The two Vince Carter videos you’re about to watch, when viewed in succession, can illustrate one of two themes:

1. It is life in a nutshell. Even if you’re the guy who cleared a seven-footer in the Olympics, you’re capable of taking one of the worst shots in basketball history. And if you take one of the worst shots in basketball history, you’re still capable of throwing it down on the tallest guy on the court.

2. Blake Griffin’s playbook: you are terrible at basketball so just dunk, because you are so good at dunking.

Video number one features Carter pulling out a great ball fake, tries to softly finger-roll it in like so much George Gervin and airballing it like he’s me trying to pull that shot off in HORSE. Video number two, about three minutes of game clock later, features Carter dunking on 7-foot Kings center Hassan Whiteside like it was nothing.

A brief miscalculation, or Father Time chipping away at his legs? You make the call.

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There have been very few surprises in the NBA through the first 7 games of the season. The Los Angeles Lakers struggled out of the gates but have turned it around, the Dallas Mavericks made some roster changes and their chemistry is hurting because of it, the Oklahoma City Thunder are dominant but need to solve the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook thing, and the Miami Heat are already in postseason form. With the exception of the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks struggling early, it’s mostly business as usual.

So instead of boring everyone with make believe insight and analysis as teams are still finding their feet after a 6-month vacation, I thought we’d dip into the game photo well to have some more fun with our new weekly ROFLMNBAO feature. Especially since the above image of Alex Rodriguez at yesterday’s Lakers game has given me such joy today.

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[Ed. note - In celebration of this week's theatrical release of The Muppets, here's our thing about Muppets. If you haven't seen it yet, you're in for a treat.]

We’re still a few months away from the release of The Muppets, starring and written by Jason Segel, but my excitement couldn’t be higher. Hold on, I’m receiving a breaking news message… *squirrel in a hot air balloon drops a note tied to an acorn on the table* … it appears that The Muppets also stars Rashida Jones and Mila Kunis, so I may have an awesome heart attack soon. In the meantime, it’s Friday and now I’m all Muppety, so what the hell can I do to resolve this?

Thankfully, while looking for something completely unrelated yesterday, I stumbled across the Muppets Wiki site and started perusing the history of the happiest shows of my childhood – The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Eventually I realized that a lot of athletes have been told how to get to, how to get to Sesame Street over the past 42 years, and it all started with Jackie Robinson in 1969. From there, children and adults who are still children at heart watched with glee as their favorite athletes stopped by to teach us about the alphabet, sharing, numbers, living in garbage cans, depression, being a giant bird, same sex partnerships with bottle cap enthusiasts, and building motor skills, among others.

After the jump, I’ve compiled an extensive history of athletes making appearances on Sesame Street and with the Muppets. If you don’t enjoy this or smile the whole way through, then I’m afraid we’ll never be friends. And that would make Big Bird very sad.

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This is Vince Carter from the Toronto Raptors New Jersey Nets Orlando Magic, and he is pretty good at basketball. I don’t know why you would ever need to shoot an 80-foot shot from your ass, but it’s nice to know that it’s in the bag if you need it. Is it too late for Carter to still become the next Michael Jordan? At least Jordan could work his magic in a game. Video of the shot is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Devin Harris made his debut for the Nets in a 120-106 win over the Bucks last night, leading his new team by scoring 21 points in just 21 minutes off the bench after practicing with New Jersey for the first time on Wednesday. 

Not that Vince Carter noticed.  "…zzzwha?  Who?  Kevin Harris?  I dunno, reporter lady.  Can't you ask someone who cares about the team?"

[The Sporting Blog] 

This week's SI features a special edition of "Faces in the Crowd," and it turns out that Vince Carter was a drum major (final item). See, and you thought Richard Jefferson was gay.

I guess if I were a VC fan I'd know this already, as this information is on his personal website — he was in both the marching band and the jazz band — but I've just always thought of him as vaguely evil, tanking seasons and forcing trades when he's not happy with a team.

But no, there he is in full uniform. He's… he's got the cape and the… the staff and everything. Wow.

Even though he looks way happier than anytime during his last two seasons on the Raptors, I still kinda want to make a six-foot poster of this and wave it around at a Nets game.

Hopefully, this word will spread far and wide, dispelling the notion that kids in the marching band are worthless geeks. Maybe those guys from high school will finally stop teasing me for playing the piccolo.