Sports: February 2004 Archives
Nelly Furtado's rendition of "O Canada," the Canadian National Anthem, at the NBA All Star Game on Sunday night was the worst version of any anthem I have ever heard. Mind you, I have considered myself a Nelly Furtado fan. I think her first album was pretty good, but this was absolutely terrible. She missed so many notes, and it seemed like she was just lost musical on a couple different occasions. At least, Carl Lewis' infamous version of the "Star Spangled Banner" was bad to the point of comedy, and Roseanne's version was comedy(which I did find quite amusing).
Furtado was followed up by Christina Aguilera attempting a creative version of the "Star Spangled Banner," performing with just a drummer's sparse and interesting accompaniment, but Christina tried for some crazy notes at the end of the anthem and just came up a little flat. I respected her for trying to do something interesting and inventive with the anthem, but it seems like she has let everyone saying how she has an amazing voice get to her head a little bit and forgot that even she cannot hit all notes.
Outkast performed "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" as the All Stars were being introduced, and while I really enjoy both of those songs, they have performed them too many times, and performing them for the intros of the players was sorta awkward, even though Andre 3000 was super cute as he came out as a popcorn vendor.
Beyonce's halftime performance was incredibly entertaining. She did a version of Donna Summer's sultry "Love to Love Ya Baby" miraculously without a microphone, yet somehow that didn't harm my enjoyment. She then was graced with the gift of microphone and performed "Crazy in Love." I only wished Jay-Z would've performed with her. I heart Beyonce.
I love the NBA All Star Weekend, and most specifically All Star Saturday. I love the fun competitions. I love the playful atmosphere. I love these great athletes showing their skills in a different way than in a game setting.
The (got milk?) Rookie Challenge (actually on Friday night) is always a really fun display of the future of the league, and this year was probably the best example as we saw a Rookie team led by Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony go down in defeat to a Sophomore team led by Yao Ming and (game MVP) Amare Stoudemire.
The (Foot Locker) 3 Point Shootout and the (Sprite) Rising Stars Slam Dunk both ended with two time champions (Peja Stojakovic and Jason Richardson, respectively) being upset. Voshon Lenard, a journeyman sharpshooter, finally hit pay dirt after coming up short in past contests by being especially accurate on the multi-colored 2 point balls (9 for 10), with Peja missing his final shot with an opportunity to tie. Richardson probably had the best dunk of the competition, but missed too many dunks and Fred Jones (of Gresham) had one spectacular dunkaroo and took the crown. The Dunk competition was a little anti-climatic at the end, but the overall event was a "SLAMAROO DUNKIEDOO!" Plus, you get to hear Charles Barkley making fun of a lot of his NBA friends.