Robservations – When in doubt, lay it up & in

When you?re playing a basketball game, and it?s one of those real nail-biters where nobody has taken control and the eventual winner is anybody?s guess, nothing fires up a team and its fans like a rim-rattling slam dunk.

Grab a steal and streak down the court all alone, then elevate and flush the ball through with authority, and you?re even going to bring the other team?s fans to their feet. Momentum will definitely swing heavily in your team?s favor.

However, if the only reason the rim rattles is because you just slammed the ball into the front of it, missing your chance at the highlight reel and landing squarely on top of the lowlights, it has the opposite effect. Momentum bounces away just like that errant slam, and a play that might?ve put a team over the top yanks the rug out from under them.

Two words, gentlemen: Finger roll. Or how about one word? Layup!

I love a good dunk as much as the next guy. Heck, I wish I could do it. I also wish I could hit a 300-yard drive, and belt a softball onto the gravel pit across the road from the fairgrounds field.

But I can?t.

When I try, I either hook the golf ball onto another fairway, or pop the softball straight up, where some grinning center-fielder is camped out waiting to haul it in.

Now, does that keep me from trying? No, it doesn?t. But if the game or the match is on the line, I know the odds that I?ll mess up are there, so I play it safe. And any basketball player who thinks that a dunk attempt might result in a loud ?clank? rather than a loud roar from the crowd would best be advised to play it safe, as well.

High school players ? from both Warren County and its opponents ? have bought enough iron this season to rebuild the Westwood Bridge. Most recently, an attempt at a breakaway jam after a steal caught nothing but rim, and a chance to expand on a lead near the end of the half against Cookeville was missed.

And I?ll bet if you asked coaches, they would just as soon have had a nice, fundamentally sound, off-the-glass layup as a dunk. No, it?s not as exciting as a jam, but it?s (pretty much) guaranteed points, and if you miss it?s nowhere near as embarrassing or disheartening.

Yes, players want to dunk. They want to show their skills to a gym full of people. But it?s only a display of skills when the ball goes through the basket. Otherwise, it?s viewed as a bad decision and a blown shot at points.

And before you start in on all that ?they dunk all the time in practice? jazz, I?ll stop you.

Guys, feel free to dunk in practice. Dunk all the time in practice. In fact, practice different types of dunks in practice. Work on it all you can ? while you?re at practice.

Then, when you?ve mastered the art to such an extent that you can leap up at any time and slam one home, and neither nerves nor fatigue are a factor which might result in a miss, then you may once again attempt to dunk in a game.

Because we?ve got all the missed shots we can handle already. We don?t need to miss just because we?re trying to show off.