I recently read a great article in this week’s Sports Illustrated about the art of “The Dunk”, how it has its own vernacular and culture and is still one of the most revered shots and experiences in sport. To praphrase the article, do we know another move in all of sports that can be collectively described as “boomshakalaka”, “dipsy doo dunakroo”, “windmill”, “throw down”, “360″ and, the mother of all dunk descriptions, the “Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam-Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam”. And everyone would know what you are talking about!

Through the article, there are several seminal dunks that are described so in honor of them, here they are in all their glory:

Baron Davis dunking over Andrei Kirilenko

John Starks over Horace Grant and the Bulls

Tom Chambers over Mark Jackson

Dominique Wilkins

Henry Bekkering

Vince Carter over Fredric Weis

Dwight Howard Superman Dunk

Chocolate Thunder

I was reading the NY Times Sports page this morning on the way to work and I thought I was reading something out of police rap sheet. In today’s Sports section were stories about circus like congressional hearings, witness tampering by a 7 time Cy Young award winner, congressmen breaking federal laws by receiving autographs in the halls of Congress, coaches making illegal recruiting calls, commissioners and congressmen talking about illegal tapings, illegal payments related to a former Heisman Trophy winner and a lawyer and a security guard showing up at the hearing “packing heat”, and an amputee being told by a court that he has a competitive advantage in the arena.

At least something is right in the world: a beagle won at the Westminster Dog Show

Within the past six months, the city of Buffalo has born witness to two pretty horrific sports accidents. Back in September 2007, the Bills’ Kevin Everett suffered a spinal cord injury sustained during a game against the Broncos. As was well documented in Sports Illustrated, Everett is making nothing short of a miraculous recovery due in no small part to the decisions and swift action of the medical team from Buffalo’s Millard Filmore Gates Hospital. Then, this past week, Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers had his neck and coratid artery cut in a freak accident on the ice during the Panthers-Sabres game this past weekend. With Zednik’s injury, he was taken to Buffalo General Hospital.

Why am I bringing up these accidents? To call out the medical staffs in the city of Buffalo, NY. That’s right…Buffalo, NY. Not Seattle, not Boston, not Los Angeles…Buffalo, NY. Because in both of these cases, the medical staffs at these Buffalo hospitals performed and demonstrated their skill and professionalism at beyond the highest level. The sadness and horror of these two events were countered by the sheer brilliance of these two medical staffs. Kevin Everett may never play football again but he is walking and mobile, something no one thought could happen, because of the swift action of Dr. Andrew Cappuccino. Zednik appears to be on the road to recovery, and I can only hope that to be the case, and his recovery will be in no small measure to the work of Dr. Sonya Noor.

Buffalo, NY…a hot spot for all you burgeoning med students out there.

Here is a nice piece on Boston.com “celebrating” the 30th anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978. If you grew up or lived in the New England area around that time, you will no doubt remember that “mother of all storms”. To this day, I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like it. I vividly remember the streets and alleys of Boston having snow over my head. It was crazy. Good times, good times.