It’s still so early in 2009!

Over the course of a season, fans will witness one or two dunks that will go down in history as some of the greatest of all time. In the past week or so, we’ve seen been graced with two spectacular dunks. These aren’t dunks from a competition or all-star game when players aren’t trying. These dunks are from live moments in the game.

The first dunk comes from Weschester Country Day School. It is a double alley-oop dunk. Looks like a designed play to me, but awesome to see it done in a live game.

The next dunk comes from Andre Iguodala. Whenever you can dunk on a 7’6″ center and throw the ball back in his face it deserves some air time. Yao Ming should be able to block this.

Dunking on 7’6″ centers leads me to the next, and final video. Tracy McGrady throwing it down on Shawn Bradley in a playoff game! Might be my favorite dunk of all time.

What are your favorite dunks of all time? Post a youtube link in your comment.

The NBA just released their rankings of top 10 most popular jerseys since the start of the 2008-2009 season. A lot of these guys have been all-stars for years, however, I was surprised to see a rookie on the list and another surprise entry. The list is ranked in order from No. 1 to No. 10.

Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles Lakers
Kevin Garnett – Boston Celtics
Lebron James – Cleveland Cavaliers
Chris Paul – New Orleans Hornets
Allen Iverson – Detroit Pistons
Pau Gasol – Los Angeles Lakers
Paul Pierce – Boston Celtics
Dwayne Wade – Miami Heat
Derrick Rose – Chicago Bulls
Nate Robinson – New York Knicks

The biggest surprise on the list for me Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks. Sure he won the 2006 Slam Dunk competition, but I don’t see him as a superstar in the league. Can’t you see guys like Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash or Dirk Nowitzki being on the top 10 list ahead of Robinson? Maybe New York fans need a jersey to buy and he’s really all they have, or maybe I just don’t watch enough basketball?

Super Bowl is a great time to throw an awesome themed party!  Here are some fun ideas that will surely score with your guests…

Decorations – Get your guests in the mood right away, with themed yard signs that they will see as soon as they drive up.  Team colored streamers and balloons are easy to pull off – twist and loop from one corner of the room to the other.  Be sure it’s not too low that your guests will have to duck when walking around.  Carry out the theme on the buffet table.  Get paper plates, napkins, and cups in your fav team colors also.  These decorations are easy to find at any party store. 

Go for two!  If there are fans from both teams attending, divide your TV room into two sides and decorate each side in team colors.  Be sure to arrange the furniture whereas all fans have great views from the angle they are sitting at.

Food – Create a buffet table with fun platters of chips and dip, nachos, wings, pizza, and cookies.

Go for two!  Buy team colored-coated M&M’s for snacks.

Drinks – Any football fan will appreciate beer…make sure you have lots of it!  For non-alcoholic drinks: soda, water, and sports drinks like PowerAde, to keep with the theme.   

Go for two!  Wow your guests with this specialty cocktail recipe:

Sweet Victory Whiskey

• 2 ounces whiskey

• splash of lemonade

• 2 tablespoons lemon-lime soda

• Cherry

Combine whiskey, lemonade and soda with 3 or 4 ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a glass. Garnish with cherry and serve.  Cheers!

Gifts – Distribute pom-poms as soon as they enter.  You can also put a few on the buffet table as decorations. 

Go for two!  Don’t just stop at the pom-poms.  Hand out team colored beads.  You can find beads and pom-poms at footballfanatics.com.

Games – Although your guest will be more focused on the Big Game, you can increase the competition throughout the night with superlatives – “Most Spirited” and “Most Likely To Be A Ref In Ten Years” are some examples.

Go for two!  Have mini size trophies for the winners and do an awards ceremony before the party ends.

The Football Fanatics staff give their predictions for Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. After watching to video, it seems split about 50-50. Check it for yourself.

Major League Baseball Spring Training 2009 is just around the corner. Can’t believe pitchers and catchers report in just about 2 weeks. Spring Training is divided into two leagues: The Grapefruit League and the Cactus League.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be bringing you in-depth schedules from both leagues, news, player reports, and of course the best Spring Training 2009 gear available!

Check out the T-Shirts we have available.

ESPN’s Winter X-Games might not have the international television ratings of Winter or Summer Olympics, but over the last week it’s been all the buzz. WX13 was held in Aspen, Colorado where it has been since 2002 and will remain until 2012.

Action junkies will love watching any winter event, but if you only have time to tune in for a handful of events, I recommend Snowmobile Freestyle, Snowboard SuperPipe, Ski Slopestyle and SkierX. SkierX is a relatively new timed, freestyle race where a group of four skiers start simultaneously and attempt to reach the end of the course. The top two finishers from each race advance and move on to the next round.

In addition to SkierX, I love watching any snowboard event so I can see the sports’ biggest superstar, Shaun White. White made history 4 times over this Winter X-Games, locking in records for back-to-back Pipe golds, most WX medals, wins and Slope wins.

The moment of the games was when snowmobiler Levi LaVallee performed a double backflip in competition in the new Snowmobile Speed & Style event. He didn’t stick the landing, but it was close. Check it out.

Bad calls, unexpected losses, or “fictional” newspaper articles… no matter what the cause, sports fans are graced with a couple of good rants every year. Player and coach rants transcend all sports on all levels. We’ve seen them in basketball, baseball, football, hockey and even soccer.

In today’s article I’ve posted 3 of my personal favorite rants. Check it out.

Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy goes off after he reads a post-game article in the newspaper. This one ranks in at number 1 for me.

Allen Iverson – we talkin’ about practice. He remains calm throughout, but you can tell he’s annoying with the questioning by the reporters.

Denny Green flips out after the Arizona Cardinals blow a 23-3 lead in the 4th quarter.