 7 or 8? That dunk was pretty good -- 8 or 9?
Sometimes you'll think a dunk was really, really good, and wonder if it's a 9 or a 10. In this case, the answer is a 9. Because if a dunk is actually a 10, you know it. It's the only number that stands out like that.
Maino, in spite of his anti-hater rhetoric, is actually a hater
The crew at the judging table was actually pretty impressive, and I'm not sure why I was there. Recent Duke grad and NBA hopeful Quinn Cook was one of the judges. New York Daily News author Frank Isola, who is on Around the Horn and has his own radio show in the city, was another. And so was Maino.
If you're unfamiliar, Maino is most well-known for the 2009 hits "All the Above" and "Hi Hater," both of which the DJ played during the contest. In the latter, Maino talks about somebody he perceives to be a hater, mocking them as he flaunts his wealth and success.
Due to his strong anti-hater stance, I assumed Maino would be one of the most generous judges. In fact, quite the opposite: Maino gave the lowest score on almost every dunk. On one, everybody else at the table gave an 8 or 9, but Maino gave a damn 6 before looking down the table and adjusting his score to a 7.
It's possible to get a good payday playing streetball (if you do well)
Tyshawn Taylor, who you may remember from his career at Kansas or his time on the Brooklyn Nets, won the dunk contest, which earned him $7,500. He also won MVP of the championship game played before the dunk contest, which earned him $2,500. He was also on the winning team in that game, which earned them $50,000 to split however they saw fit.
Taylor walked away with over $15,000 from a good day of hoops. Of course, he had to play really well, and most of the guys who showed up didn't get a novelty check at all, let alone several.