Kenny George and the ‘dunk heard round the interwebs’

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

ap
People just can’t stop talking about Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough’s dunk over UNC Asheville’s Kenny George a couple weeks ago. Nor can they stop clicking on the YouTube video. Why? Because Kenny George is the tallest man in college basketball.

Sports Illustrated has the latest:

I mention this story because at least two dozen people sent me the video clip of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough dunking on 7-7 Kenny George from UNC-Asheville. Relatives. Co-workers. People I didn’t even know. And with around half a million views in the span of one short week, this video has unquestionably gone completely viral. In a sports context, this thing is the new dancing baby. It’s the new Lonelygirl15. It’s the new 2 Girls 1 Cup.

But why? Watch the video a few times and you’ll find some obvious flaws: Hansbrough commits an obvious travel, the dunk doesn’t come at any critical point in the game and George appears to have the mobility of a statue. Why even care?

Easy. Because Kenny George is really freakin’ tall.

When it comes to basketball, it seems we have an odd obsession with the proverbial big man. C’mon, you know what I mean … he doesn’t even need talent or a catchy name — he just needs to be big. Noticeably big. Bigger than everyone else around him. That’s usually all he needs to justify his spot. More often than not, this is the case as elite players like Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, and (maybe one day) Greg Oden show up only once in a blue moon. But there’s no shortage of other stiffs out there — guys who just take up space — and there’s apparently no dearth of coaches willing to recruit them.