Sometimes you can watch so much basketball you forget how hard it really is to dunk. Guys like LeBron James and Dwight Howard make highlight reels for dunking on a daily basis, and any college basketball player worth his weight in Nikes can throw it down when given the chance.
That is where Brittney Griner comes in. See, we've never had a female basketball player that made dunking look easy. Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker have both flushed it before, but it looked more like they were trying to avoid ripping their arm out of socket than to dunk. Griner is 6-foot-8 and can dunk on the run, in traffic and even, as the video after the jump will show, in a girl's grill.
Griner is heading to Baylor next season with the expectations of the world on her shoulders. That will probably be the first time you see Griner, though, because though she's a McDonald All-American this season, her high school won't let her miss class. To go to an All-American game. Yes, shaking your head at this point is acceptable.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos. Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest players in WNBA history, maybe the greatest of them all, but at the end of this upcoming season she is going to call it quits. In this exclusive video, we talk to Lisa and two close friends, NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derek Fisher. Dwight tells us why Lisa is the female Kevin Garnett, even if she doesn't talk smack. Dwight also shares a story about the time he and Leslie met Oprah Winfrey -- and why Stedman needs to watch out.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker is an amazing basketball player averaging over 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists a game. She is one of the leading candidates for WNBA rookie of the year. In this video we talk to Parker and find out to which NBA superstar her fans are compairing her. We also catch up with Coach Michael Cooper who shares with us his successful coaching philosophy.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.
Team USA won its fourth consecutive women's basketball gold medal today in Beijing, defeating Australia 92-65 in the final game of the tournament.
The victory makes Lisa Leslie the second four-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball. She finishes her Olympic career as the all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocked shots, and Team USA went 32-0 in four Olympic Games with Leslie on the team. Leslie is the 14th Olympian in history to win four gold medals in one event. The other Americans to accomplish the feat are Al Oerter in the discus, Carl Lewis in the long jump and Teresa Edwards in basketball.
Team USA continues to dominate in women's basketball, although the Australians have much to be proud of. These are the fourth straight Olympics in which Australia has lost to the United States in the medal round. Some day the Aussies may catch up to the American women, but for now, Team USA remains atop the world.
Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast! One moment Plenette Pierson and Candace Parker are jostling for position, and the next Rick Mahorn is shoving Lisa Leslie to the ground and Cheryl Ford is being carted off in a wheel chair.
In other words: one second the WNBA isn't even a speck in the casual sports fan's peripheral vision, and the next it's a guaranteed hot topic in thousands of newspapers, blogs and talk radio shows across the country, not to mention on endless loop on SportsCenter. But hey, all publicity is good publicity, right?
Try telling that to David Stern (or better yet, Mahorn) this morning. But while this is certainly a figurative black eye, I'm guessing all that really comes of this is a bunch of people who never liked the league in the first place cracking a few more jokes. If you must, please don't compare it to the Malice at the Palace just because it happened to take place in Auburn Hills (fans were never even close to being involved) nor Danica vs. Milka just because it involved female athletes (at least actual haymakers were thrown last night, not just towels).
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
In this exclusive video we hear from basketball star Lisa Leslie who tells us what it takes to win the gold at the Olympics, something she has accomplished three times. This summer in China, Lisa will be joined by her teammate, basketball sensation Candace Parker. Around 2:00 into the video Lisa tells us how she prepares for the summer games and sports has nothing to do with it.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video we catch up with two of the hottest names in the WNBA, Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie, the stars of the Los Angeles Sparks. We also learn what the term "mouse-in-the-house" means on the basketball court. Around 1:50 into the video we find out from Candace who would win if she played Kobe Bryant one-on-one. AOL Video link. Youtube link.
Sometimes you can watch so much basketball you forget how hard it really is to dunk. Guys like LeBron James and Dwight Howard make highlight reels for dunking on a daily basis, and any college basketball player worth his weight in Nikes can throw it down when given the chance.
