The Billiken's Bluff

I saw two things on television last night that didn't quite look right:

-McDonald's High School All-American Candace Parker throwing down a poor imitation of Dee-Brown's 'No Look' Dunk

-And Kanye West in the Dilated Peoples "This Way" video wearing what looked like a Louis Vuitton carry all.

First Candace. She is 6'4'', headed for basketabll powerhouse Tennessee, and was named Female High School Player of the Year. The very fact that she can dunk is impressive, especially considering she blew out her knee this past summer. There aren't many women that can dunk. The only time I can recall seeing it is when Lisa Leslie dunked while playing in the WNBA. But Candace was competing in the men's (or boy's, i guess, because they are still in high school) dunk contest. While the guys wearing throwing down windmills, and alley oops, Candace looked stiff, kinda like Shawn Bradley (although I would bet she could break Bradley's ankles with a crossover). She won the contest, and made the front page of ESPN.com, where they labeled her SHEbron. At halftime of the men's McDonald's All-American game they interviewed her, and asked if she thought in the near future there would be an all-women's Slam Dunk Contest. Absolutely not. If J.R. Smith had been able to convert one of his 360 windmill attempts, then by all rights he should have won the contest, however I'm not sure he would have. It's a case of some basketball Affirmative Action.

Now I realize the dunk contest is all in good fun, but as Jason Whitlock on ESPN.com writes we all too often try and treat women's sports the same as men's sports. This isn't a knock on the women's game, but women simply can't leap as high, and are not as tall, so therefore cannot dunk like men.

And for Kanye West, I'm really feeling his verse in the new Dilated People's song, "This Way." The video is real hot too. "My penmanship, so hard it need censorship," great line Kanye.

But come on Kan man what are you wearing on your back in the video? I know you refer to yourself as The Louis Vuitton Don and pride yourself on being a 'backpacker.' But no need to combine the two in such an incongruous fashion. The only people who should be wearing Louis Vuitton carry all backpacks are Jappy girls from Great Neck. It looks ridiculous as he is walking down the block in the video. Come on Kanye, what would your momma say, or better yet what would Jay-Z say about this man purse.